Lemme Upgrade upgrade...

Try as I might to keep the Porsche and Ford stock, I find myself succumbing to the need to personalize and improve each of them. In the case of the Ford, there are few things to do, or so I claim, without altering the historic character, personality and collector value of the machine. The Porsche (a 997S Cab) has, much to my wife's lament, no such limitations.

The value of pursuing an evolutionary (versus revolutionary) development program is that Porsche 911's have had 40 years to build an ecosystem - of enhancement parts, owners clubs, online forums, racing programs and more. As I learn more about it all, the scale and variance of Porsche's world is just enormous. There's a lot of value in understanding how Porsche has managed the dynamics of this world, how it's helped lift Porsche to be the the premier sports car maker in the world, and how it could be applied to many other businesses - particularly SV businesses - to achieve similar success. But of the many values this ecosystem provides, is the broad level of expertise and tuner parts to turn any Porsche in to any kind of car you'd like.

Right out of the wrapper, as great a drivers car as the 911 is, there are some clear deficiencies that beg to be addressed. Specifically, and exacerbated by the rear-engine design of the car, anything that can be done to upgrade the suspension is, to quote Martha Stuart, 'a good thing'. Here's why.

Like all engineering implementations, the P-car suspension is a study in trade-offs. The smooth-riding nature of the car sacrifices road-holding, remaining flat in hard cornering and directional control when on the edge. No doubt there have been cost trade-offs (even at the price of a 911) when choosing the suspension bits of the stock car. Specifically the coilover shocks, roll bars, and links. Neither are adjustable beyond the basic setting of the dash-mounted PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) controls.

And finally, there are the physics challenges of a rear-engined design. White-coated lab techs in Stuttgart have done everything short of defying gravity to make a horribly flawed design run with the big dogs. But, on the edge, and challenged with the compromises of ride comfort and cost tradeoffs, the car gets wiggy.

So, I set out to upgrade the suspension to address all of this. Accepting that I'd be trading off some comfort to achieve my goals, the intent was to:

1. Reduce the famous Porsche nose bob. For every 911, Boxster/Cayman and 914 I've ever driven, they have this odd tendency to allow the front end to bob up and down, like the suspension is made out of rubber bands;
2. Maintain consistent steering accuracy when on the edge. At 8/10's the Porsche is a model citizen. But any further, and the twisting of the suspension - front to back - coupled with body lean and extreme angles of the rear suspension arms create a real challenge for the driver. Though a real hoot to deal with, it's unnecessarily dangerous and hinders the ultimate potential of the car. Further, pushing the PASM button simply hardens the ride, causing the car to skid across bumps while turning, and radically increasing the likelihood that you'll be needing dental work after your ride. Honestly, in current form, the 'hard' suspension setting is just useless.
3. Reduce body lean. Again, at more than 8/10's, the body roll exacerbates the suspension geometry changes, and induces more yawing, direction changes, and reduced tire footprint than seem necessary.

Stand by for a nick to the checkbook...