adam-trd

Hi Guys,

i am running the ohlins coilovers on my fd, 18x10.5 +45 wheel with a 275/35 hoosier A6. 600/450 pound springs

after reading howards thead, the car is set at 25". I am bottoming out the coilover with ease... i am sending them all away to get re-valved but i am thinking of potentially getting them shortened.

i have some other options

1. run 17" rims
2. raise the car
3. custom rear upper arms
4. run a lower profile tyre


what are your thoughts?

Regards,

Adam.

HadaVette

iTrader: (3)

The tire you are running is taller than the stock tire by about 3/4", per the lookup I did. If you set the fender lip to the same height as for a stock diameter tire (I'm not sure what Howard is running, but I think it's close to stock), you have about 3/8" less travel than expected. The rim size won't really matter, the main effect is from the overall tire diameter.

Raising the height is fairly easy, the re-alignment afterwards being the hardest part. Maybe try going up 1/2" and see how it looks and rides? Assuming these were for the car, I'm surprised you are bottoming out as the spring rate certaily seems high enough.

adam-trd

few action shots to show...

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

What exactly is it doing when you say bottoming out? How does the car feel when it happens?

Howard had recommended using a zip tie on the shock rod to measure for this type of scenario. Have you tried doing that? If so, how much compression did you measure?

For what its worth, I ran into Jack Mardikian at a NASA event at Buttonwillow last year. There is a thread on his car in the Race section. Very impressive and fast car driven by a fast racer. He recommended running a higher ride height than Howard does b/c he found that he did not have enough rear suspension travel at lower ride heights.

adam-trd

mate its bottoming out, i.e bang

zip tie would be turned to dust... i think my only option is to raise the car at the moment.

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

Just wondering if you're getting something like coil bind from too short a spring vs a bottoming or worn/blown shock.

The only time I ever got bang was on old worn out shocks at a low ride height on driver's rear under power exiting corners. Ride height was about 25" - 25.25" or so measured w/o driver at the time. Didn't happen again after my Konis were revalved and rebuilt but I also raised rear ride height to about 25.5" w/ driver weight and half tank of gas. Others probably have more experience than I in this respect since this is the only car that I've ever gone beyond off the shelf street parts on.

I have seen pics of a lowered spindle for use on low running race cars to gain more travel. That might be an option over custom upper arms.

adam-trd

its not the springs, i know there is a place in japan making custom rear uprights. their ok, but quite expensive

i can get shorter bodied shocks, proflex is my local tarmac brand. made to suit

i am also thinking i will need to cut some of the inner rear guard out, on the outer section... where the tyre touches after some camber gain