Suspension Upgrade for 944 S2
- Thread starter herbie75
- Start date
herbie75
New member
Sorry for delayed response, a trip to glasto meant i have been away from a computer for a while. I haven't had a chance to take photos yet either, but i will do soon and post.
I'm very very happy with the set up, the transformation is dramatic, although you have to consider that the shocks that Promax pulled out were very much on their last legs. It's hard to put it down to one thing, but the combination of konis, springs, ARBs, bushes, geomentry reset (the geomentry was way off) and putting on 17" wheels on have made a huge difference. My drive home was one of the most enjoyable experiences i've had, big grin all the way. I had the Promax chip fitted also which certainly made a difference to the driving experience.
It feels pretty planted, roundabouts are a joy to take on! Its hard to say with my limited experience how it compares to a KW kit, but this is a cheaper option, all in with labour and VAT about £1300, but if you did the work yourself then closer to £700. For me this good enough, I will primarily use for road, with maybe 1 or 2 trackdays a year, so i did not need to spend the extra money on a track foccused set up.
I also like the look of the car much more now, slightly lower with Cup 2s, which IMO is the best option. Will post piccies soon.
I'm very very happy with the set up, the transformation is dramatic, although you have to consider that the shocks that Promax pulled out were very much on their last legs. It's hard to put it down to one thing, but the combination of konis, springs, ARBs, bushes, geomentry reset (the geomentry was way off) and putting on 17" wheels on have made a huge difference. My drive home was one of the most enjoyable experiences i've had, big grin all the way. I had the Promax chip fitted also which certainly made a difference to the driving experience.
It feels pretty planted, roundabouts are a joy to take on! Its hard to say with my limited experience how it compares to a KW kit, but this is a cheaper option, all in with labour and VAT about £1300, but if you did the work yourself then closer to £700. For me this good enough, I will primarily use for road, with maybe 1 or 2 trackdays a year, so i did not need to spend the extra money on a track foccused set up.
I also like the look of the car much more now, slightly lower with Cup 2s, which IMO is the best option. Will post piccies soon.
Steve,ORIGINAL: spic01
Im very intrested in new suspension for my 1990 s2 and i have read everything here in great detail but i have to say im lost...and now thinking of just selling my car and buying a westfield or elise...[] Even though i love my car and i use it the same amount of time on a track as i do off im not sure i would want to pay the two and a half grand on a suspension upgrade...and from what im reading its not realy worth doing anything else...i wouldnt mind fitting the Koni inserts and the MO30 roll bars but i wouldnt want to go to the exspence of having the torsion bar reindexed...and if the Konis realy arnt worth doing then im thinking i might just be better off buying a car thats already for road and track !.
If your S2 is running on the original suspension then there is a HUGE amount to be gained from a change to even the most basic (standard) spec items. Your existing ones are nearly 20 years old, with how many hundred thousand miles on them? They will not be performing to their best.
It seems that options to change fall into three groups - 1. Back to (new) standard spec ones. 2. Koni's. 3. KW's. I guess you need to decide what you want to spend and what you are going to use the car for, but any change will certainly be worth it.
It is not necessary to reindex the rear torsion bar if you go for options 1 or 2. I defer to comments from other, much more knowledgable people about the torsion bar and option 3.
As Fen said tho', buying a Caterfield for track use would be a lot more expensive than even the most expensive suspension upgrade on your S2. It would be a much more enjoyable car on the track, but would be a pain in the neck as a daily driver - so you may end up running two cars, which is more expense. (If I thought I could live with a Caterfield as an only car, I would. Sadly, I know that Mrs zcacogp would kill me before I got tired of driving it around town in the middle of winter ... a friend ran a Dutton Phaeton as an only car many years ago, but we were younger then ... and more robust ... and even then it was hard work ... )
Oli.
Good stuff. Cheers also for the NZ comment. It's blowing a gale this morning, but I was asked yesterday what I thought of winter in Wellington. I asked when it was going to start and was told that this is it, but it will all be over in 6 or 7 weeks. It's been like late Sep early Oct UK I'd say and I can live with that being as bad as it gets and only lasting 2 months!
I haven't been here in November so this is second hand info, but it has been suggested to me as a good time for my Mother to visit as she doesn't want it to be too hot (not that it gets too hot here at all in global terms, but for an elderly lady from Scotland it might).
The theory is that it should be nice but not peak summer - it's broadly equivalent to May in Europe. The weather here is not dependable in the way it might be in Aus or southern Europe so it could be grey and/or wet, but not cold.
I assume you're considering a trip and if so it's a good season for things such as white water rafting around the Southern Alps as the rivers will be high from the melting snow. Rafting the Shotover looked awesome, but it was too low the day we were booked so we had to use an alternative which was far too calm. Having rafted another river here in 1996 I was sufficiently disappointed that I'm thinking of a November trip to Queenstown purely to raft the Shotover and ideally sledge it as well if possible - assuming sledging is as much fun as it looks, which I'll be looking to try out in the Spring in the Rotorua area of the North Island.
The theory is that it should be nice but not peak summer - it's broadly equivalent to May in Europe. The weather here is not dependable in the way it might be in Aus or southern Europe so it could be grey and/or wet, but not cold.
