On a dual duty Street and HPDE/Time Trial car, is anyone running the Koni race shock that Tripoint offers for the FD?

I'm thinking of sending Tripoint my regular Koni Sport adjustables for a rebuild and revalve. I've spoken with Craig and possibly another guy a couple of times this year and they rave about the incredibly good ride quality of the Koni race shock compared to even the regular Koni Sport. Plus the custom top mount allows better articulation.

I know there is someone in Indy running these shocks. Would anyone else care to comment on the performance and ride quality?

I can live with more frequent rebuilds if it means I'll be much happier with the car overall. I might even be able to live with the price but would prefer not to spend it right now.

Thanks for the input.

 

I am using these on an FC. I am not sure if they use the same shock setup on the FD, but the front on mine is an 8611-1257 double adjustable race insert with a modified sport rear (revalved and made double adjustable).

Mine is a track only racecar, but the ride quality on the track of these shocks compared to the JIC's I had previously is night and day. Having double adjustability is also extremely useful!

 

Us 240SX guys have been running the 86XX series Konis recently with custom housings (8610 is single adjustable, 8611 is double, and both have improved valving compared to the Yellows). I haven't been to the track since I've put mine on, but the street ride rocks compared to the typical "Japanese" coilover setup, and with stiffer springs to boot. The car also seems totally settled over road imperfections whereas the previous coilovers had it skipping and being a pain in the butt (this I DID experience on track, many times). Of note, Subaru guys have also been running these a lot as of late, both in custom housings (McP strut cars), and as an off the shelf option from Zzyzzx (http://zzyzxmotorsports.com/products/coilovers/emsport. So in conclusion, I don't have any firsthand experience with RX-7s at all, but in general, on cars stuck with McP struts, these dampers seem to kick butt.

 

Thank you both. I wound up sending Tripoint my Koni yellows for a rebuild and revalve. Installing them today and then will post up info when I have time.

 

I went from the single adjustable Koni's to a non-adjustable Bilstein from AWR. I've also stepped up the springs to 550 front and 400 rear. The change was pretty amazing. The car was much better at absorbing bumps that with the Koni's. (I think the Koni's were too soft in bump, allowing me to bottom out after essentially "jacking down" over a few bumps in a row).


-Trent

 

Can you provide any more information about the suspension you're running? I'm waking up a racecar project after a few years away from the RX7 scene. It's got a full MazdaComp suspension from about 10 years ago on it and I'm looking to freshen it and get the car back on track ASAP... I'm spoiled with my other car running DA Penske 8100s and the RX7 has the SA KONIs from way back when...

 

Jacking down typically implies too much rebound rather than too little bump. You shouldn't be using shock valving to limit your travel...

Does anybody know the motion ratio on the RX7? What kind of wheel rates do those spring rates equate to? What were your old spring rates?

I'm trying to come back up to speed on FCs after some time away...

 

The fronts are the AWR strut tubes with 8611-1257 Koni inserts and Mazdaspeed camber plates (they dont make these any more). The rears are Koni Sports which have been modified by Koni to be double adjustable as well as being revalved.

 

Do you happen to have a picture of your front strut towers and how you had to modify them to fit the camber/caster plates? I have a suspicion that way back when I had mine originally installed the got it a bit wrong; they seem to have put the plate on top of the original opening, rather than under and cutting away some tower material.

 

My old JIC coilovers, but you get the idea:

 

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right. Thanks. For some reason my wrench a decade ago put the plates on the top of the towers.

 

al, i need an update on how the tripoint set=up works. I'm still debating sending my spare set out to them

Roan

 

I got mine back a couple of weeks ago. Will be posting info as soon as work calms down. Give me a call when you have a chance.