What do you think of my set up

[vwnewb88]

Update*

I've decided to keep the drums rear for now until i see how it preforms, so i got all new everything for the rear drums

Im going to order new torsion bars now, I dont know if i should get 26mm bars or 27, any input would be great

And makin some changes to the motor so it'll be puttin out about 185hp on the dyno

[evilC]

Both the 26 and 27mm TBs will be too stiff IMO unless this is track use only. Stick to 23.5mm upgrade and invest in some good dampers. If you need the rear end stiff add some coilsprings to the dampers - that is by far the easiest way to uprate it and you might find that 23.5mm TBs are all you need.

[vwnewb88]

thanks for the input

[vwnewb88]

what do you think about going to a 24 or 24.5mm bar? This is going to be my "daily driver" but when i am in the mood to drive to work and school its only 4 miles so this is a fun weekend warrior more than anything else.

[evilC]

hi,
A 24 or 24.5mm bar (if they are available) would be between 'fast road' and 'track' designations and I still wonder whether you might find them annoyingly too stiff on the road (depends on the state of the roads of course). Have you thought about adding a coilover damper to the standard rear suspension with a long helper spring? That would on a long setting just add the helper spring poundage to the standard TB rate improving the road springing and then winding the platform up to bring in the main spring for those more competitive moments. Careful selection of the set point ride height on the TBs ought to prevent the ride height going up too much when the platform is wound up. Alternatively, a progressive spring would do the same but possibly at greater cost.
The sort of spring poundage would probably not require a kafer cup brace and I would guess the standard bolt arrangements would be adequate although you might consider a brace to beef up the horns.

clive

[vwnewb88]

I've thought about converting to rear coil over and I would love to, but if I do it I want to go all the way... And the parts I want, well, I just cant afford right now. So I will have to stick with the torsion bars. I do think you have talked me out of going up to a stiffer torsion bar, if I find the 23.5's are not working for me I can always upgrade later, but it think with my current set up now I will be more then happy with the car.

And i found out that i got accepted the university of Barcelona, as an exchange student for a semester, so by the time i get this thing done I wont even be able to drive it!

[evilC]

I have 23.5mm TBs that I have installed in our 1303, only because I bought a complete 924S (944N/A) undercarriage. it was always my intent to upgrade to lightly sprung coilovers + TBs as a cheap and effective way of increasing the wheel rate that is if I now need it with the increase in TB diameter that has added an additional stage in the process. I am not a fan of pure (only) coilover on the rear of a road car as the chassis needs beefing up to accept the loads imposed as well as NVH off the rear suspension. Invariably, the pure coilover route also loses the heat exchangers because of the necessity to install a ful 5 bar kafer cup brace, a solution to which I have not found yet. The loss of heat in our climate is a chilling thought!
If you are going to upgrade the rear suspension I still think that keeping the standard TBs and supplementing them with coilovers is a practical, adaptable and cheap solution. If you find that your first coilover spring selection is not suitable you can cheaply change the spring. Purchasing 23.5mm TBs new will not be cheap and 944 parts in the States appear to be less available than they are here.
Congratulations on your student placement! Barcelona is a great cultural city.

Clive

[judgie]

i run the stock n/a 944 rear bars in my race car matched with 130lb springs in the front. front end feels a lot stiffer than the rear but helps a lot with traction out of tight corners, also makes it three wheel
its about as hard as i would want on road car.

[vwnewb88]

Looks like i am going to run it as is for a while.... and maybe look for 944 parts while im on that side of the pond and ship them back.. then maybe add coil overs when i get back