I need suspension suggestions

[gixxerdrew]

Your profile says 2g, if it was me in your situation, I would just pinch the pennies and get the KW Variant 3's ~$1700. The high speed damping is critical for your lap times (if you care about them). I wouldnt go with K sports unless I was tearing them apart and putting penske pistons in them. Maybe I just have high standards.

 

[gixxerdrew]

Ohhhh, and as far as "adjustability" goes..

the crapalasia style coilovers have ONE benefit over a koni/gc setup. and that's the fact that you can adjust ride height without changing the spring pretension. But don't kid yourself, the dampers, once matched, should be left completely alone (spinning it one way and then back to the same "click" is not leaving them alone and will not be the same) and once they're on the car you're never going to be changing the ride height because you'd have to get an alignment every time.

I dont see that as a useful feature really. Spring preload has no effect on forces until you've preloaded the CRAP out of it. A good damper will have the same damping at all ride heights within the range you specify the body length for.

 

[underradar92]

unless I was tearing them apart and putting penske pistons in them.

I've got Ksports and if this idea is viable, it's on my to-do list.

 

[gixxerdrew]

if you figure out how to disassemble them without the pressurized gas risking your life, let me know...

 

[ACM]

If the KW/KSports are a typical monotube design, they're probably easy to pull apart. Usually the gas is separated from the oil by a piston in the "bottom" of the damper body (ie the opposite end from the shaft).

To release the gas pressure take a small drill bit (2-3mm), and slowly drill a hole into the side of the damper body, as near the bottom as possible; the gas will release itself, but quite benignly. Get a Schraeder valve collar and, after opening the hole up suitably, weld the collar in place and fit a a high pressure tyre valve.

You'll be running pressures under 200psi almost guaranteed - particularly if you rebuild with Penske or Honda oil, there's no value to going higher than that, and there are definite negatives (seal stiction) if you do so. When you drain the oil out be very careful to catch it all, as you need to know exactly how much oil each damper takes. You can change the quantity if you understand the ramifications - but if you don't you need to be accurate to a few millilitres.

Repressurising the dampers couldn't be simpler - any welding supply shop will sell you a small bottle of Nitrogen, a regulator, and with luck even the air hose and chuck (I got those from an industrial air compressor supply house).

The challenges you will face are :
1) how does the seal head come off the top of the damper body (usually either a circlip or the head is threaded).
2) Can replacement seal heads be obtained ?
3) Is the valving stack and piston removable from the damper shaft ?
4) What sealing mechanism is employed by the piston - is it replaceable ?
5) Are the shims and piston of a typical configuration ? (Can you use Ohlins/Fox/Penske/Bilstein parts interchangeably - ID and OD of the shims) ?

Once you have answers to the above you'll know whether you can play with the damping or just do oil changes and recharges. Just try not to drop/knock over the Nitrogen bottle...

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

i advise koni sport (<$600 for 4) and gc w/ 600/400 lb 7" springs ($400 from gc).
i've tracked/autox/rallyx/dd'ed this setup; for the money i doubt there's better.
and if you have stock sways, upgrade em first. cheaper

What is it about this that you like so much rather than say megan racing coilovers, or AGX's, or something similar? Just curious.

James

 

[everbruin]

i base my opinion on the good shock dyno graphs of my koni's after they've been beaten up offroad and on track, and on dennis grant's extensive shock dyno testing reports on various brands. i also run gc/koni sports on my autox/track/street 95 m3 and regard it to be great bang for the buck.
Flexibility: buying from gc allows you to pick your own spring rates/lengths, and you can optionally try other rates if you spend on additional springs

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

I guess I will just stick to the Megan racing coilovers for now, until this car becomes a road ra ing car, and I'm able to figure out what length and spring rates I will need foe what I will be doing. I don't wanna be messing around with that type of setup yet. These coilovers will do the job for now.

James

 

[drivemusicnow]

Your profile says 2g, if it was me in your situation, I would just pinch the pennies and get the KW Variant 3's ~$1700. The high speed damping is critical for your lap times (if you care about them). I wouldnt go with K sports unless I was tearing them apart and putting penske pistons in them. Maybe I just have high standards.

I agree I give up time with this suspension, but sometimes you have to budget. To do a 1g suspension correctly you're dropping 2500$ minimum, and that's assuming that you can do some of the fabrication yourself. I didn't realize that the 2g had the KWs for that price. If that was an option for me I probably would have taken it.

I payed 700$ shipped for the ksports, free dyno time after I created fixtures for the shop, and I have an "acceptable" suspension with which to race. You have to hit limits at some point and this one was mine at the time. You have to compete to be competitive


Also, I'm planning on using the Ksport body to house a Koni 8611 shock in the future.... which is really the perfect answer for a race suspension.

 

[gixxerdrew]

Also, I'm planning on using the Ksport body to house a Koni 8611 shock in the future.... which is really the perfect answer for a race suspension.

Now your talking! that I really want to see!

 

[underradar92]

Also, I'm planning on using the Ksport body to house a Koni 8611 shock in the future.... which is really the perfect answer for a race suspension.

Color me intrigued. A threaded body could easily be made to fit the Ksport lowers. And more likely to work than trying to refit a set of pistons.

Nice find.

 

[gixxerdrew]

Actually guys, this has already been done with Bilstein internals. Unfortunately I cant talk about it without his permission. I'll request him to post here.