944 spring plates

[SilverBullet]

Wally, JMD, what shocks are you using at the rear with the 944 setup?
Thanks.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet

Wally, JMD, what shocks are you using at the rear with the 944 setup?
Thanks.

I still use the Bilstein gas shocks for VW IRS I bought 20 years ago. They have worked on my typ 3's (squarebacks) and 1303 bugs on all the cars I drove since...
They work very well, but I always feel they should have been a little bit shorter as I fear bottoming them out. My (shortenend) bump stops have always prevented this I think, but would have liked a little more travel out of them so I cold shorten the bump stops an inch more..

Oh, I did of course bore out the bottom 12mm mount for the porsche's 14mm bolts. A dedicated (porsche) shock with 14mm from the start would be better of course.

[evilC]

Originally Posted by Wally

I still use the Bilstein gas shocks for VW IRS I bought 20 years ago. They have worked on my typ 3's (squarebacks) and 1303 bugs on all the cars I drove since...
They work very well, but I always feel they should have been a little bit shorter as I fear bottoming them out. My (shortenend) bump stops have always prevented this I think, but would have liked a little more travel out of them so I cold shorten the bump stops an inch more..

Oh, I did of course bore out the bottom 12mm mount for the porsche's 14mm bolts. A dedicated (porsche) shock with 14mm from the start would be better of course.

Hi Wally, aren't your dampers passed their best by now? I know Bilys are durable but 20 years is a long time - unless of course they are rebuildable?

I also bored out the bush for the 14mm Porsche bolt on the Spax dampers we fitted, but it occurred to me that a standard 14mm steel bush pressed in to the 12mm rubber might also work giving a greater preload to the bush i.e. making it stiffer as well as giving a better crush resistance compared to a bored out steel bush?

Clive

[Wally]

Originally Posted by evilC

Hi Wally, aren't your dampers passed their best by now? I know Bilys are durable but 20 years is a long time - unless of course they are rebuildable?

Yeah, I hear you. I have been holding that of for a good solution for now and I can't invest all at once either

I also bored out the bush for the 14mm Porsche bolt on the Spax dampers we fitted, but it occurred to me that a standard 14mm steel bush pressed in to the 12mm rubber might also work giving a greater preload to the bush i.e. making it stiffer as well as giving a better crush resistance compared to a bored out steel bush?

Clive

Thats a real good idea. Never thought that was possible tho. I have also seen nice heim-like joints (unibolts?) for the bottom bolt, which would mean getting rid of the rubber all at once. Not sure if they will fit any lower shock eye.

[evilC]

Originally Posted by Wally

....... I have also seen nice heim-like joints (unibolts?) for the bottom bolt, which would mean getting rid of the rubber all at once. Not sure if they will fit any lower shock eye.

You mean spherical bearings? In principle I don't see why they wouldn't fit however, there are several considerations:

1) The bottom ring is usually concave in section i.e. bell'd. The bearing would have to be pressed in.

2) The ring size would have to be between 34 - 41.2mm dia depending on the selected bearing - teflon lined would be preferred.

3) The race would have to be staked in and a good press fit to stop the race spinning

The minimum race size of 34mm sounds too large for the normal bottom eye ring? The best option would be to include a sleeve as well to the outside of the bearing so that the whole lot could be accurately machined but I don't think the spec is available.

Having said all of that Ricola's Pro-tech dampers look like an affordable proposition especially as they are made to order with I assume the potential of different eye bolt diameters. It's time to pension Billy off.

Clive

[Wally]

Yeah, sferical bearings.
and I agree on the last bit