Will good shocks lower times AutoXing
 

Am I wasting my time and money, or will a set of Koni Yellows actually make a difference on the autox course? Is there any gain over the shocks on my R1? What are good settings for the Konis, if they do make a difference.

Yes. (and maybe) I changed my shocks to adjustable KONI yellows at the same time I changed to V700's and a solid front sway. The cumulative affect was amazing - how much credit for each - who knows. I will say that the adjustable shocks give me a level of control over the car that I didn't feel like I had before. A friend is running a 93 with original shocks, and the body movement during his runs is SIGNIFICANTLY more than mine. Give GH Sharp (national champ with FD's) a call at SF Motorsports, he sells Koni's. Tell him Tom from Hickory sent you.

Good luck.

Tomas
'94 RX-7 TT SS #142

Tomas

Thanks for the reply. I guess to ease my mind I just needed someone who has put the Konis to use to say it helped. I'll give GH a call, and good runs to you!

Don

I ran stock R1 shocks with low mileage and then switched to GAB Super R's. At first I was slower with the GAB shocks. After 3 experiments with alignment settings I was faster.

R-compound tires would buy you 2 sec on a 45-50 sec course, adjustable shocks over GOOD stock shocks will buy you .2 sec.

driving skill goes a long way with autocrossing...

Driving skill goes without saying.

Myself and a few others who have done it agree that the best bang for the buck handling mod on the FD are adjustable shocks such as the Koni or GAB. I would not even bother with race tires until the shocks were on. I went from a completely stock base suspension on street tires to adding the Konis only and I certainly made MUCH more time than .2 secs. Turbojeff's courses must be in straight lines ;)

Re: Will good shocks lower times AutoXing
 

No. Yes. Yes. Settings depend on your driver skill and the course design. But generally speaking, full stiff (F) and anywhere from 1/2 turn from full soft to full soft (R). Any stiffer in the rears usually makes the car super tail-happy ... at least for me. ;)

i am running eibach springs and upgraded front sway bar and the car handles nice. I recently installed toyo proxes and the traction is simply amazing. My fd puts down 300rwhp atleast and i could accelerate coming out of corners with complete confidence. I am literally shocked what a difference these tires made. I guess my point is to get a decent set of tires and play from there.
I have koni yellows which i will install soon...i am almost worried that it will actually reduce the cars ability as my current setup feels pretty damn good street/race setup. I do still have alittle body roll though...i am hoping these will correct that. Man i love driving my 7.

The adjustability of the Konis will actually increase your ability to accelerate out of corners. You should be able to start getting on the gas earlier than you're used to. The body roll, unfortunately, will not be solved by the shocks. You need stiffer springs to combat that. The Eibach Pro-kit is still too soft, IMO.

I have the racing beat springs...although linear they seemed to work great for me with minimal body roll. They are pretty stiff and I would not recommend them for daily driving. Oh, and I am running them with stock r2 shocks.

I am thinking of upgrading to tein ha coilovers. Good choice, bad choice? Any advice? (sorry for "stealing" your thread :))

yup...excellent setup for autocross, and no pita settings to fool with.

several people have pointed out to me that stiffer shocks will not reduce body roll? Can some explain to me as to why?
Logically, i would think that with stiffer sshocks there will be less upward/downard movement which translates into less roll...what am i missing?

The only thing that supports the weight of the chassis and ultimately prevents roll, dive and squat are the springs (and the sway bars which merely act through the springs). The shocks' purpose in life is to damp the springs and prevent the chassis from oscillating, they support no weight. Shocks do however effect the rate at which weight is transferred across the car, so very quick transistional movements do in fact bring less body roll but only for a moment. Any sort of steady state will see the car roll every bit as much no matter what the stiffness of the shocks.

thanks,,,soi should change from eibachs to racing beats to eliminate roll. i am not a die hard tracker so i am not going to spend thousands on a coiloversetup.

sorry if i hijacked your thread but i think we are both interested in the same info here.

Well, now you've digressed into a different change. Eibach's (H&R's, B&E's) are progressive rate springs whereas Racing Beat's are linear rate springs. What does that mean? Progressive springs are usually two different spring rates designed into one spring. Linear springs are ... well, one linear spring rate. Better put ... take a linear spring and apply 500 lbF, it compresses 0.5 inches. Apply 1000 lbF, it compresses 1.0 inches. Make sense? Ok, take a progressive spring and apply 500 lbF, it compresses 2.0 inches. Apply 1000 lbF, it only compresses 2.5 inches. So what it boils down to is this ... progressive springs are the best of both worlds, soft ride compliance with better high load support; whereas linear springs are more for the purist who want only the handling benefits. Clear as mud? Okay then ....

So back to your question ... what to do to eliminate roll? Stiffer spring rates. But now you have a dual dilemma. If you want to bump up your spring rates, you also have to keep in mind what shocks you have on. Too stiff of a spring rate and now you're shocks are underdamped. It gets worse ... to truly eliminate body roll, you'll want to cornerweight the car. So, if you choose to go the non-coilover route, you'll also need weight jackers and adjust accordingly. Before I get too deep into this, I'll cut it short and make some recommendations: if you're not that concerned with performance handling, then stick with what you got. If you truly want the best in handling, coilovers are the only way to go.

Sorry ... I've completed gone upside down with this thread. I'll just shutup now. ;)