Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

Ride height adjustment '77 911 Targa 2.7

John Brewin

Member
Joined
21 Jun 2003
Messages
7
I need to raise the rear ride height of my '77 911 2.7 which is sagging somewhat. The job looks relatively straightforward in Haynes but I am concerned about inadvertently disturbing the rear camber/alignment setup when detaching the rear hub carriers from the drop arms.


Is it possible to rotate the arms relative to the torsion bars without detaching the hub assembly from the arms - or if not is it sufficient to mark the components for reassembly before disturbing the adjustment bolts?


Any advice gratefully received.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11749
 
Not sure about the 2.7, but my 3.2 which uses the same setup has an eccentric bolt in each arm which basically pivots the arm halfway along it's length, and therefore allows height adjustment. There is an additional locknut, but you certainly don't half to disturb the camber/toe bolts.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 11774
 
Thanks, Nathan. I've seen a reference somewhere to later models being easier to adjust - now I know why!

Mine only seems to have 2 eccentric bolts on each arm - one of which is toe-in and the other camber. Looks like they have effectively put an adjustable pivot in the middle of the later arms to allow height adjustment without disturbing the torsion bars - very cunning!

Wish they's used the same simple idea on the rears as they have on the fronts.

Anyone else any ideas please?


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11775
 
John, if the rear's "sagging" why not lower the front to match!! Mine's running quite low, and I don't suffer any clearance problems. In fact, I think it handles a whole lot better, with less of that front to rear "pitching" sort of feeling over the bumps. From memory I think my rear height from road to centre of wheel arch is around 24.5", and the front 25. Can't check at the moment because the engine's out so the rear's a little higher than usual!!

Migration info. Legacy thread was 11777
 
Nathan

Slight problem - one side at the rear is slightly lower than the other - so I had hoped to rectify this whilst sorting the ride heights generally.

However the front does look pretty high at the moment and it could be that with a bit of careful spannerwork I could drop the front unequally and bring the offending back corner into line. I guess I can always put it back up easily if it doesn't work out.

From the pic of your car I'd say that if anything your rear is a touch lower than mine so in theory it should work fine.

Incidentally, because I rarely run with a full tank of juice, I have put some surplus lead roof flashing in the very front of the boot to compensate. The beneficial effect on handling/cornering is very noticeable. I understand that this was one of the first 'mods' that Porsche did anyway - placing lead behind the front bumpers and lead-lining the very heavy fuel tanks - triumph of development over design I think they call it!

Thanks for all your help


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11781
 
Unevenely lowering the front to compensate doesnt sound right to me.

Sure you may get the car 'looking' right, but you could screw up the corner weights big time and end up with a horribly handling wagon, where two diagonally opposite wheels are supporting more weight than the other two. Not good. I wouldnt want to whizz down the road in that.

Why not bite the bullet, let a proper shop do corner weights, ride height and then four wheel alignment. You will know then that youve got your 911 working best it can, know where you are and perhaps avoid some nasty, expensive or life threatning handling experience. You will only have to do it once.

Adrian Crawford. 911secrets.com performance2and4.co.uk


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11783
 
Adrian

Thanks for the advice and I think that before I do anything I'll take it round to my local Porsche specialist and get an opinion. I'll also take a folding chair for use when reading their quote!

John


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11784
 
John, if one side is much lower than the other, it could actually be more than just a quick adjustment which is needed. Older cars are known for worn/broken torsion bars & bushes. Has the ride/handling deteriorated suddenly, and are there any nasty knocks or squeeks anywhere? Removing the torsion bars is not a difficult job although can take a while if its the first time you've done it. Depending on your mechanical competence, I'd be tempted to strip the lot and replace whatever is necessary, then get the alignment/corner weights set professionally (as Adrian suggests) when it's all back together.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11801
 
Nathan

Ride/handling fine and no odd noises. The car's actually in great mechanical shape. I have carried out extensive mechanical/restoration work on other makes but not Porsche - although certain similarities with VW Beetles I've played around with in the past. My garage is well equipped but narrow - which is a real pain when what I really need to do is get the whole thing level on axle stands and have clearance to withdraw the torsion bars on both sides. Nor do I have a level platform outside on which to work - so may reluctantly have to cough up the necessary!

For interest I've just taken a tape measure round the car and the heights floor to wheelarch are: Front O/S 27", Front N/S 26 1/4", Rear O/S 24 3/4", Rear N/S 24 1/2" Clearly the rear side-to-side difference is not as great as it appears - the effect being magnified by the relatively large difference across the fronts.

From this it certainly looks tempting to drop the front (relatively easy) in such a way as to bring the car level and then drive carefully to the specialist and get the corner weights checked. Might save disrupting the rear-end set-up (which functions fine with correct cambers and no sign of tyre wear bias).

Very grateful for your contributions and I'll keep the thread going when I can find time to get down and dirty!


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11803
 
Measuring from the floor..... is not a very accurate way, you need to be certain of a true flat floor which is what the race car shops use. Anything else can lead you astray, thats why, especially on a car so old and with springs (torsion bars) that have sagged its worth actually weighing each corner. If you are making the effort to do it, go the extra mile and do it right, its really easy to adjust stuff and go in a big circle.

adrian crawford


Migration info. Legacy thread was 11820
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,350
Messages
1,439,410
Members
48,705
Latest member
Scratch
Back
Top