To measure Ride Height:
1) What and Where.
Front: There is a small flat machined area on the bottom of the cast
bracket that holds the rear of the Lower Control Arm, between the ribs. This pad should be
180mm +/- 10mm from the floor. There should be a max difference of 10mm
from left to right.
Rear: There is a small flat machined area on the aft bottom of the large
u-shaped bracket that holds the lower transverse control link (the large flat blade). This pad
should be 173 +\- 10mm from the floor. There should be a max of 10mm
difference from left to right.
2) How to Measure.
First, and most important: You CAN NOT measure, jack the car to change
the ride height, lower the car and re-measure! You MUST either measure, jack and
change, then drive the car for at least three or four miles before you
re-measure; OR measure, change ride height WITHOUT jacking the car, then
re-measure. The
928 takes several miles of driving, or using special tool 10-222A to
pull the front end down 60-70mm for one minute.
Yes, they are serious. Yes, if you don't do it one of these two ways,
you will screw up your ride height - and the same thing applies to front end alignment.
You will need a tool that you can use to measure the ride height points
while manipulating it at arm's length under the car. One possibility
would be a pair of
yardsticks, bolted together near the centers using a wing nut, making a
kind of three-foot scissors. Slip this under the car to the machined
pad, put one tip on the
floor and one tip on the pad, being sure to keep them plumb, tighten the
wing nut, pull it out and measure the height.
3) How to Change the Ride Height.
Most 928 springs are adjustable. These have a round, notched, threaded
nut around the shocks under the lower spring seats. Ed Ruiz found a tool to adjust these
nuts - a "Motion Pro Single Shank Nut Spanner, 08-029" at a motorcycle
shop for about $16. (Someone bought one of these tools by mail order
from a motorcycle
dealer in Pittsburgh (tel. 800-860-0686). They refer to it as an "ATV
Shock Tool" part no. P529. It's made by Motion Pro whose own part
number is 08-029.
Cost was about $14 plus shipping.) Turn the front wheels all the way
left or right, lube the nut area well with a penetrating spray
lubricant, and turn the nut right to
raise, left to lower. You can get to the rear (also lubed) with only a
little stretching.
Adjust the height all the way around and re-measure. When you think that
you have it right, drive the car for three or four miles and re-measure.
If your Spring Struts are not adjustable, the only way to change ride
height is to change springs or to disassemble and add a maximum of two
spacers to the lower
spring seats.
4) After you get the front ride height set, adjust the toe-in.
Easiest
way is to "string" the car, ala NASCAR. Use any four convenient
objects
to securely hold two
strings that run beside the car, an inch or two from the tires. Warning!
The track is rarely the same front and rear, so don't use the rear tires
to set your string!
Measure the distance between the strings in front of and behind the car,
and make these distances identical. Make the distances between each rear
tire and its string
identical. Make the distance between each front wheel center and its
string identical. Straighten the front wheels with the steering wheel.
Measure the distance from the front of each tire to the string and the distance from the back of
the tire to the string. Try to be very consistent on where you measure from on the tires. Do the
simple math to get the difference between the front and back
measurements on the front tires. Adjust the tie rods on the steering
rack to get the tires almost straight
ahead, with the smallest amount of toe-in that you can measure. This
will be close enough until you can find an alignment shop that will
align your car WITHOUT
JACKING IT UP. If your alignment shop can't or won't do the alignment
without jacking the car up, find another shop.
4) Personal Opinion
Set your car at the factory ride height. This is where the suspension
was designed to work. My car was lowered by the Previous Owner. Raising it to standard height
very noticeably improved both the ride and handling. Low may look cool,
but it doesn't work well!
Wally Plumley
928 Specialists