Right - now I have the "datum" I know where to go. I had almost no preload because I put the spring plates on without the tool.. Now on its wheels the angle of the plates is about -1 degrees so the suspension is pretty compressed leaving me with 50mm ground clearance to the rear engine bar.Chip Birks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 10:59 am Honestly, ride height isn't that tricky. You just have to have the initial loaded baseline (which you now have), and then adjust from there. There are charts out the that show how far adjusting each tooth (inner or outer or combo of both) will shift ride height. You know where it is now, just do the simple math to get where you want it to be and adjust. Were you already close to the stops with your current ride height. There is no preload on my bars and the car sits exactly where I want it. I do have a lot more tire diameter than you do though. Mine are 26 inches, yours look closer to 23" or 24". That obviously isn't helping your ground clearance issue either, and may justify preload compared to the setup I have.
I think folks make bar recommendations based on building potato chip race cars, those of us with these heavy turbo'd street cars can get away with a ton more bar than generally recommended. My car had 29mm bars and the ride was not stiff at all. If anything, I probably should have gone with 30mm bars but at the time they weren't available.
This is a good stage to be at, fabrication is fun and all, but it's satisfying to be at the assembly and adjustment stage too. Almost there! Are you going with a similar color to what you have on there now?
I'm running 17" wheels with I think a 185/40 profile tyre so yes that contributes. I see there's a tool so I'll get it.
I had an idea, I bought some 40x40x5mm steel angle to make fake shocks and fake the rear height quickly with the wings etc on so I can determine the desired height. The steel angle should just "help" the torsion bars and keep the spring plate angles fixed for this activity, obviously not for driving.
I'm glad to be done with fab, I tuned my buddies 914 with a blower on it a month ago and now I'm desperate to enjoy mine.
The paint....that Green is epoxy sealer. My wife calls it Kermit. I have a stock interior from Lenny Copp and am going for the stock colour for the car (it was a matching numbers car before I did this) which is Pastel Green L11. There are 0 body mods to get all this in except the removable valence. Everything is bolt in, no holes drilled in the body. It took a lot of planning!!
