911 S suspension

[warnerman62]

Hello everyone!
I just purchased a '73 911S Targa. It s a good driver.
The former owner has lowered the car and installed a track worthy suspension. Looks like 1-1/2 to 2 inches I reckon.
Being middle aged and having titanium parts in my spine nowadays (from, ironically, racing) I cannot tolerate too stiff a ride.
What parts do you imagine I need to bring "Louise" back to stock, factory specs? And, what shocks should I install?
The wheels and tires are the original specs.
Much thanks.
JWW



PS. "Louise" Johanna Kaes was SR. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's wife as you may know.

[Jim Breazeale]

Your car came with Koni Struts and aluminum "S" calipers. It would help to see pictures of your struts and the spindles to determine if the PO moved the spindles on the struts. The PO could have used many different methods to slam the car on the ground, some of which will not be easy or cheap to rectify. The attached pictures are what your suspension should look like.

Regards

Jim

[72targa]

Some questions I would be asking...

1) Does the car have the original torsion bars or some stiffer versions?
2) Status of the shocks (see Jim's comments to start).
3) Does it have original or adjustable spring plates?
4) Are the banana arms original or upgraded? (I have aluminum rear trailing arms on mine...great for negative camber...and the originals in storage).
5) Are the drop links stock or upgraded?

I would think that the biggest affect on ride comfort will come from the torsion bars. That being said, all of the above components play into ride height. You can do no better than Jim B. for help with the details!

Have fun and let's see some pictures!!

[Paragon]

Most track cars will have harder (poly-graphite or delrin) bushings installed on the spring plates, control arms and perhaps even the trailing arms. If that's the case on your car, you will probably want to go back to something similar to the factory rubber.

[Richardnew]

I find the sway bars make a big difference. They're also easy to change - or undo. I normally use the stock S bars front and rear. Also stock torsion bars. That give me a great street ride. It also gives me a lot of body roll at the track. I have some huge anti-roll bars for the track but they make the car really rough on the street.

You might try unhooking one end of your bars and see what happens. It's easy enough to do.

Richard Newton
Car Tech Stuff

[RSTarga]

On Targas you can not go as stiff as a coupe. I too was looking for a sporty but not harsh street ride.
21 front torsion bars, (you can stick with original 19's) 25 rear
I replaced all bushings with elephant rubber replacements. Original roll bars front and rear.
Koni adjustable gas front and rear shocks, original spindle height. 205/50/16. 225/55/16 fr and r tires.

Jim, I think the factory only used Konis on S Targas as an option, mine came with Boge. The S coupes all came with Koni.

[warnerman62]

Thanks for the excellent advice.

Ill have the shop raise the car back to USA ride height and put the original sway bar back on.
Im not expert enough to tell if the other bits and pieces were changed.
As for shocks, Ill put the Konis on.
JWW

[Paragon]

When they raise the ride height have them check the size of the front torsion bars. If the fronts are larger than stock safe to say the rears are larger as well. I'm betting someone on the list would be willing to swap you stock parts for your aftermarket pieces. I'd suggest going with the standard hydraulic Koni's.

[Jim Breazeale]

I would raise the car to European height. The US spec was too high and was done just to satisfy the headlight height from the ground. Almost all 911s got lowered to their intended height after arriving in the US.

Ciao

Jim