924Board.org

[jcope]

I have lots of questions about the suspension parts on my car. After reading the magazine articles supplied by one of the other contributors, I have a better idea on what I want to upgrade so that it corners and handles better.

First of all, is the front stabilizer bar a sway bar? If it is, as far as performance parts go, how big a priority is it to replace it?

Thicker sway bars are obviously stiffer. How do you choose the size?

Are there benefits from upgrading the stock coil springs? Are the stock springs that bad?

Among sway bars and shocks and springs and wheels, where is the most bang for the buck, if I don't want to blow $1500 all at once?

Anything I shouldn't do? I'd like the car to ride well, but I'm more interested in getting it to handle extremely well. It has to be safe on the road, but I'll sacrifice some ride for performance. But maybe some of the performance enhancements will provde a better ride.

This forum rules, by the way. It's been a great source of information for me.

[ This Message was edited by: jcope on 2001-08-23 04:10 ]

[-nick]

hi Jcope-
here are some general suspension facts, most of which you probably know from that 924S article:

swaybars prevent body lean in corners allowing your car to corner 'flat'.

springs decrease the amount of pitching under heavy braking and hard acceleration.

shocks, well, they just dampen both of these things when they do happen.

if you stiffen the rear suspension, the front will 'stick' more, and vice versa. our front engine cars could use a little oversteer in my opinion. i use a pretty stiff rear setup and i think it works well.

most bang for the buck in my opinion would be upgrading the springs. you have to have shocks that will take the new spring pressures though. people use KYB with success and i think they are pretty inexpensive compared to Koni's. stiff springs will give you a very harsh ride though. if you get a bouncy ride, then you need stiffer shocks. -ever checked out one of those silly lowered honda's bouncing all over the road...

or- bigger swaybars. you could cheaply swap swaybars from a 951 or 968. check the tech section here, the sizes are listed. you'll probably want to change them in sets at the beginning ie, front and rear 951 bars or front and rear 968 bars, etc. i wouldn't mix and match until you start to feel what the car needs. bigger swaybars don't really make the ride much harsher.

or put on some 17" alloys and lower profile sticky tires which will definately increase your handling too.

everybody will probably tell you something different. these are just some ideas.

good luck,
-nick

[-nick]

actually, i'm going to change my stance. don't do springs first. replacing the rear torsion bars is a serious PITA. and i wouldn't upgrade the front springs without doing the rears too.

go for the swaybars.

-nick

[924RACR]

That's a common autocrosser question, easily answered... order of priority is:
Tires
shocks
bars
springs
bushings

Decreasing returns as you go down the list. I, of course, have done all:
Hoosier road racing tires (derigeur in IT)
Konis, to be replaced with Bilstein racing shocks/struts
stock 23mm front bar, 19mm 944 Cup Car rear bar
400# front springs, 30mm torsion bars, no rear coilovers (not legal for IT)
full spherical front end with camber/caster plates and adding spherical bearings now for the rear trailing arms, with poly-graphite and delrin torsion bar bushings.

Of course, this is a full-race car... same suspension as yours, though...

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[jcope]

Besides the tires, how would you change this set-up for a street car? What wheels do you use?

Not that I'll never be on the track, but I want improve my commute, and I'll be doing that much more.

[jcope]

Never mind. I looked at your website. I know what wheels you are on. Thanks for the info. Killer website! Makes me want to race.

I'd like to hear more about suspension changes if anyone wants to chime in. Product recommendations, specification recommendations, results... Whatever.

I'll be sending in the orders in a couple of weeks.

[Vince Ponz]

Springs 250 lbs cost about 120
Bilstein HD gas From RD enterprises 84 front 114 rear
used 23mm sway bar front shoucd be about 75 100
Rear sway used 18mm 75 or so
Bushings front about 30
align car after abuot 100-125
lower car ??? I forgot how much. You should because our cars sit high to raise the bumper height. Lower entire car and the braking will be better also
make sure the brakes are in very good condition and the above should make a big difference
Kumho ecsta for 75 to 80 ea in 205 14s or 205 15 or 205 16s. Nice tire.
This is nowhere near the cost you mentioned. After this you can do the engine work etc.