Shocks for an 86 944 N/A swap

[Humble]

Here's an update on my suspension setup.

In order to use the rabbit shocks in the 944 struts, the strut bodies were shortened by about 3-4" and the spring seat trimmed out of the way. The threaded collars i got look like anodized aluminum and have wide threads to them. They have 5" or so of adjustability. I aslo got the rear torsion bars re-indexed so the car has a much better stance now.

The bad news... the springs I got are a tad too big. I bought the 12" tall spring and I should have bought the 10". Right now the adjustable perch is bottomed out as low as it'll go and the ride height is perfect, but no adjustability. Also, once the car was lowered in the front, I had it re-aligned (never a bad thing when you change your setup). With the camber bolts maxed out (lower control arm and strut housing) I ended up with 0 degrees on the driver side front and +0.5 degrees on the passenger side front. In the rear I set it for -1.0 degrees camber.

It looks like camber plates are in my future.

Handling wise... it's a world of difference. Much, much softer than before, that's right, softer. I preloaded the rear a bit much, and forcing the beetle springs in the porsche struts preloaded them a good ammount too. Now the car doesn't have snap over-steer issues like it did before and there is more of a gradual loss of traction that is much easier to predict. I learn a little more about the handling once I can push the car legally in a safe envirmonment.

[randyj]

Originally Posted by Humble

Here's an update on my suspension setup.

In order to use the rabbit shocks in the 944 struts, the strut bodies were shortened by about 3-4" and the spring seat trimmed out of the way.

Humble,

I thought that the strut body had a screw-on cap to hold the strut insert into the strut body. Does this mean that you do not have the cap anymore to keep the strut insert in the body?

Thanks,
Randy

[Humble]

Originally Posted by randyj

Humble,

I thought that the strut body had a screw-on cap to hold the strut insert into the strut body. Does this mean that you do not have the cap anymore to keep the strut insert in the body?

Thanks,
Randy

Not exactly. Basically the strut body has a section cut out and the threaded piece welded back on so i can keep the struts where they belong

Originally Posted by Humble

In order to use the rabbit shocks in the 944 struts, the strut bodies were shortened by about 3-4"

Actually the thing to do here is just use Rabbit strut housings to bein with, as they are already 3" or so shorter. I suggest you rid yourself of the hacked and welded 944 housings and replace them with some Rabbit ones.