Torsion Bar Question, Is stock torsion bar OK with rear 140# springs? Options

[Tbrown4x4]

To make a short story long, my rear shocks failed and I pulled the rear shocks off my parts car to keep it on the road. Turns out there was a nice set of Weltmeister 140# springs on KYB shocks. It was a harsh ride to say the least. Anyway, I manned up and bought a pair of Koni Sport shocks and put the Weltmeister springs on them. The ride was immediately smoother. (I set the Konis 1/2 turn from full soft.)

My question is this: Should I install stiffer torsion bars in the front to match the stiffer rears? And if so, do you have a recommendation?

[mepstein]

I would leave it as-is. Make sure you have at least a front sway bar.

[Tbrown4x4]

No sway bars, but I can save up for one.

[mepstein]

No sway bars, but I can save up for one.

Just like moving up from kyb’s, it’s a big upgrade and probably balance out the higher rear spring rate just right.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

you are fine as is if you like the ride with the stiffer springs and the resultant oversteer

To make a short story long, my rear shocks failed and I pulled the rear shocks off my parts car to keep it on the road. Turns out there was a nice set of Weltmeister 140# springs on KYB shocks. It was a harsh ride to say the least. Anyway, I manned up and bought a pair of Koni Sport shocks and put the Weltmeister springs on them. The ride was immediately smoother. (I set the Konis 1/2 turn from full soft.)

My question is this: Should I install stiffer torsion bars in the front to match the stiffer rears? And if so, do you have a recommendation?

[Andyrew]

Front sway bay and 140 rear springs is a good combo with koni shocks.

[Krieger]

I have been running stock front torsion bars and 140# rears with Koni red adjustable for years. Weltmeister 22mm front away bar. Excellent combination for autocross! I keep them full soft for street. For autocross I stiffen the fronts only. Decent ride on the street. I am considering going up to 20mm front torsion bars with new Elephant poly bronze bushings and raising the front spindles on struts. I think what a lot of people consider as a rough ride is the front suspension bottoming out because their cars are too low and run out of suspension travel.

[rhodyguy]

I think fresh 100#ers are more suited for a 120+? mile RT daily commute on our shit freeways. Spring for adj collars. Sizing up the torsion bars might not be the correct move. This car is a DD.

[914_teener]

To make a short story long, my rear shocks failed and I pulled the rear shocks off my parts car to keep it on the road. Turns out there was a nice set of Weltmeister 140# springs on KYB shocks. It was a harsh ride to say the least. Anyway, I manned up and bought a pair of Koni Sport shocks and put the Weltmeister springs on them. The ride was immediately smoother. (I set the Konis 1/2 turn from full soft.)

My question is this: Should I install stiffer torsion bars in the front to match the stiffer rears? And if so, do you have a recommendation?

You don't state if you are running a front sway bar which will affect the front spring rate.

George made an inference to that.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

These days, (especially for how old we all are) I would install the factory springs. Konis are harsher than the old boge shocks anyway (anything is better than kyb) so toning it down a bit with the factory springs is a good thing, will also give more suspension travel. Porsche took a lot of time to match the handling components when designing the 914 and actually had trouble sorting out the handing in the early cars. SO in my opinion for your application stock is best

I think fresh 100#ers are more suited for a 120+? mile RT daily commute on our shit freeways. Spring for adj collars. Sizing up the torsion bars might not be the correct move. This car is a DD.

[mepstein]

To make a short story long, my rear shocks failed and I pulled the rear shocks off my parts car to keep it on the road. Turns out there was a nice set of Weltmeister 140# springs on KYB shocks. It was a harsh ride to say the least. Anyway, I manned up and bought a pair of Koni Sport shocks and put the Weltmeister springs on them. The ride was immediately smoother. (I set the Konis 1/2 turn from full soft.)

My question is this: Should I install stiffer torsion bars in the front to match the stiffer rears? And if so, do you have a recommendation?

You don't state if you are running a front sway bar which will affect the front spring rate.

George made an inference to that.

Post #3

[Tbrown4x4]

Thanks for the responses guys! Since I have no clue what front struts are in the car I think I will tackle this in stages.

I would like to put adjustable spring perches on the rear shocks and keep the 140# springs for now.

I am going to install front Konis in raised spindle strut housings.

Step 3 is a stock front sway bar.

Then I'll drive it around and try the 100# springs for comparison.

Here is a copy of Kevin's message to me and my response:

Hi Kevin.
The Koni instructions were just a half-assed pictograph showing which way to turn the adjuster for stiff or soft. Not super helpful. I don't know what front struts are on it now. I had internally adjustable Koni reds (orange?) in the back and one leaked itself to death. NOBODY would rebuild them or sell me parts for less than $300 each, so I just bought a pair of yellow sport Koni adjustables from Pelican.

Before I ordered the new pair, I pulled the decent looking KYB's out of the parts car to tide me over while I figured out the parts situation. The KYB shocks had the 140 Weltmeister springs, and I figured I'd give them a try. Well, the ride was as awesome as everyone says. "Harsh" is being nice. So I buy the new shocks and figure I'll try the 140 springs on the Konis, and I kind of like how it rides. MUCH smoother, but still handles well. Sits a little higher than I would like, but not horrible.

Part of the problem with my car is that it was lowered a little. In the front, they just backed off the torsion bars, so I'm losing some travel and it feels like it bottoms out occasionally. It also has some bump steer. Big surprise.

My plan for the front was to get another pair of struts, move the spindles up 2" or so (my son can TIG weld it back together) and put a set of yellow Konis into them.

I would also like to get a front sway bar, but I wanted to get all the other stuff done first.

Hi Todd, I remember when I bought my Konis the instructions stated to NEVER set the valuing at full soft or full hard. Seldom mentioned. Are the front struts housings loaded with KYBs? I had put 21mm bars up front. Misery. Felt every expansion joint. Now stock Tbars, Komi red ext adj, 100# on threaded collars, F&R sway bars and Elephant polybronze bushings up front. Dreamy on the freeway. Plenty smooth and predictable in corners. I figure that aside from the struts /springs the brainiacs at Porsche knew what would work the best across the board.

K

PS. I have a spectacular spring compressor and don't mind experimenting with springs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[rhodyguy]

With adj perches there is no need for spring compressors.