Finally done with build (before and after) - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Eric G · 08-26-2012, 07:51 PM

Here is Gadget finally done:

Before:

After http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/35002-so-build-begins.html:

golonaus · 08-26-2012, 08:37 PM

Sharp box

Squozen · 08-27-2012, 01:24 AM

That's riding incredibly high for an M030... not sure if it's the 17" wheels or the fact that the suspension hasn't run in yet.

Eric G · 08-27-2012, 04:33 AM

Suspension needs to settle in to place. This picture was taken within 5 minutes of coming off the lift so I am not concerned as this has always been the case with any vehicle I have done a suspension replacement on. Springs have had zero load on them and with all new components and bushings, things are extremely tight at this point. I will say it was quite a shocking change from before with the old blown out kit she had on before.

AndyA6 · 08-27-2012, 06:08 AM

Very nice! I am sure you scored a lot of points with the forum here

tommy986 · 08-27-2012, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squozen

That's riding incredibly high for an M030... not sure if it's the 17" wheels or the fact that the suspension hasn't run in yet.

Painting the lower rocker panel black also gives the impression its riding higher than it is.

Eric G · 08-27-2012, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy986

Painting the lower rocker panel black also gives the impression its riding higher than it is.

I see you caught that!

tommy986 · 08-27-2012, 08:12 PM

The front does seem pretty high. Did it settle down yet?
I think I read somewhere that you aren't supposed to torque down some of the suspension pieces until the car is down on the ground.
Like the end I circled in this pic. front and rear.

When I did mine it was on jack stands. I put a jack under the ball joint end and loaded the suspension until the car just started to raise up. Then I torqued to spec.

Eric G · 08-28-2012, 07:03 AM

Car was fully weighted on the suspension when it was torqued down. Didn't want all my hard work going out in the first hundred miles. Thanks for the thought however.

blue2000s · 08-28-2012, 07:53 AM

That's not right. I've replaced the suspension on a couple of cars including my 986. They are maybe 1/2" higher than the final settled height at first. Nothing like that..

Eric G · 08-28-2012, 10:13 AM

Well, not being a stubborn I will go back, loosen and retighten everything under load again and post up the difference. The car was fully on the suspension when I did the torque. I will post up pics after that (just got to get through the day at work first)!

JAAY · 08-28-2012, 10:29 AM

Please tell me you do not put the springs in backwards. If possible. Cause it would look like that if you did. What suspension did you put in? or redo?

Eric G · 08-28-2012, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAAY

Please tell me you do not put the springs in backwards. If possible. Cause it would look like that if you did. What suspension did you put in? or redo?

You know that thought was one that crossed my mind early on in the build...But...I pulled the front suspension off first and replaced it with the new parts before I even yanked off the rear suspension so it was a one for one replacement, front for front and rear for rear.

So, in between meetings at work today, I spent some time looking at other forums regarding suspension issues and it is quite surprising how many people have had issues with the front being higher after replacement and worrying they did something wrong. I am lucky in that I have several people I work with who have spent the better part of their lives inside and underneath Porsche's.

I took the concerns voiced here and said did I screw the pooch somehow on what I did. We walked out and looked at the car and the unified consensus was to go home and put her back on the lift, loosen the bolts and re-torque under load (actually add some load to you match the Porsche recommendations for weighting of the car).

So at lunch I did just that and this time I released the sway bar bushing fixture as well (turns out several folks on other forums had issues with binding of those bushings when set "not under load") I did torque those bushing while hanging...

After it was done and I had car on the ground I found that I had modified the height by only .250 in overall. So, got cleaned up and took the car back to work and called the guys out for a looksy. There were some grins as they expected the results I came back with...they just wanted to be sure I had not set the torque while hanging on the rack.

In short, they said since everything on the suspension is new, not just struts but all parts so I need to give the car some time to settle down and I will see the height come down. Porsche springs to sag over time (mind you we are talking years here on this) but the settling they were referring to as the bushings and other components. So in the end I am very happy with the handling as it is phenomenal and the money put in to her was well spent. I should have a couple hundred miles on her before she goes in for her alignment on Thursday and then I will update where I am at.

jacabean · 08-28-2012, 06:05 PM

did you put a lift kit in it ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric G

I see you caught that!

Eric G · 08-28-2012, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacabean

did you put a lift kit in it ?

The rocker panel is black.

Topless · 08-28-2012, 07:45 PM

Glad you are getting it sorted. They don't come off the line brand-spanking-new that high off the ground so many of us were worried. A 986 Forum brother has got to represent.

Eric G · 08-29-2012, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topless

Glad you are getting it sorted.

Trying to anyways!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topless

They don't come off the line brand-spanking-new that high off the ground so many of us were worried.

...which has left me scratching my head on this. The culprit in all this has me leaning towards the springs as they are incredibly stiff. With that said however, they are marked correctly for the kit (ROW M030) as listed for this year car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topless

A 986 Forum bother has got to represent.

Always

tommy986 · 08-29-2012, 09:33 AM

what are the color codes on the springs you installed up front?

Eric G · 08-29-2012, 10:19 AM

Well, I was able to get the ride height down from it's 4X4 setting

Turned out it was a legacy issue from the PO and how the suspension was set up. Since all four struts were completely shot, I had not noticed that the PO had been resetting the struts to compensate for the sagging. When I removed the old struts I made note of where they were set on the wheel hub and made sure that this was maintained on the new...my bad here.

The front struts have the mounting plate that the ABS cable rides in and the holes below it are where the drop link passes through as you tighten it to hold the strut to the wheel hub. This is where I had not placed the new wheel hub. I realized this was the issue this morning as I tried to match the markers up and no matter how hard I tried they just would not go which told me IT HAD TO BE THE STRUT.

In the end the ride height is where is should have been. Thank you all for the comments and prodding! It was appreciated. I will post some pics tonight to show the new and improved proper ride height!

Topless · 08-29-2012, 11:19 AM

Yay! For a while we thought you were setting up for Targa Newfoundland.