Discussion
The pic of the week http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI... made me wonder what they do to these cars to protect the suspension, etc on re-entry from orbit?
We're contemplating raising the Porsche an inch or so because with the slightly lower tyres we now have to run because Dunlop deleted the old ones, we're grounding quite a bit (exhaust, bash plate over sump, and a few scrapes on the transaxle), but not hit anything too hard yet and would leave it as is if we could be reasonably confident of avoiding major damage. Are sacrificial bash/scratch plates fitted to structural chassis mounting points as sophisticated as it gets?
We're contemplating raising the Porsche an inch or so because with the slightly lower tyres we now have to run because Dunlop deleted the old ones, we're grounding quite a bit (exhaust, bash plate over sump, and a few scrapes on the transaxle), but not hit anything too hard yet and would leave it as is if we could be reasonably confident of avoiding major damage. Are sacrificial bash/scratch plates fitted to structural chassis mounting points as sophisticated as it gets?
Yeah, it did look pretty low and your exhaust does hang fairly low also. You can check the front suspension a-arms to get an idea if its been additionally lowered for track work - basically the a-arms should be level (not pointing upwards at the wheel end). If they are pointing upwards, you run the risk of having the balljoint bind at full compression which can result in catestrophic failure esp. on the aluminium arms.
If you were bottoming out at Rotorua, then you probably do want to increase your ride height abit for the big one. I'm assuming that you're happy with the spring rates and they have been uprated from stock? Mini-me (Reuben) at Powerhaus could be worth having a chat with - they did a lot of work on Dale and Pete's 944 before its demise.
We run a plate at the front only - and we don't do jumps. Mounting the rear of the plate to the rear suspension point of the front a-arms is not flash as these are cantilevered off the sub-frame and will bend on impact. This is what Dale and Pete had the year I crewed for them and when they bottomed out on landing, it ripped the plate out of the front crossmember and bent the rear pick-up points as it was carried back. It also shifted the front crossmember back 5mm on its mounts binding up the steering rack!!!. Their second setup was a 5mm ali plate with chromoly fabrication from the front rails to under the radiator as the front mounting and then bolted to the front crossmember with about 300mm cantilevered behind the crossmember to protect the sump. Ours id a variation on this and is still not ideal.
If I got serious about it, I'd extend the plate back past the rear of the suspension and have a shear mount on the subframe rails (behind the line of the firewall). You don't want it causing more damage by transferring loads. Also watch the effect it has on cooling air flow. 944's run cooler with the factory undertrays in place that without them. Curiously, my top end is 3-4km/hr faster at Puke with the plate installed compared to no plate or undertrays.
If you were bottoming out at Rotorua, then you probably do want to increase your ride height abit for the big one. I'm assuming that you're happy with the spring rates and they have been uprated from stock? Mini-me (Reuben) at Powerhaus could be worth having a chat with - they did a lot of work on Dale and Pete's 944 before its demise.
We run a plate at the front only - and we don't do jumps. Mounting the rear of the plate to the rear suspension point of the front a-arms is not flash as these are cantilevered off the sub-frame and will bend on impact. This is what Dale and Pete had the year I crewed for them and when they bottomed out on landing, it ripped the plate out of the front crossmember and bent the rear pick-up points as it was carried back. It also shifted the front crossmember back 5mm on its mounts binding up the steering rack!!!. Their second setup was a 5mm ali plate with chromoly fabrication from the front rails to under the radiator as the front mounting and then bolted to the front crossmember with about 300mm cantilevered behind the crossmember to protect the sump. Ours id a variation on this and is still not ideal.
If I got serious about it, I'd extend the plate back past the rear of the suspension and have a shear mount on the subframe rails (behind the line of the firewall). You don't want it causing more damage by transferring loads. Also watch the effect it has on cooling air flow. 944's run cooler with the factory undertrays in place that without them. Curiously, my top end is 3-4km/hr faster at Puke with the plate installed compared to no plate or undertrays.
Edited by RENN68 on Monday 9th June 23:29
Edited by RENN68 on Monday 9th June 23:29
Cheers George - lots to think about there. Ours has mounts at the front for the radiator (not connected), two arms which go up to the front chassis rails, and u-bolts around the ARB. It trails back to protect the sump with some rubber padding on top to soften the impact if (when!) it is forced up. We don't like the design much, and the mounts on the chassis rails that carry most of the load have pushed up into the chassis rails a fair bit.
The front should be pretty easy to raise. Raising the rear will require a rotation on the splines which we understand is a trivial job.... except you have to pretty much dismantle the rear end to achieve it. The clutch also needs replacing so since we're dropping the transaxle for that, we'll probably do both jobs at the same time. Haven't decided yet if we want to do it all ourselves or pay the professionals.
The exhaust is off and has been well hammered, mostly before our time. The pipe is coming away from the rear box and one of the two cherry bombs further forward is just about scraped right through so we'll get that section replaced if possible with oval tubing that sits higher. Question: I know these engines need back pressure but does two cherry bombs and a muffler sound sensible? We don't know what's inside them of course...
The front should be pretty easy to raise. Raising the rear will require a rotation on the splines which we understand is a trivial job.... except you have to pretty much dismantle the rear end to achieve it. The clutch also needs replacing so since we're dropping the transaxle for that, we'll probably do both jobs at the same time. Haven't decided yet if we want to do it all ourselves or pay the professionals.
The exhaust is off and has been well hammered, mostly before our time. The pipe is coming away from the rear box and one of the two cherry bombs further forward is just about scraped right through so we'll get that section replaced if possible with oval tubing that sits higher. Question: I know these engines need back pressure but does two cherry bombs and a muffler sound sensible? We don't know what's inside them of course...
Edited by Omerta on Monday 9th June 23:59
A tip from Steve R at Euro Pacific - a 2" diameter hole in the sill gives easy access to the splines whenever required without having to drop the rear end.
Normally I wouldn't consider this kind of automotive abuse to a Porsche, but this particular 944 has been a race slut for long enough that she's not got a lot of integrity left to lose. Haven't had Iain's opinion on this 'mod' yet though...
Normally I wouldn't consider this kind of automotive abuse to a Porsche, but this particular 944 has been a race slut for long enough that she's not got a lot of integrity left to lose. Haven't had Iain's opinion on this 'mod' yet though...
I love the RS200... I saw it on its first public outing in Northumberland a very long time ago.. there were a couple of those new fangled 6R4s out that day too. Awesome!
Looks like the 944 will end up with a single 'cherry bomb' type thing and a rear muffler too as we have to rebuild the system following the abuse we gave it. Hopefully that will work OK - and be more out of the way than the old system.
Happy enough to re work things to make the rear ride height more eisily adjustable, provided we can do it neatly. Hopefully we won't have to fiddle too much once we re set it. Looks like we are pretty much taking the entire back end to pieces if we are doing exhaust, clutch and ride height... I'm going to move my house contents into the garage... oops they already are.
Looks like the 944 will end up with a single 'cherry bomb' type thing and a rear muffler too as we have to rebuild the system following the abuse we gave it. Hopefully that will work OK - and be more out of the way than the old system.
Happy enough to re work things to make the rear ride height more eisily adjustable, provided we can do it neatly. Hopefully we won't have to fiddle too much once we re set it. Looks like we are pretty much taking the entire back end to pieces if we are doing exhaust, clutch and ride height... I'm going to move my house contents into the garage... oops they already are.
Yup - whole torsion bar assembly needs to come out unless you do the 2" holesaw mod.
You can see it in the pics of Johns car..... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Specialis...
You can see it in the pics of Johns car..... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Specialis...
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