944 struts?

[evilC]

Originally Posted by Bug@5speed(US)

Xellex,

...............
So from your experience, the 944 strut insert is the same relative size as the 1303? I have read that some 944 guys were using 1303 in the pre 86 strut.. but they seemed to imply a little drop..

...................Alex

The strut that I used was a Porsche 924S (1986 - 1988) that was the early one with the dampere insert. Its interesting that Porsche continued with the early parts in the 924S in parallel with the later 944.

The 1303 insert is a perfect fit into the 924S/early 944 strut. If there was any drop when using the 944 strut then that could have only come from a lowered spring platform. When I checked the spring platforms on the 1303 and 924S/944 were in the same position. The damper insert can have no effect on the drop.

Clive

[sbeetle73]

Actually if you take the 944 strut and use a threaded collar with a 10" spring you have about a 1.5-2" drop off the start along with more adjustability based on the threaded collar. As for shocks I purchased the 944 drop in units from Koni (sports - hydraulic units; actually same part number for the superbugs, so they have been designed for our vehicles.), I find gas units are way to stiff for our light front end cars. The advantage of Konis is that they have a constant rate throuought the entire stroke so if you lower your car you dont end up damaging the shock as long as you don't bottom out which wont happen with a bump stop. This is my setup for now, waiting to complete the car to try. Just trying to figure out the rate of the spring since there is much conflicting info. Some say 80, other say up to 120 is fine. Any take on the spring rates?

[evilC]

Originally Posted by sbeetle73

................... Just trying to figure out the rate of the spring since there is much conflicting info. Some say 80, other say up to 120 is fine. Any take on the spring rates?

I measured a 35 year old spring that I took off and with some very basic equipment measuring it at 80lb/inch so I would guess a new spring would be ~85lb/inch. The new Spax ones I put on appear to be progressive and I don't have the equipment to do those. However, commonly the uprating value is usually around +25-30% so a 100-110 lb/inch linear rate spring should be a good starting point for a heavy car (as opposed to a lightened car). The 20 year old 924S spring was 140lb/inch that I felt was much too big a jump over the standard one. I did consider cutting the standard spring to acheive the 40-50mm lowering plus the rate increase as the standard spring is plain ended but I didn't get very far with that as I had to cut the damper rod to get one of the legs out and nicked the spring with the grinder so I was into buying two new springs in any case.

Clive