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!

[Racer]

Cut out the rear trunk floor.. Tie in rear shock towers to cage and then brace them to the bar in the trunk where the trans attaches too. Loose the "camber truss" at the same time.

http://www.pwr-tech.com/project_links_trial3.htm pic 9 or 10 as an example

or this: http://www.pwr-tech.com/project_links_trial20.htm (pic 24)

[stownsen914]

Bob,

Is this the same blue 914 that you and Nadine drove with NNJR about 10-12 years ago? If so, looks a little different now ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Looks good.

Scott

[naro914]

Bob,

Is this the same blue 914 that you and Nadine drove with NNJR about 10-12 years ago? If so, looks a little different now ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Looks good.

Scott

Hi Scott,
Yep, same car. In 2000, I rolled it at Limerock and Bob K. did the body for us (didn't get it back until Feb 2002 after we moved to Charlotte). Since then, we've gone from the 2.4 four cylinder to a 2.2 six and a bunch of minor upgrades until now with the suspension.

There's really no offseason down here, so it's tough to get any upgrades done...we drive almost year round!