I just bought my FD the other day, and it has aftermarket suspension.

The problem with my suspension is that it is taking bumps in the road way to hard.

I want to know how I can find the perfect settings for the suspension.

I do not have knowledge on the subject, so I thought I would start this thread as a place to set up a basis for learning about suspension and how to tell that, while driving, the suspension is at the optimal settings for specific uses.

 

First off congratulations on your purchase.

Second read this he'll get you close:
https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/howard-colemans-fd-chassis-setup-723617/

Third search this forum is rich with lots o info chances are if you want to ask it, its been asked before and maybe answered.

and lastly good luck

 

Thanks.

 

Chango I've been reading this article and this guy is an expert on shocks. He keeps saying that most adjustable suspension's are junk. The ***** either don't do anything at all, or they do the wrong thing. In some cases turning the ***** mean it imbalances the two sides. So you could have it set to #4 on both sides, but have different damping forces. The reason is it's just really hard to manufacture a needle with the proper shape and taper and make the consistent for every shock. So usually on the soft end of the settings turning the **** does nothing, and then on the stiff side even a small click makes a huge change. But he's saying there's also crossover so even though you're turning the **** just for rebound, it affects the bound setting too. He goes into it pretty deep from what I've been reading the only reason manufacturers put the ***** on there is so people will buy them, they are actually useless.

I know that in my experience I had Tokico Illumina shocks on my RX7 and turning the ***** made quite a difference in stiffness but it didn't really help the handling, just made it bumpy.
I had the Bilstein PSS9's too and those were really good shocks, but their ***** were similar.

 

Go full soft and start tightening them up until you can barely stand it.

 

See if you can find out what the suspension in the car is. IE: brand / model, spring rates, shocks, etc. This can help members troubleshoot much more accurately.

It's possible you have a suspension designed for track days (race only), and no amount of adjustment will help.

What do you want to do with the car?

Welcome to the FD! These are sweet cars.

 

It does feel like a racing suspension because of the consistency it maintains on fast turns, but I need to adjust it so that I do not bounce off of the road when I drive on streets that are uneven.

When I had my cousin check under the hood, he said that the Air Intake system, that the previous owner installed, was a custom built racing intake.

I do know that the previous owner has two more FD's, so it might be that he might have made this FD for track since the area he lived was nice and didnt not have bumpy roads....

As far as figuring out what suspension I actually have on the car, is there any way I can figure that out myself, or do I need to take it to a performance garage where they can tell me what kind of suspension it is?

 

Hmm...can you ask the prior owner for details?
Or...pull a wheel and see if you can find any ID markings? Both on the springs and the shocks.
Take some pictures and post them here? Include details of the spring mount, the mounts as viewed from under the hood, etc.

There are also some good shops in the bay area - an overall inspection and "health" checkup could be a good idea to prevent future problems.

Cheers!

 

PM me if you want a set of experienced eyes on the car. I'm in the Bay Area also.

 

I would really like to take it into a shop that can check the car, but I do not know of any shops that are dedicated to the Rx7's around the san leandro area.

Plus, how much would that cost me to get an overall inspection?

 

There may not be shops in San Leandro, but I know of a least a couple in the area, though there are probably more good ones than these:

SR Motorsports is in Brentwood
Rick's Performance is in Pleasanton

Not sure what an good inspection would run you - give these guys a call!

 

Before you go up to a shop and hand them your car do some research I know I've been burned by not doing my due diligence. Don't be me.

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