Just wondering if anyone is running these on their FD....are they reliable? easy to adjust/work with? I haven't dived deep into suspension tuning yet so I need to be learned in this department. Any help will be appreciated.

 

i assume that you are referring to the Apex'i N1 coilovers right? If so they are very good and also handle very well provided you have the right alignment set up. My friend has them, they are 25 way stiffness adjustable. They are pretty stiff, but if you don't mind it along with the price, you shoudl go for it. If you don't want to spend approximately $2000, go for the TEIN HA's or some other TEIN suspension.

 

yes, the Apex'i N1 Coilovers.... the price doesn't really matter to me, I just needed some feedback on them. Do they limit the wheel&tire size you can use up front?

 

I don't see why they would limit the wheel and tire size up front. They are adjustable ride height as well, so you can adjust the height of your car if you want to fit bigger wheels. If price is not a problem go for it, they are one of the better shocks out there now.

 

hey fookin, got a pic of that N1 single? i can't decide on an N1 single or dual tip exhaust

 

maybe a few pics, like from straight back, side too would be nice

 

Jimmyjimbo, I will take pics of my car soon when everything is done, i'll post them up in the lounge in a couple weeks or so. i have had both n1 single and dual, the single is a little quieter. My friend has the dual for sale if you are interested. PM Neofreak

 

hey thanks fookin, i pmed neofreak

 

Jimmy, pm ARDT2, he's the wheel and suspension man on the forum, and will hoook you up with a killer deal. trust me

 

Well, I'm glad you boyz are behaving on this suspension thread

 

The wheel width and offset could be a problem on any coil over suspension if you make ride hieght to low. stock struts have the spring perch located above the wheel and the strut itself is pretty narrow in diameter. however with a coil over set up you can actually get the lower spring perch to sit much lower that the normal strut assembly while the coil over spring diameter may be smaller than stock spring it is deffinately larger than the strut itself. the only way to tell to actually bolt it all up. thare have been cases where the end user has had to us a 5mm or larger wheel spacer. it's not about wheel size it's really about wheel width and offset.

 

Yup, magic's right.

i.e. E36 BMW's going to HR or Bilstien coilovers call for a spacer because of this clearance problem with the newly adjustable location for the lower spring perch. Also take into consideration that a true coilover should also have a shortened shock body which is also a reason for this dilemna.

rishie

 

is there a problem with camber when you use a n1 suspension?

 

camber can be a problem if your make your car ride height to low. with too low ride height you will also have other basic handling problems.

 

Yeah, that camber question is a little ambiguous. With coilovers you have the option of setting your ride height. On the stock vehicle you're allowed a limited amount of room to bring camber back into spec.

Therefore, if you lower your car beyond those limitations you will have camber issues. This can be corrected by getting new camber hardware that will allow for more adjustment than stock.

Be aware that Magic is so correct that a really low CG won't help you out unless you're a drifter. hehe. If you lower the car too much you'll have no suspension travel which is bad. hehe.

 

There is no such thing as "lower you car too much" hurt handling. The lower the CG, the more lateral acceleration you're gonna pull provided alignment is not messed up. And if you still have stock springs, yes no suspension travel is bad. That's why you have to go with stiff springs. That's why ricers who cut their stock springs to lower their car is stupid.

 

If you only knew......my god! here it is again for the hard of reading... CG is one thing but if you have no suspension travel by making your ride height too low then you will actually bounce your car right off the track when trying to corner. every time the suspension bottoms out you will skip across the corner and you must be able to place load on suspension for propper grip. this will be the case if you you any kind of spring made to install on your factory style struts... the only way to avoid that is to have a fully adjustable set up like the JIC FLT A2 suspension where you change ride height by lower bracket and not by lower spring perch. you have to realize that lower CG is good but not at the cost of whacked out suspension geometry.

your friendly neighborhood magicman

 

I completely agree with you, and then you have to realize that we're talking about N1 coilovers ? I have one of these and they use adjustable lower collars to allow changing ride height without affecting shock travel. If no suspension travel is bad, why is every car in F1 have little to no suspension travel ?

