It may still have the bars as I really love the way the car handles with the Four-Way spring setup.
(They are technically coil-overs, but they don't hold the car up, in fact I always preload them, oddly works better)
...Which brings me to the current situation:
The thread started out asking " 944 aluminum arms---what shocks?"
I figured someone would know since its been done a thousand times.
Apparently no one is telling.
Pulled the square into my still soggy back driveway and had at it this evening.
The answer? Pick one:
A)944 Turbo/968 shocks with the odd ~15 degree angled bushing on the bottom.
(didn't buy a set but the measurements are known)
B) Std T1/T3 IRS rears with drilled out/larger lower bushing for the 14mm bolt.
C) None of the above, neither can bloody work remotely correctly.
The answer of course is C), but I find it very hard to believe everyone is running that way without some sort of solution...
It's also possible the T3 upper mount is in a somewhat different location vs T1 as the shock mount setup is much differently made.
The 944T rears would be ~2" too long, and the angled bushing appears simply the result of stupid at the factory.
The std IRS rears are about an inch too long, but may not really be a fatal problem
(EDIT:correction-the late 944/968 shocks are the ~stock length, about the same as T1, but the 924/944 upper mount is a lot farther away, also too large OD and 10mm too wide for a T3 upper mount, which is double shear It would probably be the proper choice on a T1, with some upper/lower hard/bump stop work.)
These arms are interesting geometry wise, they appear to have about a ~35-40mm drop built in, as well as far more negative camber built in.
The axle is offset up from the spring plate and TA centerlines like 911 aluminum trailing arms, just not quite as much.
It ended up about 15mm wider/side than it was, but the tires still clear the slightly pulled fenders, and the spring plate height adjuster bits can stay with a little TPS metal stretching on the shock mount behind it for clearance. (TPS==three pound sledge) I suppose i can drill a big hole for the height eccentrics 36mm socket and access to the lock bolt.
On the 944, the "down" hard stop was a small oval of aluminum around the lower rear bolt of the torsion bar cover... so the droop length may simply be a different hard stop angle vs T1/T3 setup. (pretty sure this is the case, and the fix is ~trivial, in fact it allows pulling the bars ~totally safely, just remove the lower stop bolt and lower the spring plate)
The shock compressed length and angle of the lower bolt//bushings is an issue..
Right now, with the IRS length rear shocks (using the std T3 upper mount) the shocks bind some due to the sideload of the oddly angled lower pivot. (Its oddly angled in a 944 as well
)It also bottoms out the shock about 1.5" off the bumpstop, no bueno.
(no bars and using an old blown Boge OG 311 shock for testing, who would have though it would come in handy)
I can ~easily move the upper mount a little due to the way T3 shock mounts are made (all stamped steel and double shear, plenty to weld to) and get the length and angle proper with zero binding. (bars are out for testing, you couldn't feel the binding with good shocks installed, esp monotubes)
Need to start working on the inverted Kafer brace anyway, might be a way to incorporate a relocated upper mount into that.
I'd like to be able to fit 17" long std Bilstein short track S6G shocks out back, at least, as they are coil over ready and I can still make the Four-Way spring setup work with them..
