airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Background

So I've heard the name Fortune Auto bouncing around other forums, but haven't heard much from the RX7 world. After doing some researching, I saw a lot of positive reviews, they are based right in Virginia, and post their shock damping graphs right on the website. Another plus is you can order any spring rate you want. A friend purchased a set of the 500 series for his FC and so far hasn't had any complaints. After seeing good results, I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered a pair off of Amazon. The vendor was AWD Motorsports and it was posted as a 2-3 week lead time.

After the 3 weeks passed I contacted AWD Motorsports because Amazon had sent me a message saying the order was going to be canceled since the parts had not shipped in the specified time. They contacted Fortune immediately, and both companies had quick responses. I did eventually receive them right at 4 weeks from the order date. Considering these are built to order, it's not a horrible wait, but 2 weeks would've been better

Anyway, onto the goods!

Packaging

Spring rates labeled on the box, I went with 8k and 10k






Comes with adjustable brackets for brake hoses


24 way adjustable damping on top


Next to some Stance Coilovers for an Evo



Initial Thoughts

After opening them up the build quality is top notch. The body is fully threaded so you have a wide range of height adjustment without affecting the spring length. These are all aluminum so they are VERY light. The Stance coilovers used steel and had a much thicker top plate. I didn't put them both on a scale, plus they are for different vehicles, but Fortunes are very light while still retaining great craftsmanship. The dust boots appear to be made out of a durable material which should last and not deteriorate like others ones I have seen. I would've like to see them cover the entire rod, but with coilovers I understand that can be difficult to do.

Next step, installation!

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Installation

I started off removing the fronts. Here you can see a comparison between the two. Notice the non existent boot on the stockers.




I spun up the bottom to what my first guess for ride height would be and tried to install the coilover. Key word here, try. So sitting in my garage confused as to why it wouldn't go in, I take the damper out, and try to line up the top mounts with the holes in the shock tower...they didn't line up. Great. For redundancy I measured the stock ones and compared to the Fortunes. The pictures below show the differences.

Stock Fronts ~95.5mm


Fortune "Front" Coilovers ~99.6mm


Fortune "Rear" Coilovers ~94.9mm



Ok well maybe I'm being stupid, but nope, I wasn't putting the rears on the front. The spring rate was correct, the bottom fitting was correct, but the top mounting plate was wrong. So I went ahead and checked the rear Fortune damper top plates, and low and behold, the plates were switched. Apparently on final installation, the rear plates were mounted on the front, and the front on the rear. Now this brought up some other questions, is anything else switched? Are the internals switched as well? What parts are right? So I messaged AWD Motorsports and called Fortune. Both responded quickly as displayed earlier. Fortune informed me that the top hats were mixed up on final installation and that I could swap them over myself.

Since the springs have a pre-load on them, I marked where the spring collars were set, then spun them down to remove the compression on the spring. I also marked the orientation of the damper adjustment ****. With the tension off the spring, I took the center nut off, swapped them over, and torqued everything back down. The swap was fairly easy, but unfortunate that I had to do it to begin with. Perhaps Fortune needs a better quality check at the end to ensure that everything is in order.

So with the correct top mounts on I went to install the fronts again. Well, now the bottoms would not fit into the knuckle. Grabbing the calipers, I went ahead with some measurements. The fortune spacers were 24mm each, and when installed there was a 1mm gap between the two for overall width of 50.5mm. The stocks were measured at 49.78mm. Since these are machined surfaces, the Fortunes straight up would not fit. I tried unthreading the bottom portion of the damper so I wouldn't have to maneuver the entire coilover, and they still didn't fit.





In order to solve the problem, I put a C clamp on the knuckle and pressed the insert outward slightly in order for the damper to fit in. I ended up needing to do this on both sides in the front. I'm not sure if this is common on the FD, or the Fortunes are built with a tighter tolerance than the Mazda cast knuckle.

The rears were a breeze. Took about 20 minutes to have the old ones out, and the new ones in. Adjust height on the rear is very simple. The front you need two people. One person to push the hub down, and the other to spin the bottom of the damper.

So at the end of the day, I got them installed. It was very frustrating at times having to make changes to parts that should just bolt right up, but ish happens.

Anyway, onto some eye candy from the first height adjustment. I'm going to let them settle for a bit, then make some final adjustments. The fenders definitely need to be rolled, and I'll provide a complete review of how they handle on the road.

MeFryRice

I'm glad to see someone on here has written a review on these as I've heard good things about them on the Evo boards when I had mine. It is unfortunate that the top hats were over looked during final assembly but at least it wasn't anything major.

Being that you're in Ohio, I wonder how they will hold up against corrosion?

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Yeah I saw a lot on Evo forums as well.

Well the car won't be driven in the winter, so they should hold up fine. I should also add that they are anodized green, not painted, so if the car were to be driven in the elements, I don't think they would corrode.

Driftfc3s

iTrader: (11)

I debated on getting a set of these but with the swift spring option. I ended up with a set of JIC Magic coils because I liked how the forks on the rear were made.

Either way, thanks for posting this.

