Make my car handle better, CHEAP!!!!!! Options

[seanery]

I'd say forget the 140s or 180s for a street car, total overkill.
Get the Koni yellows with adjustable perches and 125 lb springs. I got mine from Paragon. This should be IMHO, the first thing you should do for ride.
195s or 205s next then sway(s).

[Bleyseng]

Nope, I run 180's and 22mm hollow front bars. Doesn't shake my fillings out on these crappy Seattle roads. Car handles like a gokart on steroids.

I would go with 140's so the car doesn't get too out of balance if you don't have a front bar.


Geoff

he just go new shocks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

[seanery]

western roads are smoother than midwestern roads, trust me. We get horrible freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw here.
I'd consider 140s or 185s if I still lived in SmelLA, but here, no friggen way!

[Bleyseng]

We don't have salt in the winter but we do have the studded tires which chew up the roads bigtime! The freeways are terrible and the surface streets are all filled with potholes due to the rains..

Visting Phoenix was nice as the roads are great there, only place better is Europe!


Geoff (IMG:style_emoticons/default/MDB2.gif)

[r_towle]

I would have to agree.
New shocks and new springs for the rear.
New shocks and new torsion bars for the front.
Tune that with an alignment first, drive it and see if you need a sway bar...depends on your driving habits.

go with 140 lbs srpings in the rear, if you get the koni shocks, you will get a nice ride.
I think this is the combo that Brad puts in most of the street cars he works on...

Rich

[blabla914]

I disagree with 140's or 180's on a street car you will drive any kind of distance. I have 125's from paragon and a 22mm front bar. The car is very stiff for driving in and around New York city. The longest I've been in it is 4 hours non stop on a 6 hour trip. It was pretty tough and all my friends think I'm nuts.
I also have 7 autocross FTD's with CART and have won my class at PCA zone 1 twice and placed top 10 or 15 overall Zone 1. You can look me up, Kelly Evans, white 914, MOD1. Yes, it is a compromise, but you don't HAVE to have ultra stiff springs to be quick. I'll probaby get tons of people telling me I don't know diddly, but my results speak for themselves.
My order would be bushings, alignment, tires, shocks, bars/springs together, corner balance.

Kelly

[SpecialK]

I've driven on just about every highway from San Diego to Tampa, and as far north as I-80 going from Denver to Chicago, and the ABSOLUTE best stretch of highway I've ever had the pleasure of driving on is the section of I-75 that runs through Atlanta, GA. At the time (1998) it was absolutely seamless from state line, to state line! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Hey Ninefourteener, do you live up around St. Charles or St. Peters? Kinda looks like the neighborhoods up that way (checking out the background in the pic of your '72).

As for suspension, I've got 140 lb. springs in the rear (keep in mind, 140's and 180's will lower the rear of your car about 1", so you'll need to lower the front to match and add some spacers to the steering rack assy.), 21mm torsion bars up front, turbo tie-rods, stock swaybars front and rear, all new polycarbonite bushings and a pair of Beemer brakes on the front.

I can't give you an opinion of how well it handles, as all of the above mentioned parts are still in the boxes that they were shipped to me in (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) , and it won't be going anywhere under its own power anytime soon (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) , but I imagine compared to the "Bucket-O-Rust" '75, it'll handle like it's on rails!!

P.S. - Love that color of green!!

[SpecialK]

Oh yeah, I'm running 8" with 225/50's in the rear, and 7" with 205/50's up front (911SC flares on the rear for clearance [hey, it was that way when I bought it])

[Dave_Darling]

180lb/in springs on the back, with everything else stock? Can you say, "oversteer"? That would be a serious handful, the back end would want to trade places with the front just about any time the steering wheel moved!!

I suggest going no more than 100 lb/in springs in the back if you keep the rest of the car stock. Remember, the suspension thing is a balancing act--you want to have similar traction at the front and rear ends of the car. Too stiff on one end leads to that end breaking traction first, and having the rear break traction first is not going to make you happy on the street!!

As I implied earlier, I think that the rear springs would be somewhere after upgrading the front sway bar--and very definitely be lower-priority than putting decent tires on the car!

--DD

[majkos]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif) Lucky you! Having such wide wheels already.

[ninefourteener]

Hey Ninefourteener, do you live up around St. Charles or St. Peters?  Kinda looks like the neighborhoods up that way (checking out the background in the pic of your '72).


P.S. - Love that color of green!!

Hey Special K...

Man..... any chance I could get you to just say "screw 914s" and just give me all that crap you have?? You know, kinda like a charity thing?? LOL

J/K

And no, I don't live in St. Chuck or St Peters area... although my g/f lives there, and I'm there all the time. I live in Base housing (Scott AFB, IL). I'm active duty AF---10 years

I think I'm gonna go a little risky with 140 lb springs, on all 4 corners..... that seems to be the general consensus.. plus, I'm tough... I think I can handle it. The 914 was never all that comfortable of a car anyway.

I was looking in the new TWEEKS I just got in the mail today..... which BTW.... is no longer TWEEKS..... now it's "Mid-America".... not sure whats up with that.

