geisha8

definitely

geisha8

Volvos??? Those of us who ride bikes give them a WIDE berth
Thanks for the advice about the suspension, it has just kicked me in my big butt to remind me that it is what I should look at. Having driven numerous times along the old pacific highway where it more a bumpy goat track than a "highway", I did notice the weak damping on the 8. The 8's suspension is a fantastic compromise as most of you have said. Comfortable and yet controlled even in spirited driving. It's limitation only shows when pushed to 9-10/10ths ie on the race track.
Could you tell me what mods you made to your suspension setup?

Thanks.

geisha8

Are the Koni's damping adjustable?
How did you arrive at compression and rebound settings before installation or is there access to the adjusters?

Thanks.

geisha8

Yeah I heard about those. The spoilers I mean :p

geisha8

Was at Wakefield in Feb where I found the suspension and tyres limits (not the 180+ km/h lift issue). I wasn't smooth in my driving so that didn't help but you can certailny find the 8's limits there. Besides the suspension, the stock 040's also lose traction fairly quickly. I intend to get a more "aggressive" alignment done before the Nats as the 8 understeers into a corner.

ILIV48

Yes the Koni's are damper adjustible except the back have to be set before installation as they need to be removed to change. The front are adjustible from the top of the struts, just pop your bonnet and you can get to them.

From my research it was recommended that the rear has an optimum setting that works really well on track or the road. Go too hard on the 8's rear and it gets twitchy. I applied the recommended setting of one full turn at the rear and I must say it feels spot on. The settings for the rear has come from guys who are tracking 8's and have lots of experience setting up circuit cars. For the 3 tracks they use and the drive to and from the track they found they only needed to play with the front adjustments and still run times equivelant to full coilover setups. Set a bit softer for a nicer drive to the circuit and then up the setting depending on the smoothness of the circuit.

I have so far found the harder I set the front the quicker the turn in I get but if it gets bumpy while on a harder setting the front end gets loose.



I also suffered some understeer with my front loading up in hard cornering requiring more muscle on the steering wheel or some more throttle to get the rear to have some input but now that understeer is gone. It is very neutral and very direct.


If you have the money a full coilover setup will provide more options to play and give you the full 10/10ths not just the 9/10ths this koni setup gives, but at half the price for me it was the better deal and with the savings I was able to buy a set of Toyo R888 semislicks for the track :D The other thing you need to know with most coilovers is that they can be susceptable to corosion as they have a fair amount of working parts exposed. The koni's are fully enclosed and have a lifetime warranty and are not like the koni's you get for some cars which are just inserts that get put into the stock units. These are full replacement units!

Man I can babble on.... Sorry, I am just so excited by how they have made the car drive! I'm a big kid with a new toy :D :D :D

xxup

Those of us who drive cars, semi trailers, walk or cycle give them wide berth too....
:D :D :D

A spoiler on a Volvo - was that used to dry clothes or something??? :p

timbo

Back off on the Volvo thing!

I had Konis on my 740 turbo wagon. You do know this car ran competitively in the Euro touring car series, in the late 80's :o :o

takahashi

I thought putting a set of 16" in my Civic was rice

geisha8

Thanks for the advice and info.
For my application I think the Konis would be better value as I'll only be doing a few track days a year. It looks like you're happy with the guys who did the work for you. Would you send me their details?

geisha8

What's really rice are the toyota corollas with their huge rear wings and skinny 14" steel wheels with hubcaps........ in Macau :D

geisha8

...picnic table.. :D

EZZY

the asians would use it as a mahjong table :D

Revolver

Next you'll be telling us that Brockie raced them for a while.

He also came up with the polariser you know. :D :D

Wildcard

I did a little more research on the whole rear spoiler /downforce /extra drag thing. Here is what I found:

In a straight line, extra downforce is not really required (at least at the speeds we can drive an RX-8 at). Going fast is all about minimum drag, and a wing creates extra drag which is counterproductive to top speed and fuel consumption.

In cornering, the extra downforce will increase traction by pushing the rear of the car into the road harder. So there is a benefit on the track in having a rear spoiler /wing.

For me, I'm going to keep the back end clean. As an aside, the European lip spoiler is said to decrease the RX-8's coefficient of drag from 0.31 to 0.30. Pity we can't get them here though.

ILIV48

VW/Bugatti have made that production car that hits a top speed over 400km/hr. As the car begins to reach its higher speed the rear wing actually retracts into the body to make the car as slippery as possible reducing the drag!

Revolver

That's interesting!

I've also decided to keep the back of the car clean. I prefer it that way aesthetically and figure that if I ever use it for track work on an extensive basis (unlikely) the first thing I'll attack is the suspension set-up.

Not knocking those with wings BTW.

timbo

Well, I am aware that a certain EZZY has made some ... a couple of which will be heading to the Nats as prizes...many thanks to
EZZY's business for this support and sponsorship. I reckon they look really cool, too



(why did I mention this??...I could have just purloined one :o :D )

rotarenvy

ezzys site sucks it never loads
I'd love a euro spoiler.
when was he going to spill the beans not all of us can make it to the natonals

timbo

Oh oh...looks like he's taken it down to update...or hasn't paid the rent :D

takahashi

give Eric (Ezzy) a call or an email... easy to do that this days when we know each other so well.

You can almost make out his email by his first name @ his website lol :D

EZZY

dont tell me it got stuck on 88%..... :p
just havent got the time/patience to get a new one up atm....

maybe.... maybe not :D :D :D

okay, back onto this thing....
there is still no progress on this little item so far.
i have the proto-type sitting at the workshop for sometimes now, but im still not sure if it will suit everyone's taste. i dont want this to look like "the other" lip spoiler... if you know what i mean

geisha8

You are spot on MACCAA I spoke with East Coast Suspension and they did the alignment for me:
Front -1Deg -ve camber, Caster L+8Deg / R+7Deg 30', 3mm Toe Out. Rear -2Deg 15'-ve camber, 1Deg 5' Toe In. Strange that on my car you couldn't get more than -1deg on the front!

Running 34/34PSI at Wakefield, the 8 still understeered although it was a lot more stable. The rear didn't break loose as before. Dropped the front to 32PSI and it was better. Ended up dropping it to 30PSI for the last session and it was sweet. The rear tracked and the front tracked true. Understeer can still be induced but that's just my crappy driving. Gotta learn fr you guys. Next time you and Rod go for a practice day, can I tag along?