I hope that your wife can help you with that...

 

it's not just the shock setting, it's the entire suspension setup

if you haven't tried it then you're not in any position to say one way or another which is better, closemindedness prevails once again ...

 

"Assume" - take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof;

Example: For baghead to assume KC's post was being closeminded, baghead reinforced the belief that he's the closeminded one.

--kC
(I supplied a datapoint. I made no statement whether mine is the best setup.)

 

well I've never fully stated my setup so it's an assumption I feel comfortable with, I'm openmided enough to try anything including the unconventional, even the things I don't think will work, I don't just assume what worked on one car workson them all, I treat it as an individual exercise, all last year was nothing but one big test session for me, it was probably foolish not to have stuck it out in Stock one more year

and I've never said it was wrong, but rather that IMO it's unnecessary to run them that stiff and there negative tradeoffs associated with it besides ride quality if you do, which have all been argued previously

fwiw, the guy I sold a set of used Konis too recently found the every-day ride quality too stiff with the rears at 50% so I agreed to reimburse him and take them back.

 

But because someone hasn't done something you haven't doesn't automatically make them CLOSEMINDED. Comprende?

You constantly degrade those of us (ie: foolish, closeminded, etc...) who *CHOOSE* what we do/don't do differently than you.

Yet, when someone does one thing that remotely similar to something you have done, it's one of two scenarios...
"But I did it 1st so it's gotta be good."
"How original keep in mind, I did it 1st. You're just copying me."

As far as every day ride quality being too harsh... harshness in the *** is personal preference. Not a 'fact' that can be used for reasoning/argument on performance.

So again, stop with the attacks because people chose to do what they did that happens to be different than yourself.... and go pat yourself some more on the back if you think you have all the secrets, answers on how to go fast. Keep believing that.

--kC

 

I was referring to your attitude, not your lack of action

but I can't believe I let myself get back into this stupid argument again, signing off ..

 

One trend I've observed is at the stiffer the rear shock settings, more rear camber is required to compensate, which then creates wheelspin issues.

Best compromise I've found so far is 3/4 stiff (1 1/2 turns) and minimum camber in the rear. Car is very tossable and the only place I've hit the stops was the high speed transitions at Ft. Myers. On asphalt it's ideal.

 

So much drama and the front ones are not even on the car yet...

Anyway, I'll stir the pot by saying that the rear at 82% (non-linear since shock dyno graph
is never liner) is definitely not street-friendly, but still ok driving-wise. The car was never a
plush ride to begin with, so I'm fine with the sacrifice for the sake of better handling/autox
time.

 

A follow-up Q:

For the front where you drill out stock bumpstop cap to 12mm, the closest drill bit size
I could find is 15/32 in SAE, no metric available at Lowes. So it's 11.9mm to be exact.
Is this fine or I should get the next one up, 31/64 = 12.3mm.

 

Its fine.
And I only run the rears at 1/2 turn up from full soft. I run Road Atlanta and Roebling tracks and I must say the koni's where a BIG improvement. High speed Trail brake without the rear end getting happy now. No problems with lost of traction exiting a turn.
I have the tein h springs, RB bars and the koni sports.
I also run the front at 1-2 turns from full soft.
olddragger

 

Sweet autocrossing God! The front Koni is in now. bxb40, you are my hero and life savior! Couldn't have pulled the shock install job off without you. If I ever make to the National, you will always have a co-drive waiting for you.

A few observations after both the front & rear:

*A pair of spring compressors is not recommended, but required to get the strut assembly out in the front, and the shocks sans springs out in the back. In the case of front, two may be needed on each side since using one will dis-figure the spring shape as you try to manipulate it back to the top mounting plate. The front spring is longer/stiffer than the rear.

*We had to take out upper control arms bolts (17mm) so the brake assembly/lower control arm will drop down to gain the extra clearance. The clearance is needed to wiggle the bottom fork of the shock outward. This is in addition to top endlink nut to swing the endlink out of the way.

*Be sure to loose the top nut on the old front strut before taking it off. It's much easier doing that than having the whole top rubber piece fighting you every step of the way.

*Getting the fork perfectly aligned with the lower control arm eyelet is not an easy task. That's where we spent the most amount of time, as we held on/angle upper control arm, brake assembly, and lower control arm to put the bottom bolt back.

*19mm deep socket is necessary to torque the new top nut on the front. The adjustment lever extends up high preventing regular depth socket to work.

Now my question, is there something better and easier to work with than the star-pattern metal adjuster Koni provides with the strut tower blocking the full access?

 

Not really, just put the center slot over the adjuster and use a screwdriver in the open slots to turn it. It's really easy that way. (Sure, it would be easier with an adjustmnet **** if there were clearance...)

