993 went to Center Gravity, much suspensiony fun :)

993 went to Center Gravity, much suspensiony fun :)

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Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Thursday 27th February 2014
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So after a bit of faff, I finally got the old girl to Center Gravity on Tuesday to have her suspension replaced and chassis tune done by Chris and Pete. Over the course of 12 hours (0830 to 2030!) they did an initial test drive, gave the current set up a thorough inspection, replaced a few bits that were past it, installed shiny new shocks and springs, corner weighted the car, set the ride height and the geo, and finally test drove it again to confirm all was well. Overall, it was a v impressive job and the knowledge they seem to have is detailed and informative to say the least. On top of that they're exceptionally friendly and genuinely make it an enjoyable experience.

Once I had decided to get the full treatment, it basically descended into a perpetual "if I'm going to do it, I may as well do it properly", so I ended up going for:

Bilstein fully adjustable PSS10s
Lower rate Eibach springs (Chis felt that the standard Bilstein ones would be slightly too much as she a Cabriolet)
OMP strut brace

....I'm sure my wallet will forgive me eventually hehe I ended up plumping for the PSS10s as opposed to B8s or similar as the adjustability really sold it to me. With a simple reach behind the wheels (applying what Chris calls BKT - Big Knob Technology) I can go from nice soft compliance to track day special in a minute or so. Absolutely ideal when the car gets used for everything from euro touring with all but the kitchen sink to track days.

Ride height is RS+10mm which looks lovely, is still reasonably London friendly and still allows the geo to be set up without compromising any aspect of it. The car was corner weighted with my weight added to the drivers side and my gf's added to the passenger, CW difference is only 3kg by the time they were done smile What surprised me was that despite being a Cab, the car (without passenger weight) was only about 1370kg with 3/4 tank of fuel.

I haven't managed to take the car for a proper drive yet, however the difference is very noticeable already. Ride on bad surfaces is not harsh and she holds her line perfectly. The steering weights up beautifully in corners, mid corner throttle addition triggers some passive rear steer tightening the line and the "round the roundabout until you slide" test (that may not be the technical term for it....!) in the wet revealed a level of grip that I scarcely believed was possible. Genuinely can't wait to get her on a track.

Final thoughts: although there were some minor issues identified during the first test drive, what I found amazing was

a) how well the car drove even to start with despite being on 20 year old suspension with sub optimal components.
b) how well the old suspension has lasted overall on detailed inspection. It was *all* original and after 120k miles, almost all of it was perfectly serviceable and didn't need to be replaced. Chris appears to have great admiration for the quality of 993 suspension parts, and hearing his thoughts on 996 and 997 part longevity in comparison is rather amusing! The Boge shocks were original and a damping test printout revealed that they are still functioning perfectly despite the age and mileage! (I'll prob sell them and the spare Bilstein springs, PM me if interested in either)

Anyway, here's some piccies of the day smile
























Ignore that the markers are in the red, that is for an empty car with no driver/passenger weight added.

Orangecurry

7,399 posts

205 months

Thursday 27th February 2014
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Yum. thumbup thanks for posting.

Nice weighting system hehe

Enjoy the car.

What track-days do you have planned?

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Thursday 27th February 2014
quotequote all
Orangecurry said:
Yum. thumbup thanks for posting.

Nice weighting system hehe

Enjoy the car.

What track-days do you have planned?
Lol, none this year most likely as we're away for 6 months but during that we will be driving all round Europe so Alps, Route Napoleon again and such like.

Next year I'll try and get to TSE to give charity rides, Brands Hatch for the Royal Marines day (if she's allowed to tag along with the 550) and maybe another day there, and Bedford. Also want to pull my finger out and do a day at CAT Driver Training which I've been meaning to get round to for about 4 years.

