One of the first thing I noticed when I picked up my sweet barn find 914 4 years ago was a height difference in the rear (only) - she lists to port by 1/2".

I have the service record from the local Porsche dealer that about 3,000 miles prior to my getting the car, their shop had replaced the left rear trailing arm bushings. In working extensively on my 14 for the last 4 years (my shop has a lift), I can find no cause for the 1/2" height difference in the body at the rear axle center.

Car had 60k original miles when I got it, now 63,600. I believe rear spring/shocks are original, and show no issues.

Any help would be appreciated as to cause and fix for the list.

TIA,

GN

Every 914 I've purchased with original shocks needed replacement as well as springs. A couple of them had one bad shock and one really bad one (usually on driver side) and made the car crooked.

Is "port" on a car left or right?

The sailor Left the Port.

Previous owner (before you) must have been quite heavy

Should say "aft " instead of rear. 50 years since I left the USNavy and I still talk like that.

Mine did the same thing. I put on new springs, new shocks, new shock rubbers and trailing arm bushings. It still sat lower on the left side. I ended up putting some washers/spacers under the top shock mounting rubber, sits level now. Would have liked to find out exactly what the problem was instead of my back yard engineering fix.

jack the front slightly from the center of the cross member to take most of the weight off of the front (do not have to lift the tires off of the ground) and see if the rear straightens out. If so the front torsion bars are out of adjustment

as a 1st step.

Unless you measured the rear spring rates, and the check load, there is no way to say with certainty that the rear springs are OK.

Ideally; I’d measure corner weights to see what is going on. Know anyone with race scales? Sometimes local truck stop will work but I have never tried to put something like a 914 on them - might be too short of a wheelbase.

To say it differently, if they are too far out of adjustment, it can twist the rear of the car?

How are they adjusted?

I bet you still go to the "Head"

Get a fat girl friend and drive on bumpy roads

Poop deck

At the back of the a arms there is an adjusting screw. Lift the front end up a bit, to take the pressure off the screw, and tighten them to raise the front end.

I adjusted mine last night and found that my bushings are shot on the left side.

@partwerks If this is the same issue for your car, I’d suggest starting a separate thread or posting this question in your thread about upgrading brakes. You’ve got a lot of other things going on with your suspension that need to be better understood before making adjustments to your torsion bars.

@Gatornapper

Hopefully it is a spring or bushing issue.
I had a car that was1-1/2 inch lower on one side. The whole car was twisted was an air launch and landing on the drivers long.
You can check for this by removing the top and see if the targa bar is parallel to the windshield frame.

George -

Thank you so much. Will do.

I haven't noticed any difference in the front, but now that you suggest the problem might be there, I'll measure that too -

Not quite sure I know where I should jack from - don't remember a cross member up front - but then I was never looking for one.....I'll find it I'm sure.

As always, appreciate the wisdom.

GN

FRM -

Like the girl I've had for 48 years and she's a tiny size 6 (up from a 4) and maybe 112 lbs.......planning on keeping her. And she's more beautiful now than when we married!



GN

Damn straight. Port is left starboard is right, red lights are the color of port wine. You don’t expect me to believe that everyone doesn’t say avast when you want something to stop, or that when you change lanes you don’t always make sure that the car you just passed is a abaft the stern bumper?

George, et al -

Sure nuf. Left front is 3/8" low - but I never measured it as for some reason it's not noticeable in front. My bad.

Will adjust left torsion bar see if that evens out the rear. If not, it should get it within 1/8" which will not be perceptible to most.

GN

Depending on Ballast (you) might want to raise the left a bit extra..

I'm 179 lbs. Think the xtra is probably not needed.

Likely to be 10lbs less by end of summer.......

GN

Was the camber set properly on the rear after the work was done? If they didnt shim the rear control arms properly it could result in a drop on one side. I would look at that and overall corner balance, but even then, these chassis were hand made and they all have some level of variance

FYI -

Instructions on how to correctly set the front torsion bars to spec are found in Chapter 7 of the Haynes Manual, Section 16, p. 106.

What's weird is the size of the torsion bar adjustment bolts. 11mm wrench is too small, 12mm too big.

George -

Thank you again for your perfect analysis. But your diagnosis was not only correct, but solved another more important problem that I did not know I had.

Setting the torsion bars to spec did indeed solve the height difference between left and right.

But it did something far more important.

Having never checked the torsion bar settings, I found both to be completely loose. This means that the bars (springs) were not in effect until after the suspension was activated by a bump in the road or a turn. There was slack on both bars!

Setting both bars to spec leveled out the car, AND tightened up the handling noticeably - to my great pleasure. It was almost as if I added sway bars! (winter project).

GN

I think you'll find the 11 MM is correct, clean your bolts

Yes, they are a bit munged up for some reason.....if I file the flats down, I'm sure 11mm will work........next time car is on lift I'll do that.....weird how they got munged up........

Thanks!

GN