[sparkydog]

Thanks for the link Frizzle!

Time for a wordy update with no pictures.

The Mustang front end is ready to weld into the Porsche. Even though I’ve already measured things 4 or 5 times I wanted to do one last set of measurements. Since I also want to study the 944’s OG rear suspension for possible integration with the Coug IRS – I decided to mount the 944 rear back up into the car and get the swing arms at stock ride height. This would allow me to study the rear IRS and give me a solid reference for measuring before tack welding in the Mustang front end.

A 944 had shown up in the wrecking yard so I harvested a few parts off it. I took the rear shocks, drained their oil and then welded them up at stock ride height so I could hold the rear swing arms in the correct position. The 6X944 guy told me how to disable the 944 torsion bars without removing them and now the rear end is set in solid for various mockup tasks.

The 6X944 guy also set me up with a disassembled swing arm, rear hub and bearing so I could take some measurements for re-creating them in Solidworks. At the same time I blew apart the Cougar rear end and did similar measurements. At this point I made an encouraging discovery. The Coug rear hub bearing and the 944 rear hub bearing have the exact same ID’s and are within 3mm of the same thickness. (Also the 944 bearing is the beefier of the two.) This means the Coug rear hub can be assembled directly into the 944 swing arm and bearing – which means the Coug axles then fit into the hybrid swing arm. If I can design an easy adapter bracket for the Coug brake calipers to the 944 swing arm then I will officially commit to this scenario in the real world. This is because the only major expense would be to have the Coug axles shortened by about 1” each.

So over the next few weeks I’m doing two projects. First is to get the Mustang front end welded in, some wheels bolted on and have it back on the ground for a trip to the alignment shop for confirmation that things are square. Second is to complete the 3D mockup of a hybrid Coug/944 rear swing arm and decide which way to go with the rear suspension.