7-sins

My friend just bought a car from Fortune. They seemed pretty cool & knowledgeable, quality shop. But your install/fitment issues should be addressed. My Tien install was a breeze, better than any other suspension install I've done. I also feel they ride better than the more expensive KW V3s on my other car.

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

That's how it's designed. Those inserts are designed to accommodate a wide tolerance of lower mounts.

The switched hats is sketchy, but that and the springs are probably all you could swap.

FD-3S

Nice write up! I will definitely be looking into getting a set of these.

FD3S_wanted

iTrader: (5)

Subscribed.

Can't wait to see your review on the road. I've been thinking of getting these for a while with the swift springs upgrade.

raquon

I have a couple of friends that have these coils on their subarus , for the price they are amazing easy to use and actually work . They ride nice , so far "knock on wood" not had one issue. Their customer service is great.

Jordan_Inc

wow. the fortune auto stuff looks great

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Road Test

So I've had these for a couple hundred miles and thought I would give you guys some updates. I started out keeping them as they were from Fortune at the full soft setting. This is definitely nice for daily driving, but I wanted it a little stiffer. Since these are 24 way adjustable, I've been running right in the middle at 12 clicks.

At first it felt super stiff and I thought, no way I could ride any stiffer. Then after a day of driving it, I really started to enjoy it even more. Bumps don't seem to hit any harder than stock and there's no more riding on a boat feeling.

It's difficult to provide a good review without getting the car into some twisties, since Ohio is rather flat and the roads are very straight.

I'll be venturing out in search of some curves and try the setting at full hard to see how bearable it is. With the miles I've put on the car since, I don't have any complaints and the coilovers feel great. So far I would definitely recommend them. but I will be providing hopefully a more useful on road review.

FD3S_wanted

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for the feedback. I may replace my current coilovers for these since mine are too harsh (12kg all around). I don't know if the swift spring upgrade worth it.

What is your wheels/tires setup?

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Wheels are 18x9.5 et 35.

Front tires 235/40/R18

Rear tires 255/35/R18

FD3S_wanted

iTrader: (5)

So how do you like your spring rate selection? Is it comfortable enough for the street? How are your streets in Ohio? Roads are pretty rough where I live.

Fortune auto suggested me 11k/9k with swift spring upgrade but I'm affraid that it's going to be too hard that's why I'm asking.

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

I'm very happy with the selection. I'm still running the dampers at mid hardness and the ride is still comfortable.

The roads here ok. Not the smoothest things going, but definitely better than Michigan. Some sections of the highway are fairly terrible, but I didn't find the ride to be that bad going though those parts.

Do you know the reason they suggested the 11/9 vs the regular 10/8 spring rates? They seemed very knowledgeable on the phone, so I'm sure they could clear up any concerns.

I did not get the swift spring upgrade. I'm still happy with the ride, so unless I rode in an FD that had them, and could clearly see a significant positive difference, I wouldn't spend the extra ~$300 for them.

FD3S_wanted

iTrader: (5)

They told me that for the same spring rates, the Swift springs feel smoother. For exemple a 10k Swift spring will ride similar to a 9k or even 8k Fortune Auto spring but still perform as a 10k spring.

I guess this is why they suggested me 11k/9K if I go with swift springs.

Isam

iTrader: (7)

great review, I'd give them a ring about the top mounts being switched, just to cover your bases and let them know what happened
Where are you in ohio? There's some pretty decent roads down here between columbus, dayton and cinci

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Yeah I contacted them immediately about the swapped top hats. They were pretty upset that it happened.

I'm in the Columbus area. Haven't really found many fun roads yet, unless you take a trip down towards Hocking Hills.

LuvingMy93FD

Looks good, glad you did a review because I had no clue about this company. Did a little search on them and the nissan community loves them. I read the swift springs make a big difference compared to the standard spring. Thanks again for the review and putting me on these, I think I'll get some when my funds come in.

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

I've been very happy with their performance so far.

I have an autocross in a couple weeks, so I'll have some more feedback once I track it.

airjordan223

iTrader: (8)

Well unfortunately the auto-x was rained out and I was unable to make the reschedule date.

However, that didn't stop me from finding some back twisties after work on Friday to give these a whirl.

At this point I was running 12 in the front and 12 in the rear, which is still very comfortable for daily driving. The car was very responsive and I felt confident with every turn. I was getting a slight rub on the front drivers side fender liner. Mostly because its tore up a bit from the previous owner.

After the drive I decided I wanted to go a little lower in the front, and with that adjustment I set the fronts to 16. This made a world of difference. Even with the car lower, there is no rubbing and the car goes exactly where you tell it to. It felt like I was karting with this thing.

Still very satisfied with my purchase and would definitely recommend these.

nyboosted7

iTrader: (3)

I have them on my fd best suspension I've ever owned had hks, apexi n1, twins but these are amazing car handles and drives amazing+1 for fortune auto I recommend this suspension to every fd owner

nyboosted7

iTrader: (3)

Meant to say Teins not twins sorry

tbkonwso

iTrader: (4)

for your rear coilover... did you reuse the black rubber plastic for the top? i notice some paint cracking near the shock mount, like its hitting it too hard.

what setting did you end up with anyways?