--kC

 

I got my Koni Sports today and plan to put them in this weekend.

I read this whole thread and I know that many say 1/2 rear is all you need while others prefer 3/4 rear.

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to going 3/4 stiff over 1/2 - performance wise? Is a harsher ride the only trade-off in going 3/4 or can other things "bad" happen like oversteer?

In short - how stiff should I set the rears when I install them? I want a good autocross setup that will be decent for daily driving. I'm leaning towards 3/4 stiff. Will I regret it?

I've never done this before so - thanks in advance for any experienced and/or expert advice.

 

I have mine on full stiff in the rear. I found it pretty difficult to achieve a lot of oversteer. A "little" oversteer isn't really a bad thing, just depends on personal preference. The ride isn't too bad, but again its what you want. I adjusted mine about 4 times before I was satisfied.

 

As of now, I have serious understeer. I guess I can attribute much of that to having put S.Techs on the front and not on the back yet (plan to tomorrow).

I really wouldn't mind a touch of oversteer as it would be a refreshing change from all the plowing I'm doing right now. Ideally, I want balance but I guess that will take time to find.

I guess I'll start at 3/4 and go from there.

 

With my current setup, full stiff in the rear, 50/50 in front, teamrx8 front sway, and 710's, the car is VERY nuetral. I would suggest trying a bunch of different setups until you find what suits all of your needs the best. My setup is best for me, I'm sure that yours and many others are different. Finding a good setup is really half the fun. I have not really seen a lot of 8's with the same setup. Good luck.

 

Konis and S.Techs.

Got one of the rears on. Took about 1:50 to do it. Aren't they purdy?



You'll notice the sway bar still detached. I couldn't get the swaybar link nut to come off. It was stuck on so god it was stripping so I just undid the sway and droped it down. That worked just as well as it still allowed the lower control arm to drop out of the way. Aligning up the lower control arm alignment bolt wasn't that bad since I had it marked.

I went the full three turns then back 1/2 turn. So we'll see what that's like.

I'll bet I can do the other side in one hour flat.. let's see..

 

Ok what was your time?

 

I did mine in three hours, going to do it again when my mazdaspeed spring come. I think I could do it in two hours. that is with hoist, and air tools

 

Thanks to all for their inputs to this thread.

I did the install of my Konis today, total time about 4 hours with a couple of soda breaks (hey, it was almost 70 degrees out on this January day, had to kick it in the sun a little!). The job was made much easier because my friend Rob was nice enough to let me use his garage...actually it's more of a race shop than garage, 6500 sq ft with plumbed air, lift, all tools imagineable, welding equiptment, lathe etc etc...definitely made it easier!

Marking the relationship of the hats. to the rubber insulators, to the springs with a paint pen made lining things up a no brainer and saved time. I did unbolt the lower control arm on the rears...after messing around with the first side for awhile, I just decided that it was going to be much faster and easier to just unbolt and give myself some room to manuever. I already had the eccentrics marked and I'm planning on playing around with with the rear camber settings, anyhow, so there wasn't really any downside in pulling the arms.

The ride is better than I thought it would be, or else I don't have the shocks set where I think I do...full clockwise rotation, until the stop, of the rear shock bodies is full stiff, right? And the fronts adjust to full stiff through turning the slotted tool counter clockwise, it appears? Does that make sense? Bueller? Bueller?

Anyhow, it really is a simple job and I can see where, next time, it won't take too long. BTW, Jason/ULLLOSE, how do you adjust the rears in an hour?

 

whats the difference between adjusting the shock with the yellow flat thing (wow) and spinning the shock when its fully compressed?



EDIT: holy god I'm stupid .... i was sitting there with the front shocks in the vice... wow.

 

be advised.. the front shocks are stiffened by rotating the adjustment tool COUNTER-clockwise, and loosened by going clockwise. Oposite of what I thought but if you check the yellow paper that came with the konis or check the + - arrows on one side of the adjustment tool you'll see.

 

Front 8241 1226 Sport (CW = softer, CCW = firmer)
Rear 8240 1227 Sport (CW = firmer, CCW = softer)

mwood was right on all counts (f/r). you guys are saying the same thing.

 

the only reason the rotation appears opposite is because you're rotating the opposite end of the shock/shaft, it's all relative ....

 

Hey guys, I got my mechanic to install my used koni's but they said that I have some missing parts. I'm not sure which part I am missing and also have no instructions to which part to reuse from the old shock and which parts I need new. All that was given was the shock with:

- top nut
- white plastic
(Referring to front shock)

Would somebody have a copy of the instructions they could possibly scan for me. If so my emails tuan0011@aapt.net.au or just post up here for other users in the future perhaps.

Any help would be appreciated.