Paracetamol

4,225 posts

243 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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Ha! They would have had to use solid discs instead of vented discs before I went on a diet smile

One thing i hate about being in the middle east is being unable to access such amazing levels of expertise. So many places have the most amazing kit over here but they pay the poor mechanics 1k usd per month and refuse to train them. I have had so many instances of Hunter machines telling me that my wheels are buckled - only to find that the guy did not attach them to the machine properly - and I once had the alignment on my wife's Q7 - it ate through 1k GBP of tyres in 3k kms...all because the idiot put massive negative camber on the rears!

Lessons learnt I guess...

guyvert1

1,818 posts

241 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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Money well spent in my boo, I had the PSS10's on my old turbo, transformed the car , you won't regret it ..

ClarkPB

818 posts

199 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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Did all those discs not leave indents in your seats?

kbooker

728 posts

138 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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ClarkPB said:
Did all those discs not leave indents in your seats?
I did wonder myself, there's a lot of weight with hard defined edges over a small surface area, maybe potential to damage the seat facings..??

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
quotequote all
kbooker said:
ClarkPB said:
Did all those discs not leave indents in your seats?
I did wonder myself, there's a lot of weight with hard defined edges over a small surface area, maybe potential to damage the seat facings..??
I did have a good look after to check and it was fine. The heavier stuff on the driver side had a round edged weight at the bottom I seem to recall

thegoose

8,075 posts

209 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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Looks great but the pedant in me feels compelled to point out that you have a difference of just 2kgs (not 3 as you quoted) between the diagonal weight totals (which are the relevant figures). Either way it's very good. smile

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
quotequote all
thegoose said:
Looks great but the pedant in me feels compelled to point out that you have a difference of just 2kgs (not 3 as you quoted) between the diagonal weight totals (which are the relevant figures). Either way it's very good. smile
I bow to your superior pedantry sir! thumbup

Edited by Mario149 on Saturday 1st March 18:24

993kimbo

2,972 posts

184 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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I'm glad 993's are rocketing in price - this thread proves what we have to spend on them to keep them in good condition.

I'm guessing a bill just under £4000?

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
quotequote all
993kimbo said:
I'm glad 993's are rocketing in price - this thread proves what we have to spend on them to keep them in good condition.

I'm guessing a bill just under £4000?
Just a shade over, would have been £500 more if I'd sourced the bilsteins from the uk.

You could say it was less as the Bilstein springs have resale value of about £50 each, and even the Boge shocks are worth something since CG's testing of them revealed they're still working fine and I have the test printout to confirm

993kimbo

2,972 posts

184 months

Saturday 1st March 2014
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Thanks, enjoy your car - it's better handling now than the day it left the factory. That's a great feeling.

Beaver

958 posts

283 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
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What happens if you drive sans GF?

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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Beaver said:
What happens if you drive sans GF?
I get a rollicking?! Seriously though, 95% of the time whether on road or track she's in the car with me (or someone else is if I'm doing passenger laps at TSE) so it made sense to get it set up like that.

POORCARDEALER

8,523 posts

240 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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How much of the £4K is parts?

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
POORCARDEALER said:
How much of the £4K is parts?
Can't remember exactly but details are in my PH garage blog smile

POORCARDEALER

8,523 posts

240 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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Mario149 said:
POORCARDEALER said:
How much of the £4K is parts?
Can't remember exactly but details are in my PH garage blog smile
Nice fleet youve got, especially the Mini 850, you have the real extremes in youre fleet!

Mario149

Original Poster:

7,750 posts

177 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
POORCARDEALER said:
Mario149 said:
POORCARDEALER said:
How much of the £4K is parts?
Can't remember exactly but details are in my PH garage blog smile
Nice fleet youve got, especially the Mini 850, you have the real extremes in youre fleet!
I've just collected a 7.1 GT3 as well as of 2 days ago, haven't got around to adding it yet smile

The mini is awesome, my mum bought it nearly new almost 40 years ago! It's an fab little car to drive smile

Callughan

6,312 posts

191 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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ClarkPB said:
Did all those discs not leave indents in your seats?
There are better places he could have put them.