Lighten up buddy, you may live a little longer.

 

dude do you drive your car on F1 circuits? is your car a mazda rx-7 or a F1 Ferrari with suspension designed for that ride height? now smile when you read this cuz I ain't mad I'm just answering a silly question with a silly answer! F1 cars don't ever see the street, they dont ever see any thing except the race track and the paddock. comparing an rx-7 to a Formula 1 car is strechting it a little bit don't you think? and N1 is not F1. N1 are good stuff just like JIC FLT A2 same type of height adjustment. And they will work great on the FD3.
FD3 is not F1 car and the suspension geometry is not designed to be 1 inch off the ground like F1 car is.

lighten up pal, you may learn something
ha ha ha ! just a joke don't take it out on your keyboard

your friendly neighborhood magicman

 

does anyone know where to get some instructions in english on these things? i tried to e-mail apexi-usa but got no response.

i have the N1 on my car in 'out of the box' form, and it lowered it quite a bit, to the point where i do think i'd have trouble with a 17" or 18" wheel.

maybe i'm just dumb, but i couldn't really figure out how to adjust the height with the lower perch. i tried adjusting the upper perch on one, but it was just compressing the spring, not raising height at all.

also, anyone know the spring rate? i tried to convert based on the code number on the springs and the table in the instructions, but came up with a number way too high to be accurate, like 900 lbs. also, all four springs had the same code number stamped on them... but the fronts should be different than the rears.

anyone with any experience with these things in the pittsburgh area would be a godsend.

 

Do you have the wrenches to loosen the lower perch?

that's what you need. To raise it just lower the collar on the bottom in effect making the total distance from upper shock mount to lower shock bracket longer.

Rishie

Don't need instructions. Just make sure that the spring is not loose. MAke sure you just barely have preload on the spring for now until you get it cornerweighted after purchasing wheels and finishing the rest of your setup.

 

i do have the two spanners it came with...

like i said, i'm dumb. but pictures help-




are we talking about adjusting "C" here? i couldn't seem to turn that one and didn't want to muscle it.

is "B" just extra support for "A" ?

 

Guys F1 cars have no suspension travel because their cornering speed is dependant on aerodynamics. The Engineers need the car to NOT lean, pitch or roll because it upsets the balance between the wings and changes the cars distance to the ground; upsetting the vacuum created underneath

F1 suspension setups HAVE NO APPLICATION to streetcars. F1 cars develop relatively low mechanical grip...its all aero. Even the biggest wings available for RX7s won't simulate an F1 aero load.

And you CAN over lower a car, because all the suspension parts opperate in an arc. the camber and castor actually changes as the suspension is compressed. when it starts out very low, the arms are opperating in more extreme angles, and the change between the static and compressed become more extreme, making the car feel nervous. Its no longer opperating within the right parameters.

Check out all the real FD racecars: They're low, but not as much as the show cars you see, because it wouldn't work right anymore.

 

BTW Magicman, i was agreeing with you! i quoted the wrong post.

 

"C" is the lock washer that will allow you to adjust you ride height. however it is not designed to allow you to thread the dampener too low/ "A" is to hold the spring in place and "B" is a locking type to be tightend against "A"/ yo the spring should not be to tight in the inbetween the upper and lower perch.(NO PRELOAD)!

those shocks are not designed to be able to make you lower your car insanely low... pretty low yeah...crazy low....not gonna work so good.
and be carflu not to use wrong spanner on wron red locknut. you could damage 'em that way. your tire to fender-lip clearance should be 25-35mm your spring should be something like 10kg/mm in front and 8kg/mm in rear. call the place where you bought them and ask some questions.... hope that helped

your friendly neighborhood magicman