Ludachris

So Racing Beat's springs for the FC are linear, but they said that for track use we would probably want to look around for a stiffer spring - but couldn't tell me who made any that would drop in without moving to a perch/sleeve set up. Can anyone tell me if there is a company who makes a stiffer linear spring set that will work with the OE shocks on an FC? Something stiffer than Racing Beat's 156 lb front and 128 rear.

eage8

iTrader: (9)

you can get a used (or ebay lol) set of coilover perches for way less than RB springs... or any other new lowering spring, I don't understand why you're pushing stock style springs. There are none that are stiff enough.

Ludachris

Mainly to look at stock as possible for Lemons...

What perch/sleeve set would work and require the least amount of modifications? I only know of the Ground Control kits, and couldn't find any others doing Google searches. We're all very new to this car and don't know about the cheaper options that will fit. GC is too expensive for this program.

eage8

iTrader: (9)

they don't have to be car specific, just measure the diameter of your strut and make sure their ID is more than that... you can fill up the gap with duct tape (I'm serious )

I run these on my custom front coilovers (not stock struts):

Custom coilovers

peejay

Snap loose mid-corner in an FB is usually due to unweighting the inside rear tire because the front suspension is too soft and the rear suspension doesn't like to articulate.

Solution - throw away most of the rear suspension in favor of something that moves, or stiffen up the front suspension so it doesn't move much either.

Stiffening the front may also get rid of a good deal of understeer, as well. Suspension on its bump stop has infinite rate.

rx7freak13v

Fwiw, im sitting on tanabe gf210 lowering springs. They are 3k front and 2.5k rear. They really woke up the cars handling (along with a full set of older tokico blue struts).the springs are $190 shipped off ebay an lowered the car damn near 2" (it says 1.5" but mine dropped more than that). A friend of mine has pbm coilovers under his car 10k front 8k rear and i honestly believe its far too stiff. If mine were much stiffer i would be dissatisfied. I do need some xambrr plates up front though.

Can someone explain what those adjustable perches do? Im confused by them lol.

eage8

iTrader: (9)

3k is 169 lbs/in which probably isn't much more than stock. your handling improvements are because your riding around on bump stops... which isn't the right way to make a car handle.

the adjustable perches allow you run run universal 2.5" race springs so you can run whatever spring rates you want. They turn normal struts into coilovers...

how stiff a car feels has a lot to do with the damper valving. I run 10.6k/7.5k springs on my car and it's pretty easy to drive on the street.

rx7freak13v

Hmm there is still plenty of travel if you push down on the car, so can't be riding on the bump stops. It feels much stiffer than the old stock stuff. It also has a much lower ride height, maybe the larger improvement is from the lower center of gravity. I don't know, but feels a lot better than it did lol. Im really interested in those collars, how do they work? I understand they turn regular struts into coilovers but what is they are actually doing? (Compressing the spring to make them stiffer? They can't be stiffening the actualy strut are they? Are there different settings, like if i want the fronts to have a rate of 400#, is there a setting for that?) thanks a lot!!!

Btw, yea 160# is not as stiff as i would think. I did the co version last night. Im not a math wiz so i didnt try it myself, but after using the mighty math god google i figured it out lol.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

the height adjusters just put the bottom spring perch on a thread, so you can raise and lower it.

think of it like changing the length of the spring

rx7freak13v

And by compressing the spring it stiffens the spring rate correct? If so i am hooked on this idea, then add camber plates up front. I am so glad i read this.

peejay

No, the spring stiffness is entirely determined by the spring, the height is entirely determined by how much unsprung weight there is pushing down on it. The adjuster collar is to set the ride height and cross-weighting.

Look at it this way - springs are sold as X diameter/Y length/Z rate. For what we're concerned with, we're dealing with 2.5" diameter. Length and rate then are the things we need to worry about. Generally springs are sold in 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14" lengths, and rates at every 25 pounds from 75 to over a thousand.

So say you're playing with 10" springs and you're using 200lb rate. You go to 250lb rate. The spring is the same unloaded length, the car is staying the same weight, so the stiffer spring will make the car sit higher. So you have to lower the collar to compensate. Then you decide to try 275s and change things again. And on and on.

rx7freak13v

Ok that makes a lot more sense. Thank you for breaking it down for me to understand it easier. So with that being said, imany recomendations for a stiffer spring set than what i have? Honestly, the fronts feel nice and stiff but the rear feels too soft, whats the proper way to test a strut to make sure its still good? The rear just feels too soft while attacking a corner.

To the OP, what have you tried so far?

(Sorry not tryin to thread jack)

Efinity

iTrader: (6)

personally:

replace bushings with cheap polyurethane bushing kit
replace stock springs, i run 600/400 which has been a pretty proven number in e-rpod, so keep that ratio and dial it down for tokikos
reduce front tire aspect ratio, also buy used R compound tires

turbo II rear swaybar minimal. i wasted years of my life racing around with no rear swaybar on fd's, fc's, and s2k's. always liked it more when i put the sway back on (i would take it off if you are having massive oversteer problems and need to tune). might as well neuter a stud (not having a rear bar).

make sure the wheel makes the front wheel bearings happy, retain stockish offset and go inboard with the wheel pretty far.

keep a square wheel setup

2.8 camber front and 1-1.5 rear

1/16 toe out front, 0 to 1/16 toe in rear depending on oversteer qualities

do not lower the FC excessively. doing so will result in roll center problems and bump steer, which lead to loss of front grip. it handles good at near stock ride heights.

more gas in tank helps the rear come around

drive the car like a grand touring car. its not a small car, and takes lots of hacking to make it snappy.

try a LSD if you dont have one.

increase both swaybars to reduce body roll and increasing the rear bar will bring that big square butt around faster.

increase frame rigidity and tune it to be stiff in the rights spots that bring the car around.

tune brake pads to have high endurance in the front and bite in the rear. this helps the bias bring the car around under braking. its hard to overheat the rear brakes, too.

thats all i got right this second.