Axle Height, How low is your teen? Options

[BMartin914]

Just finished installing a set of turbo tie rods and adjusted the ride height and toe afterward. Axle height is per my Haynes manual 3.5" - 3.75" = a(center of wheel cap to road surface) - b(center of torsion bar cap to road surface) and looks REALLY high.

Front wheels have significantly more fender gap than the rear.

I am trying to get it adjusted to a good ride height before I go for an alignment. Is it best to just try and get the front and rear fender gap as close as possible?

What do you have your axle height set at for optimum ROAD performance? Best compromise between handling, tire wear and stance.

Any suggestions are more than welcome. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Ben

[Aaron Cox]

heh...mines LOW i got like 3-4 inches to the bottom of the donuts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) , handles like a mother frog (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[Andyrew]

Erm...

I have three fingers of ground clearance.... so one and a half inches or so..

lol, ya... I've got to do something about it... (stupid exhaust... comes right under the engine.....)

Putting in a one inch spacer in the rear suspension... Till some 180 lb springs show up for sale cheap...


Wait, you mean theres suposed to be a tire/ fender gap?

I had my rear of the car a little bit higher than the front.. The rake was actually pretty nice.. Gave me good view of the road, great for sweapers.....

Hanes manual.. ie stock, is very high.... I hate the ride highth...

I'd say turn the t bar one turn on both sides (cant remember which direction..) and see how you like it there..

Tire wear will come into effect when the camber is changed...

Once you get it set to the heigth you want, get it aligned to the specks you want... Profesionally..

Cant help you much on numbers... I'd say go for 3in.. maybe 2 1/2.

Andrew

[Joe Ricard]

Technically the front A-arm should be level to the ground. Godd thing I am not a technician. As a sorta Engineer mine angle upward to the spindles. not much maybe a degree. Put a level on it and see what ya got.

If you turn the torsion bar adjusters take the wieght off the suspension ot you could strip the adjusting bolt. "righty tighty goes up".

3.5" at all the lift donuts should be good for the mother frog handling.

If you feel like screwing around for awhile you can string align the car setting ride hieght then camber all wheels . Then toe Caster is the only thing I can't accurately measure. I get it close angle wise comparing the strut angle to vetrtical side to side.

I suppose once I get serious about racing I can go to an alignment shop and argue my settings with the TECHNICIAN. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

BTW my toe in near zero and tended to wander on the freeway at slow speeds. around 75 - 85 tracked much better.

[ChrisFoley]

Just finished installing a set of turbo tie rods and adjusted the ride height and toe afterward. Axle height is per my Haynes manual 3.5" - 3.75" = a(center of wheel cap to road surface) - b(center of torsion bar cap to road surface) and looks REALLY high.

Front wheels have significantly more fender gap than the rear.

I am trying to get it adjusted to a good ride height before I go for an alignment. Is it best to just try and get the front and rear fender gap as close as possible?

What do you have your axle height set at for optimum ROAD performance? Best compromise between handling, tire wear and stance.

Any suggestions are more than welcome. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Ben

You can pretty much ingore the Haynes manual settings (and the fringe radical statements by previous posters (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) ), except as a point from which to move in the direction of lowering the car. How low you go is a matter of personal preference. However, as you lower the car other things are affected and need to be changed at the same time. Since you are starting from the stock settings I suggest lowering about 1/2" to begin with. You can probably get away with this without needing rack spacers or any other changes, except camber & toe. See how the front looks in relation to the rear after a change like this. If you like it, then get the alignment done at that ride height.
One note: the factory made the ride height settings high to meet headlight height regulations in the '70s. They were far from optimum in other regards.

[Trekkor]

I remember this thread from a while back.
I told you my car doesn't feel like I'm scooting down the road, riding an aluminum garbage can lid.

I take that back. It feels just like that.
People say it's too low...too bad. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

One point...no steering issues. wandering or bumping. Good response when turning in.

Fun, low rider.

KT

[Trekkor]

Go low, bro.

[BMartin914]

Thnaks for the advice. I will definitely go lower but want to avoid any problems.

i.e. the PO had the car set up too low-couldn't get out of my driveway without scraping. It was apparent he never drove the car, because the 12 yr old tires looked new. As soon as I started to put mileage on the car the front tires started to develop some really wicked cupping on the outside edge -- hence my apprehension as to the ride height adjustment.

ben

[airsix]

As soon as I started to put mileage on the car the front tires started to develop some really wicked cupping on the outside edge -- hence my apprehension as to the ride height adjustment.

ben

That tire wear doesn't mean you need to raise the ride height it just means you need an alignment. When you change the ride height it changes the toe-angle. Set the ride height you want and get an alignment. All will be well.

-Ben M.

[J P Stein]

As Chris said, there's more to this than meets the eye.

My car has 4.75 inches from ground to doughnuts with 22.5 inch dia tiars( bout the same dia as 205 X 50 X 15s).

I have about 2.25 inches of shock travel left in front (and use it all). The A arms are angled slightly downward ....prolly .75 inch lower at the ball loint than at the pivot. Rack spacers have been installed. I would go lower than this only if I had stiffer T-bars and/or raised spindles.

Driving around on the bumpstops is guaranteed to make a car handle lousy.

[brant]

Ben,

(I know its always more $$$)
but you should consider a really good 4 wheel alignment...

especially if your going to get that beauty out on the track sometime.

the Best alignment guy in the state is up here in boulder... He used to set up a 914 that went to autox nationals and took 2nd place (dave ferguson's car)

Hey you gonna bring the red beauty out to the 2nd creek racetrack for the last event in october?

brant

[BMartin914]

Brant--

Kevin mentioned the guy in Boulder for the alignment. He also said it was like $200. True?

What's the name of the shop? I plan on buttoning the car up tomorrow and getting it aligned next week.

Ben

[ChrisFoley]

He also said it was like $200. True?

That's about right for a thorough job from someone who undertands teeners.

[d7n7master]

When I replaced the a-arms I used my haynes manual to set ride height. Your right. It looked stupidly high in front. When I lowered it with the adjustors (with no weight on the front end) I did it in 1/2 turns. By the time it looked right, the adjustor was nowhere near the center of adj. travel. Scary. So I marked & then removed the end cap, rotated it one spline and brought the adjustor to center travel. Used a tape measure to even out ride height. I have a air dam that the rubber now just barely scrapes the street when I exit my driveway. Ahhhhh, Shweet!!!
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[TimT]

He also said it was like $200. True?

That's about right for a thorough job from someone who undertands teeners.

My friend charges by the hour to align cars that are adjustable in all four corners. A 911 alignment isin the $250-275 range 993/996 a tad more. I had my 914 up on his alignment machine a few weeks ago and between set up, and fiddling with the adjustments I spent about 3.5 hours aligning my car..I did go over everything a few time so take out some fluff and you have 2-3 hours of pure labor to align the car...

the 39.95 alignments you see advertised at Sear, Pep boys, or the other chain tire stores are just front toe settings..

A good true 4 wheel alignment will cost a few bucks. If you are paying for a real 4 wheel alignment you can also just define the specs you want them set the car to.