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If you have a better rear bar to go with it, it will really flatten out the corners. Without a rear bar to balance that chassis you'll quickly learn what severe understeer is like.
And you need to fab a mount brace or it will rip out the mounts.
For most folks, the impression will be better and flatter cornering below 7/10 grip. After that, to about 9/10, the impression will be more pronounced understeer. The car already enjoys an excess of understeer with stock suspension and tire sizes, a nod to the Porsche engineers' sensitivity to the handling of the 911 cars to that point, which offered exactly the opposite characteristics.
To maintain the balance designed into the car, you'd want to add a stiffer rear bar at the same time you install this one in front. The Good News is that the Devek bar is adjustable, so you can dial in the anti-roll and understeer to go with the rest of the car's suspension setup and your own driving expectations. You can add some rear stiffness with the Ott adjustable rear droplinks if you can find a set. Check with Hans to see if he has his replicas available. You can also add rear stiffness with stiffer rear springs. Options here include Eibachs (the route I have taken) or a set of the more commonly available race spring options between a set of Carl's adapters.
If I were looking to improve the handling and road feel of my car some more, I'd jump on this bar even if it will have to wait for more of the complimentary rear pieces. I happen to have it at a ride and handling balance I like, so this bar should go to someone who wants that handling edge.
As others will share, driving this bar hard at a stiff setting requires reinforcement of the frame mounts. There are plenty of threads on this, including drawings/diagrams of the reinforcing plates and the welding needed.
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Anti-roll bars work by transferring some of the load on the outside spring to the inside spring while cornering. This allows you to run softer springs, sufficient to hold the car up under normal straight-line road conditions, yet have a higher effective outer spring rate when cornering. Some of the dampening available from the inner shock is added too. As part of the bargain, you unload the inner tire some as you force the outer tire to carry more load, hence the understeer at higher cornering load. Adding rear stiffness balances that out, and restores some of that inner tire load capability in the process as body roll decreases. The roll center stays closer to under the middle of the car, and the CG stays closer to the pavement, offering better total cornering ability up to a point. Getting the perfect balance is a bit subjective; Some like to drive the steering angle with the throttle and a slight oversteer, good for racing at the edge but somewhere between exciting and dangerous on the road. Especially if you drive in wet conditions or on less than perfect roads. Or need to use the brakes mid-corner for traffic.
For most folks, the impression will be better and flatter cornering below 7/10 grip. After that, to about 9/10, the impression will be more pronounced understeer. The car already enjoys an excess of understeer with stock suspension and tire sizes, a nod to the Porsche engineers' sensitivity to the handling of the 911 cars to that point, which offered exactly the opposite characteristics.
To maintain the balance designed into the car, you'd want to add a stiffer rear bar at the same time you install this one in front. The Good News is that the Devek bar is adjustable, so you can dial in the anti-roll and understeer to go with the rest of the car's suspension setup and your own driving expectations. You can add some rear stiffness with the Ott adjustable rear droplinks if you can find a set. Check with Hans to see if he has his replicas available. You can also add rear stiffness with stiffer rear springs. Options here include Eibachs (the route I have taken) or a set of the more commonly available race spring options between a set of Carl's adapters.
If I were looking to improve the handling and road feel of my car some more, I'd jump on this bar even if it will have to wait for more of the complimentary rear pieces. I happen to have it at a ride and handling balance I like, so this bar should go to someone who wants that handling edge.
As others will share, driving this bar hard at a stiff setting requires reinforcement of the frame mounts. There are plenty of threads on this, including drawings/diagrams of the reinforcing plates and the welding needed.
----
Anti-roll bars work by transferring some of the load on the outside spring to the inside spring while cornering. This allows you to run softer springs, sufficient to hold the car up under normal straight-line road conditions, yet have a higher effective outer spring rate when cornering. Some of the dampening available from the inner shock is added too. As part of the bargain, you unload the inner tire some as you force the outer tire to carry more load, hence the understeer at higher cornering load. Adding rear stiffness balances that out, and restores some of that inner tire load capability in the process as body roll decreases. The roll center stays closer to under the middle of the car, and the CG stays closer to the pavement, offering better total cornering ability up to a point. Getting the perfect balance is a bit subjective; Some like to drive the steering angle with the throttle and a slight oversteer, good for racing at the edge but somewhere between exciting and dangerous on the road. Especially if you drive in wet conditions or on less than perfect roads. Or need to use the brakes mid-corner for traffic.
Thats what I said! ...just a lot more words.
BTW, the rear bar is a PITA, the day I did mine, I suffered a stroke within an hour of completing the job..
A stiffer front sway bar increases understeer, BTW.
You would want to install a set of those rear sway bar bolt on "shorteners" to go with this front bar....and set this bar soft. I think Louie Ott invented there and Hans has made more?
Reinforcing the front sway bar mounts, is virtually mandatory, with this front bar. (It's much easier to reinforce them before they get ripped off the chassis.)
Semi-retired, as of Feb 1, 2023.
The days of free technical advice are over.
Free consultations will no longer be available.
Will still be in the shop, isolated and exclusively working on project cars, developmental work and products, engines and transmissions.
Have fun with your 928's people!
A stiffer front sway bar increases understeer, BTW.
You would want to install a set of those rear sway bar bolt on "shorteners" to go with this front bar....and set this bar soft. I think Louie Ott invented there and Hans has made more?
Reinforcing the front sway bar mounts, is virtually mandatory, with this front bar. (It's much easier to reinforce them before they get ripped off the chassis.)
6.5.0
Note that OE muffler will not allow Ott rear links to clear.
But to date, ive had 2.5yrs on the stiffer rear bar, on OE links, only broke one.
This bar came with my 86.5. The PO tracked it and bought "track kit" from Devek which included Koni adjustables,Hypercoils and this front bar. You can see the braces which I had welded on. I bought them from Carl.
Personally I don't like push, some do but I prefer a bit of oversteer. I raced a Lotus Cortina for 13 years where looking out the side window was more common than looking out the front.
01-25-2020, 01:39 AM
