Setup is full simi tube car 1775 appox, 10 and 12 LSD Boxster brakes Combo of high speed tracks and AX. Driving.


Hi guys starting stage three of the upgrades to my Spyder racecar. I am planning to add Adjustable front and rear shocks. The front should not be such a big deal the shocks on the car now are made by a Company called Carrera Shocks. The front’s inserts are much shorter than a Carrera or SC size inserted shock. It’s about 10.5 inch long. The rears are short about 12.5 “.
If you notice the rear shocks are inverted, I would like to find something that will mount with the shock bolt and damper location. What makes finding a replacement a challenge is that the stub that is welded onto my rear shocks is not commonly done and would have to be done before the shock is constructed. I would think that there are other ways of getting a inverted shock on a 914 using stock mounting locations.
Advice or suggestion welcomed.


Part two;
Another question I have is if you have a track only racecar that ran as a high output four banger with a very good setup, than converted it to a 3.6 which adds some weight & HP what guess would you make on how much to go up on front and or rear spring rates???
I am thinking 50pds per corner just for the weight but I need to add in the hard acceleration and cornering as well. What has anyone here tried?

What are you going to be doing with the car?

Driving on the street, autoxing, track days, hillclimbs or what?

JRZs are the best you can get for the 914

Randel its a full out chop top race car.

OK, road racing then.

I still think the best solution is to get your existing shocks revalved to match the weight of your car and venue.

I'm probably to be going with Bilsteins when I make the move from the existing Koni's, but again revalved for the specific weight and venue I'm going to be running.

Although I have yet to check to Koni to see if they can do the same re-valving.

Oh, I'd vote for Ground Control shocks, as the best I've ever ran. They are just so much better than anything else I've driven it's hard to describe.

Randal,
it is the EX-Bill Newlin hot rod with a 3.6L in it instead of the type IV

That car was very nicely done. Always fun to watch and very fast. Watching that car run, with a big 4, was definitely influential on my decision to build one.

Must be crazy with a 3.6 behind the driver.

I still say that re-valving what you have or getting a major brand, like the billies, and doing the same is the most cost effective move.

But if I found $4,000 sitting around I'd probably go straight to Ground Control. Those shocks simply work.

It would be fun to run a shock test between the JRZ and the Ground Controls, but we need one of our engineering geniuses here to help us understand the data.

Well Randell you think like I. I have tried to find the Company Carrera or any other company that can re-valve or just rebuild the shocks I have but thay are a sealed unit from what I am finding out. Can't be done. So Carrera out of business and no one to re-valve puts me here asking for help.

Well since it is a full out race car get full out race shocks.

I already answered this with my opinion on the other site.

Didn't know ground control made a shock. I thought they used advance design bodies with thier spring adapters/adjusters.

Thanks Joe I did some looking tonight on Ebay and this may be a option dod you have a part number and what dose your car weight? If you have a setup that already works I may look into it more.
Thanks for the info.

Aluminum large body threaded 7"shock. 147# series is what I use. The pound sign is the valving number rated from 1-10. if the is a - and another number it is a spit valve indicating rebound. Mine are double adjustable. which I hardly fuss with anymore as I think I have them dialed in pretty well. 6 compression and 7 rebound.

So your 7 inch shock with a 10 inch spring??? I have a assortment of springs at 10 " so I will try to match a set that will allow me to still use the collection of springs I have. did you mount them inverted??

yes inverted.
you will need a bracket to mount it to the shock tower but these can be picked up from any circle track shop.

I have an extra set of Dynamic Suspension canister shocks that I want to sell. You can mount them either way. They are double adjustable. Fully extended they are 18 1/2" .

Click to view attachment

Thanks for the offer can you drop me a PM I think the problem will be the cansiter Fitting into the space I have to work with. PM price and any info you have Or Heeltoe914@aol.com

Dang Blake that is nearly exactly how I mounted the lower eye of my shocks. And I never seen your set up before.

Those lower mounts were made by Carrera when they were still in business. Direct bolt in units.

Hi Heeltoe914,

I love your car!!

On my 914 V8 street/track toy, I'm running a pair of special-built Koni dual adjustables in the rear and they are working great.

However, I've ONLY found rebound-adjustable Koni Sports shocks for the 911 Boge front struts.

Do you know of any source for a DUAL-ADJUSTABLE cartridge shock for my 911 struts?

Best,
Terry

Look up a Koni 8611 series. It is a double adjustable strut insert. I am using these on my 914 now. It fit the the 911 strut. You will need to shorten the strut housing and adapt the top of the strut. It has a 14mm thread there.

