924Board.org

jaxrepo · Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Posts: 162 Location: Jacksonville, FL

Hi Group: On my Carrera conversion project, we beat this issue around pretty well in my previous post. Had about a little finger of clearance between the tire & the fender flare with 215/60/15 tires. Lizard said "take the shocks off & the car rear height will not change. Took the shocks off altogether & guess what? I now have about an inch & 1/2 of clearance. The shocks (Bilstein B36-1661) were shot. Replacement cost - $95.00 per shock. Checked my other 931 with real good clearance with 16 inch trash cans & the shocks were KYB Gas A Just shocks - replacement cost $68.00 per pair. Could the faulty Bilstein's have been keeping the rear in a lowered position? Will have new pictures in a day or three as the painting is done. Dick.
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83/86 944 Parts cars (2)
78 924 Parts car
84 944
88 924S Parts car

Web site at www.jaxrepo.com - 944/924 parts.

Sleykin · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:38 pm Post subject:

Did you roll the car after removing the shocks? It is normal for independent rear suspension to rise after jackin untill it moves again...
Seems strange that shocks could have been pulling it down, unless they were too short

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Glenn Neff
Medford, OR
87' 924S

Lizard · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 4:19 pm Post subject:

some brands of shocks have less throw, but yes once you jack it up the rear suspension isnt 100% settled, and obviously will sit high, but shocks do not affect the ride height
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3 928s,

gohim · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 4459 Location: Rialto, CA

As others have already posted, did you bounce the car after lifting it to remove the rear shcoks to settle them (if you raised the car to remove the rear shocks)?

Gas filled shocks and struts will affect the ride height.

Old style conventional oil filled shocks and struts will not affect static ride height with stock suspension components and stock alignment settings.

On a normal stock suspension 924 or 931, you can remove the rear shocks and the static ride height will not change. You can even change the rear shocks (oil filled or Koni low pressure gas) without a placing the car on jackstands.

The torsion bar settings will also affect the ride height.

Typically, with stock springs or torsion bars, installing new gas filled Konis and Bilsteins will raise the car between .5 and 1 inch. The gas acts as a spring, adding to the existing lift from the springs or torsion bars. With age and miles the ride height will fall as the shocks and struts wear.

If you have non-conventional rear torsion bar settings, or replacement torsional bars, it is possible that they are adjusted under load high enough to raise the car above the stock ride height. The torsion bars could be adjusted so that they raise the car body above the normal stock ride height, and shock travel becomes the ride height limiting factor.

jaxrepo · Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Posts: 162 Location: Jacksonville, FL

Hi: The car was jacked up to remove the shocks. Upon removal & jacking down we bounced both sides of the rear several times. The rear would slowly bob or bounce up & down to return to the elevated position. Dick.
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83/86 944 Parts cars (2)
78 924 Parts car
84 944
88 924S Parts car

Web site at www.jaxrepo.com - 944/924 parts.

CMXXXI · Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 1939 Location: Vicksburg, MS

jaxrepo · Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Posts: 162 Location: Jacksonville, FL

Well we moved it (rolled). Now the driver side has less clearance than before the shocks were removed but the passenger side is still well clear. Will install new shocks next week & go from there. Need to know how to adjust the ride height - probably. Dick.
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83/86 944 Parts cars (2)
78 924 Parts car
84 944
88 924S Parts car

Web site at www.jaxrepo.com - 944/924 parts.

emoore924 · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 2822

I don't think this is the shocks. Unless something is stuck or broken, ride height is a function of the torsion bar indexing in the rear suspension.

Adjusting the ride height in the rear of a 924 is a bit of a PITA. There are two ways that I know of.

First (and easiest by far), some 924's have an adjustor that might get you something like 3/4 of an inch up or down. Perhaps up on one side and down on the other might solve the problem. I'd really use this more to do corner weighting rather than drastic changes to the ride height. Maybe someone has a pic of the adjustor. Sorry, I don't.

Second is a "re-indexing of the torsion bar" exercise -- not fun. You have to essentially take apart the rear suspension, move the torsion bar a certain number of splines taking into account one end has 44 and the other end has 40, count the number of splines you move, calcluate the number of degrees change that is, calculate the change in ride height from that, then put the whole thing back together and see what happened. Not right? Do it again. I would google "924 ride height" or something like that to find the procedure. (I think pelican parts has a nice write-up.) It is not a 2-hour job BTW.

All that being said, I'm not convinced that the shocks are causing the problem. The torsion bars really set the height and the shocks (not struts like in the front) only dampen the spring action of the torsion bars. Are the bushings binding or something? Are you sure you rolled the car around enough to really settle the suspension? Sorry to ask again but it doesn't quite add up all the way for me and indexing the t-bars is not something you want to do unless you absolutely have to...

Smoothie · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:47 am Post subject:

Rear height, toe and camber adjusters -
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smoothies931pics/detail?.dir=a7d5&.dnm=e941.jpg&.src=ph

You need to be aware that changes to the height will affect camber and toe - http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.php?t=10835
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

numbbers · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:58 am Post subject:

The excentric ride heigth adjustment for the rear will not effect camber. It is just as named, a ride heigth adjustment. It was installed by Porsche, to meet the varing requirements for rear bumper heigth. That is why the US cars set so high in the rear. The first thing I did with my 931, was to let the ride height adjusters all of the way down. It looks much better, like the ROW cars.
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1980 924 Turbo

jaxrepo · Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Posts: 162 Location: Jacksonville, FL

Hey Smoothie thanks for the photo - now if I can just locate the adjustment nut .... it is tough being ignorant & the Haynes manual is no help. Where are these in relation to the shock absorber? And Numbbers this a ROW car originally sold new in the UK. Dick.
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83/86 944 Parts cars (2)
78 924 Parts car
84 944
88 924S Parts car

Web site at www.jaxrepo.com - 944/924 parts.

Smoothie · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:38 pm Post subject:

I have to disagree with the thinking that changing height doesn't affect camber. I've done my own alignment and seen one change as the other was adjusted. I remember it clearly because it made the job way more of a pain in the A than I'd expected.

Jax - in the background of that pic you can see the front inside of the rear-right wheel, so the height adjustment's adjacent to the front of the tire. -And I'm pretty sure that's the bottom of a shock mount at the upper-right.
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox