New suspension for Papa Smurf, ..or...how to spend a lot of $$ and get lots of benefit Options

[naro914]

I thought I would share the latest upgrade we've done to Papa Smurf.

Over the years, the Carrera suspension on our 914 has been getting a bit "soft". the springs were shot - one was up higher on the perch in the back than the other, and all 4 shocks were leaking. So, after finally putting the budget together to get it all corrected, we took the plunge last month...

If any of you followed the build of Matteo Amoroso's killer 911 RSR build on Pelican Parts, or read about it in Excellence, you know it was built by Zuffenhaus here in Charlotte. One day while it was up on the lift, I noticed the wonderful front end suspension on it. So, I inquired, and started down the slippery slope to emptying my bank account.

What we now have is the 935 suspension conversion, with Fox remote resevoir coil overs all around, welded in camber boxes and adjustment plates, 375 springs around, reinforced rear trailing arm, monoball, and probably a bunch of other things I don't know about.

the work took about 2 weeks with all the cutting and welding, installation, etc.

We drove it on the track a week and a half ago to start sorting it out. We lowered the car another 1", and were finally able to give it some negative camber (we had not been able to adjust the camber enough at the height we wanted before) Right off the bat I noticed how much easier the steering was, and how much more responsive the handling was. We found we needed to take off the rear sway bar as I was getting a lot of rear wheel hop in fast corners (no, I don't have LSD yet....next years budget)

It was an absolute joy to drive. My wife, Nadine, even commented how easy is was. I went were we pointed it. It stuck MUCH better than it ever had.

We spent the weekend tweeking and tuning out anything we could find. And we really noticed the changes. Money well spent!!

Here are a few pictures of the suspension from right after we got home. Excuse how dirty it is...it got a lot of track time in 2 days!

[naro914]

Your car weighs about the same as mine and I'm about to do coilovers on my car. Do you mind sharing your spring rates and tire sizes with me? I'd like to have a place to start with the springs.

Sure. I have 375 lb springs all around. Wheels are 11 x 16 front and 12 x 16 rear. I also have a set of 10 front and 11 rear that I use as backup. I can't find another set of these wheels, their called "Light Speed" and the company that built them went out of business I'm told. they are amazingly light - you can pick up the wheel with tire on it with one hand and mount it on the wheel studs at standing up eye level if you had to.

Funny how the wheels are offset. Rears need about a 2" spacer for both sets, but the 11" fronts don't need any spacers, and the 10" fronts need a 2" spacer. Honestly a royal PITA to change them since nothing matches from set to set, so I have to change both sides each time.