Blake, do you have a picture of the front assembly set-up? Those 8611 series are fairly cheap.

-Britain

what is the company name that took over Carrera...
I can't remember it exactly right now..

but I'm wondering if they could/would revalve still...

brant

I did find them and the shocks have changed allot and thay do not do any service on the old shocks.

But thanks to some great tips here I think we are getting closer to finding a solution.

QA-1 now owns Carrera. I don't know any road racers that have used them, but I do have a friend who has been building the top asphalt late model stock cars in the south for years. He loved Carrera (was a Carrera test team) but hates the QA-1's. Says they don't hold there valve settings and fatique, regardless of nose pressure settings and any valve settings they tried. He is a big Ohlins fan now.

I won't fool with QA-1.

I'm going to install Ohlins LMJ 7" stroke shocks at the rear of my 914.

And just how are you planning on doing this . Love to see that Chris.

+1 +2 Do tell?

The white FP car already has them, taken off Thorshammer's 2005 National Runoffs podium EP car.
I don't have the spare cash to buy a pair of LMJ's yet so I won't be able to show you for a little while.
LMJ's are mostly a stock car shock but they are high quality, economical and 2 way adjustable.
The bottom mounts will require special bolts and the tops need special intermediate brackets for the eyelets.

What is the cost on these?

-Britain

I'm not sure if they cross-fit on a 914, but there's a set of JRZ shocks for the 993 on Ebay right now.

http://www.jrzusa.net/prices/jrz_prices.pdf

Price list. Make sure you are sitting down and 2 beers in stand by.

Ya right? maybe in my next life. Thoose are the part numbers right?

Funny, Leamon

I only need a decent set of front cartridges for my wife's '71 ... looking for something more like what's found in a Walmart catalog

about $650 each.

Boges are the best value if you aren't using the car in competition or regular hard driving.

$6K a corner...I think I just lost my lunch! Anyone have pictures of the 911/914 front strut set-up with these?

-Britain

Are there JRZ shocks from a different application that will fit in the rear of the 914 with mods to the mounting top and/or bottom?

-Britain

Greg Fordahl told me you can put JRZs on a 914 for 6K total. I was thinking about doing it once upon a time... when I was making money .

My car has JRZ shocks.

I'll take some pics and post them in a bit.

Here's some pics. Photography isn't my forte.

Ha may I ask what is the pump in the front truck you have and what is it doing??? The one with the green brackets around it? Very nice front end setup.

For a little more (1.5 x the price) I can outfit her with Bilstein Sports - P36-0113 ...

or for 2 x the price of Boge's, Koni-8641-1077 Sports ... worth the extra $ ?

Thanks very much. The guy who built my car was an artist at fab work.

That pump is actually a fuel filter. If you look closely, you can Juust make out the last letters in "Filters".

OHHHHHHHHHHHH! thanks

They are if you want their special features.
Bilsteins are superior for aggressive driving.
Konis are adjustable, so you can have a softer ride on the road and stiffen them up for autocrossing.

Here's one of my new rear shocks,
Click to view attachment
and a lower mounting bolt. Its a stock unit, modified to fit the 1/2" monoball in the Ohlins shock.
Click to view attachment

About $1400 for the pair. That includes custom valving for 914s.

Chris I just love the way you fixed the rear shock bolt. That's some spiffy machining considering how hard them bolts are.

They machined nicely. I used my old worn out P&W lathe (which chatters real easily) that was built sometime around WWII and took only about .030" off the dia. per cut with a carbide insert.
I had originally designed them a little more ruggedly and was planning to have them made them from scratch using 42L40 or the same pre-hardened stock I use for trailing arm pivot shafts. When I realized that I could simply modify the stock bolts it became a lot easier to accomplish on my own.
The sleeve I welded on came from the bottom of a KYB shock that we cut up for the lower perches.

...Chris ...I have a set of CARRERA shocks very similar to the ohlins. There is a "srader valve", air inflator valve at the bottom of the shock absorber, where your pressure line is. They have a 5.5'' stroke......my question is , how will you adapt the top mounting heim-joint to the O.E.M. top shock mount...and where do you "recharge "the cannister, I don't see a fitting....a suggestion as to springs/ rate would be appreciated..( stock street 914 about 2100 lbs.1973..2.o)....murray...

Matching springs to shocks is a bit backwards.

Match spring to car and tire set up. then valve shocks to dampen

"no 2 shocks are valved the same when it comes to custom".