I assume you're considering a trip and if so it's a good season for things such as white water rafting around the Southern Alps as the rivers will be high from the melting snow. Rafting the Shotover looked awesome, but it was too low the day we were booked so we had to use an alternative which was far too calm. Having rafted another river here in 1996 I was sufficiently disappointed that I'm thinking of a November trip to Queenstown purely to raft the Shotover and ideally sledge it as well if possible - assuming sledging is as much fun as it looks, which I'll be looking to try out in the Spring in the Rotorua area of the North Island.
Sorry to cut in again guys... But i think i might go down the same road as Herbie with the konis as at the end of the day i know i could do all the work my self besides the geomentry reset and i only realy want to spend around a grand....and like everyone has said the car is a 1990 model with 146k on the clock and from the full history file i have for the car theres no sign of any suspension work being carried out so i guess anything new will have less roll and be more tighter...I think if i could do the reindexing of the torsion bar i might go down the KW road but i cant and for that reason the Konis along with Herbies other list of bits and bobs would keep me around the grand mark rather than double that ! Herbie would you mind if i pick your brains ? Am i right in thinking you got your Koni inserts from proven products ? What type/part are they ? and besides the opc list you had was there anything else you needed or purchased ?
Cheers Steve.
Cheers Steve.
RC18B 911 turbo
New member
I've been watching this with interest because I need to replace the shocks and I decided on getting KW V3s fitted, it seems that they need a bit of work to get them to fit, it hasn't put me off getting them I just wanted to know is it just a case of reindexing the torsion bar plus a few extra bits or is it a more major job than I'm thinking it might be still?
Either way it won't put me off I just want to be aware of what will need to be done.
Either way it won't put me off I just want to be aware of what will need to be done.
RC18B 911 turbo
New member
I do indeed still use Andy for most of the work on the car, hopefully be getting them fitted 2nd week in August if my car is back from bodyshop by then. Ordered the KW V3s earlier for £1,399 including postage not too bad really.
herbie75
New member
Steve, yes i got koni shocks from ProvenProducts, I think I posted somewhere on here the price I paid, they will pricematch and deliver for free if you mention this forum, or they did with me [
]I can't tell you the part numbers right now, I will be able to next week, but I am out of the office for the next few days. As long as you double check with proven that they are for an S2 there should be no problem, those guys seem to know there stuff. Koni sports adjustable shocks.
No, nothing else was needed other than the list I posted earlier. Speak to Marc at Porsche Exeter and ask him to match the order he sent me. He is very helpful, again free delivery.
Hope this is useful, let me know if you need any other help.
Hi Jon
Will you be keeping the same roll bars and just fitting the KW kit ? Do you know if i fit the KW kit on my car my self what sort of bill i could be looking at for the reindexing and the other bits and bobs ? Do you know if the KW kit can be fitted with out messing with the torsion bar ?
Cheers Steve.
herbie75
New member
ORIGINAL: herbie75
Oli,
thanks for the response, having looked at the guide provided by Diver it seems fairly simple and hopefully RGA will agree
sawood12
New member
KW requires re-indexing - assuming of course your car is still at stock height. You are looking at around 10mh of labout. The rear axel comes off with the usual replacement of bits and bobs they find that require replacement along the way. As Fen said the biggest risk is that the rubber mounts are shot. Mine happened to be OK in the end but I had bugetted £200 to have these replaced. I didn't bother with upgrading the ARB's choosing to see how the car was with just the KW as it was not going to be a dedicated track car. Also the Weltmiester bars are expensive. So far i've not felt the need to uprate the ARB's but then again i've not done a track day yet. I also took the opportunity to uprate my Torsion bars to M030 bars.
All in all you sould buget for £1500 for the installtion, replacement of various bits and bobs and the re-alignment. Not a cheap upgrade but worth it in my view. It has transformed my cars handling, feel and traction.
All in all you sould buget for £1500 for the installtion, replacement of various bits and bobs and the re-alignment. Not a cheap upgrade but worth it in my view. It has transformed my cars handling, feel and traction.
Big Dave
New member
Steve. To make the car work CORRECTLY you WILL need to lower the rear ride height on the torsions. And DONT let anybody tell you differently....
Ive seen cars that have been lowered on just the excentric bolts, + they are still TOO high...
Its not hard to do,[ well not when youve done it 4 times....].. just long winded + labourious....Plan on at least a FULL day at the indies OR 2 full days to DIY, just to be on the safe side...
Dont forget to check you fuel + brake pipes whilst your at it...You can ONLY do those with the rear beam removed...
Thanks for the info chaps....[]
It looks like im going to be following Herbie down his road as i just cant spend the 2 to 2 and a half k on a suspension upgrade unless i was going to compete in the car and thats not in my plans...Am i a tight ? even though i do around 700 track miles a year in the car and have done for the last 3 years i still cant justify spending nearly half what i paid for the car for the upgrade 
Herbie did they lower your car on the excentric bolts ? How different dose it feel to drive now after your upgrade?.
Cheers Steve.
]It looks like im going to be following Herbie down his road as i just cant spend the 2 to 2 and a half k on a suspension upgrade unless i was going to compete in the car and thats not in my plans...Am i a tight ? even though i do around 700 track miles a year in the car and have done for the last 3 years i still cant justify spending nearly half what i paid for the car for the upgrade Herbie did they lower your car on the excentric bolts ? How different dose it feel to drive now after your upgrade?.
Cheers Steve.
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