PDA

View Full Version : hey 944 and 924s guys what suspension should i go with



stefand1234
04-08-2004, 11:24 PM
hey 944 and 924s guys what suspension should i go with?

Geo
04-09-2004, 12:56 AM
Originally posted by stefand1234:
hey 944 and 924s guys what suspension should i go with?

Well, the class of the field would be the Koni 2817/2812 combo if you have the $4k it costs.

I'm going to run Koni 8611 up front with Koni 8212 (I think) in the rear. I'm custom making the front struts.

There are many people who love the Bilsteins. Single adjustables are expensive and doubles are really expensive.

If threaded body dampers are allowed next year, Ledas would be a good choice for dampers. There are a few others.

For bushings, spherical bearings are the way to go. The manufacturer is pretty proud of the spherical bearings cassettes that are available now. I'm going to be having some made for the early 944.

Weltmeister swaybars are popular and there are some hollow 3-piece adjustable swaybars out there, but again, they are very proud of them. I haven't decided what I'm going to do, but eventually I'll be making some adjustable 3-piece bars.

Spring rates..... Well, this isn't the most clear. Most popular for race cars is 400lb front springs and 31mm hollow rear T-bars. Paragon Products can get custom-made larger hollow T-bars. I'm going to try to order mine tomorrow. I'll probably run a front spring in the 500-600lb range. But this requires the custom T-bar, hence the usual 400lb/31mm combo popularity.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

RR
04-09-2004, 11:04 AM
Call True Choice, order Koni for front and rear ($800 for set), Have them VALVED (very Important!!!!)($350)for your spring rates go with 500 pound front, you can get a threaded collar springs and camber plates from Ground Control $400. On the rear get 32or 33mm torsion bars from Paragon. Do not bother with Weltmeister bars, order a set of 968 mo30 bars front 30mm and rear 28mm $500 I think Paragon sells them. When you replace the torsion bars replace the rubber bushings with either solid or delrin, again Paragon sells a complete rear end solid bush package, it is expensive, but worth it. Front control arms again Paragon sells spherical, go with them. Word of advice, I built my car twice and spend stupid amounts of money, if you follow my advice above you will have an excellent set up. If you dont follow me, your wasting your time. Do it once, remember when the rear torsion bars are out (this is a costly procedure if you take it to a shop) do all the bushings then, dont wait till next year you'll waste tons of money.

924Guy
04-09-2004, 11:20 AM
I love my Bilsteins - which are not revalved street units, but Bilstein Motorsport race monotubes revalved per Bilstein's recommendations. I found them to be no more expensive than the Konis, and everyone I talked to said that if you can afford monotubes, do it. They're not adjustable, but they are revalvable - and I can still tweak swaybars, alignment settings, and tire pressures. That said, I'll admit that I have not had enough testing time on them (too busy crashing and blowing motors), and you're probably better off, in the learning phase, going with something a little more tried and true. Experiment later (as I did - I also started with Konis).

I would definitely agree that you should consider non-remote-reservoir Ledas if threaded-body dampers are approved for next year (seems likely, but don't quite bank on it just yet).

Sphericals are lovely, though bushings are cheaper. OTOH, I have not seen bushings available for all the stuff that bearings are available for (trailing arms most notable glaring omission). I have bearings all around. Spend the extra couple of bucks for the Racer's Edge ones, that screw into place. It'll pay for itself when you bend a trailing arm, etc., and have to replace the suspension arm, but not the bearing. I got my front a-arm bushings cheaper from Shine, but they press in, and if I bend an a-arm, I'm gonna but in trouble.

Swaybars - I agree, go factory. I have my stock front bar, and the 19mm rear adjustable M030 bar (its not 28mm, unless I'm confusing them). They're cheaper than Weltmeister and better quality (think OEM factory quality control processes).

Springs/bars - I run 400# front, 30mm rear bar. My car, as an ITA 2.0L 924, runs at 2600#. I still wish I had more spring and bar! So yeah, this is something you only want to do once, take the time and money to go for 32mm or bigger. Front springs are cheaper and easier to interchange.

------------------
Vaughan Scott
Detroit Region #280052
'79 924 #77 ITA/GTS1
www.vaughanscott.com

Geo
04-10-2004, 01:00 AM
Originally posted by RR:
Call True Choice, order Koni for front and rear ($800 for set)

I think you need to be more specific here.

You cannot get race dampers for the 944 for $800 a set. The 8611 inserts are over $200 each and the race dampers for the rear (30XX and 82XX) are upwards of $800 a set or more themselves. This doesn't even include any way of mounting them or the strut tubes for the 8611s. You can buy double adjustable front Koni coilovers from Paragon, but they are $500 each.

I think if I were going with non-adjustable dampers I'd be very tempted to try the Bilsteins.

Oh, and as for OEM swaybars, I hate the way the front OEM bar mounts. Pretty crappy IMHO.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

924Guy
04-10-2004, 08:20 AM
Agreed - have you seen those stabilizing braces for the front swaybar mounts? I think they're from KLA? I, of course, have the 924 front swaybar, which mounts to the frame rail and uses droplinks...

------------------
Vaughan Scott
Detroit Region #280052
'79 924 #77 ITA/GTS1
www.vaughanscott.com

RR
04-12-2004, 01:14 PM
sorry, i'll be more specific. true choice sells basic yellow koni's (front) for $270, dont waste you money with adj or double adjustable, just tell them what spring rates and they will valve and you'll be all set. this notion of adjustable is like selling insurance on a stereo, its a scam. once thats set the shock will work in a range of sprngs + - 50 lbs. Bilstein or koni it really doesn't matter, I run bilsteins now, I told you koni because true choice services them and worked well for me on that car. The real problem you will have with a 944 is power, I hope you have a 16 valve motor, if not its very important to have the head done by Miledge in Massachusetts. Good luck its a great car, sexy too.