Thanks for the color props... I LOVE the color too.. just wish it came with a black interior rather than a brown one, you know? The brown really clashes with my whole green/black theme. I wonder if I could swap interiors with someone--LOL

So long as I'm clashing..... shit.. might as well re-apholster the seats in plaid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[airsix]

Wow. I'm sorry, but I have to say that there has been some really terrible advice given in this thread. There's been some good advice too, but how's the inexperienced reader to know which is which? I don't want to hurt feelings, but I'm worried that "nineforteener" is going to go out and blow a wad of cash on upgrades that are not going to give the intended result. And that is what would happen if some of these suggestions were followed.

Nineforteener, I'm not going to point fingers and say who I think knows what they are talking about and who I think is up to their eyes in BS, but I do highly recommend that you speak directly to one or more individuals who are known to be qualified in the area of "914 setup". Get their blessing before proceeding. I suggest you talk to our fearless leader, Brad. He's probably "set up" more 914's for various levels of street/track driving than anyone else here. He'll give you the right advice or point you to someone who will. Another qualified person you might speak with is Rich at High Performance House. He's an experienced 914 racer and as a bonus he sells the parts you need. There are others - call Brad. He'll tell you who they are. So anyway, my point is you need to get some qualifed advice because this thread is such a mix of wheat and chaff that it's about worthless. I hope that doesn't offend people but I'm calling it as I see it.

-Ben M.

[ninefourteener]

OUCH!!

Ok.... I'm here with my thumb up my butt now (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Brad.... maybe a quifck suggestion??

Long story short..... most effective handling upgrade for a 100% stock car for around 3 to 4 hundred bucks?????

[brant]

Also...

If you change the springs.. (front or rear)... you should really do the alignment at the same time...
PLEASE PUT THAT INTO YOUR BUDGET>.....

just my $.02:
I'd leave the springs alone, add a sway bar, and align only if it needed it anyways... then drive it and enjoy for the summer....

b

[anthony]

To stay under budget I'd say 100lb rear springs plus a stock 2L sway bars if you can find them. That would give you 73/74 2L handling for relatively little money. (Possibly you can forget the rear sway bar. Many debate it's effectiveness.)

The next level IMO would be 140lb. rear springs plus a 19mm front sway bar. I think this a combo that Dave has recommended many times (correct me if I'm wrong Dave). If you go with a budget sway bar like the Weltmeister you would come in a little over the upper end of your $400 budget.

Just remember that you need a balanced setup so if you do something to the front you probably need to do something to the rear as well or vice versa. You probably don't want massive front sway bars, big torsion bars, or 180lb rear springs.

[nebreitling]

DUDE,

for $600+/-, add a stock front sway bar yourself, mount 205/50's and get a good alignment at a shop that knows what it's doing. then drive the snot out of the thing. that's it.

go for the turbo tie-rods when your current ones need replacing, upgrade as you go.

there are some bad-ass upgrades out there if you are looking to stimulate the economy and drive competitively. which, from the title of your topic, it appears that you are not.

[garyh]

I'm going to go with a new set of springs first.... that seems to be what everyone is suggesting. Perhaps down the road (after the summer) I'll start digging into a new sway bar.

Me thinks you read the advice wrong.

#1 improvement to the cornering ability is driver's ed.

Biggest improvement to the car is a front sway bar.

Some '72's were "pre-drilled", so all you have to do is bolt it in.

I'm pretty sure the consensus is:
Leave the car -stock- (with the OE sway bar, etc.) until you complete item #1.

[eresener]

Hey ninefourteener,
my 73 is as green as yours...maybe we should start an Irish Green only Thread today....just to see how many of us are truly wearin the green...
ED

[Dave_Darling]

I think I'm gonna go a little risky with 140 lb springs, on all 4 corners.....

It's gonna cost you a whole lot of money to do that. Because the 914 has torsion bars, not springs, up front.

I was looking in the new TWEEKS I just got in the mail today..... which BTW.... is no longer TWEEKS..... now it's "Mid-America".... not sure whats up with that.

That happened about three years ago or more. Tweeks pretty much went under, but then Mid-America Direct (long-term Corvette people) bought them out and revived them. I think they got moved from Indy to Effingham IL, where M-A is.

Long story short..... most effective handling upgrade for a 100% stock car for around 3 to 4 hundred bucks?????

Let's see, $100 should get you into five autocrosses. That'll take you anywhere from one to six months. That leaves $300 for the second biggest improvement. TIRES. Ignore the rest of the proposed mods. Heck, I suggest not even bothering with tires for a while yet. Just get out there and drive the car!!

--DD

[fiid]

I would work out what your final destination is first, if you can. Then figure out the best order to buy stuff.

I ran a big front sway bars with stock springs and almost got kicked out of an autocross for lifting my left inside rear tire about a foot off the ground. I would probably do all the springs first - they are cheapest I think - then a sway bar, then konis, and then needle bearing bushings, and then turbo tie rods. When you have all this stuff done you will find it very easy to get speeding tickets. My car feels like it's stopped at 60.

I have 23mm front torsion bars, 180lb rears, needle bearings and koni yellows all around, and a 22mm weltmeister sway bar up front. I don't find the car to stiff really - I think it's only a little rougher than my gf's miata to be honest, and it handles really nicely.