damper/shock/coilover question!

[ayuaddict]

so i have S13 coilovers on an S30 at the moment.

details can be found at yuta-akaishi.blogspot.com (http://zilvia.net/f/yuta-akaishi.blogspot.com) (but is unrelated to this thread)

i have a slight issue, the coilovers that i am using at the current ride height are not functioning very properly. i have about 3" of travel and although they ride pretty smoothly, i am afraid they will blow very soon, and when taking corners hard they like to bottom out.

i am considering buying a set of miata coilovers or something similar.

two questions somebody may be able to answer.

what are the shortest coilovers? are they miata coilovers? perhaps S2000?

also, coilover construction.

the threaded damper part, is it all damper? or is there a chamber of nothing that i can just cut off?

example.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/ayuaddict/coilover.jpg

the red area, an area that is not part of the shock, but is there to allow a wider range of height adjustability. does that kind of thing exist? the reason i ask this is because the piston is significantly shorter than the thread shock tube. i want to know but the only way i can imagine finding out is cutting into the shock - which can yeild all kinds of shitty results or taking the shock to an airport to xray it - which is probably not possible.

any help is greatly appreciated.

[aznpoopy]

i can't answer your questions.

i can tell you that when the shock is bottoming out, that's when you actually do want to add preload to gain additional shock travel.

how much sag do you get at each corner when you put the car on the ground? if you have a decent bit of sag, you should be able to preload each corner slightly without sacrificing any ride quality.

[ayuaddict]

well this is how it looks.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/ayuaddict/086.jpg

so by adding preload i would raise the car.

i would actually need to raise it 2 or 3 inches in order to start adding preload.

[racepar1]

Does the shock bottom first or does the tire hit the wheelwell first? If the shock does bottom first how much room do you have between the top of the tire and the wheel well when the shock is bottomed? You may need a longer shock, not a shorter one. It sounds like you are running out of bump travel on the damper. If that is the case then you need a longer shock to remedy the issue.

[aznpoopy]

he's running out of travel because he's got what looks like 3-4" of droop on the spring, which is eating into his compression travel.

extra stroke on a longer shock will get eaten up by spring droop, leaving him in same position he is now. if it has a longer casing as well, he'll actually have less travel than he does now. what he needs is a shock with longer downward travel; i.e. a comparable shock with a short case.

you are right that a shorter shock may kill his travel as well, but it depends on how short the casing is. he does have room for a shorter shock though, he'll just run less droop to compensate. a shorter shock will hurt what he's trying to do only when its shorter than his current shock minus all that droop length.

that sucks ayu. looks like you put alot of work into it. less droop or a stiffer spring will get you additional compression travel. but i'm going to guess you want to keep the height as it is. alot of jp coilover companies advertise short case on their coilovers. i would get in touch with them and try to get some measurements. i.e. how tall the case is and how tall the shock is at full extension.

[racepar1]

he's running out of travel because he's got what looks like 3-4" of droop on the spring, which is eating into his compression travel.

extra stroke on a longer shock will get eaten up by spring droop, leaving him in same position he is now. if it has a longer casing as well, he'll actually have less travel than he does now. what he needs is a shock with longer downward travel; i.e. a comparable shock with a short case.

you are right that a shorter shock may kill his travel as well, but it depends on how short the casing is. he does have room for a shorter shock though, he'll just run less droop to compensate. a shorter shock will hurt what he's trying to do only when its shorter than his current shock minus all that droop length.

that sucks ayu. looks like you put alot of work into it. less droop or a stiffer spring will get you additional compression travel. but i'm going to guess you want to keep the height as it is. alot of jp coilover companies advertise short case on their coilovers. i would get in touch with them and try to get some measurements. i.e. how tall the case is and how tall the shock is at full extension.

I actually didn't notice all that droop in the pic. I know for sure that megan and most other cheap ass coilovers have very short dampers. Tein's are kinda long for sure, but I couldn't tell you anything about any others off the top of my head. Unfortuanetly I can almost completely guarantee you that the solution is not going to be as simple as just screwing another set of dampers in there.

[ayuaddict]

thanks for the responses guys!

it wasn't too much work to be honest.

i actually picked up a set of integra DC2 coilovers which are ridiculously short so ill be cutting those up and throwing them in tomorrow.

its going to be great being able to adjust ride height while being able to have preload!

[aznpoopy]

sweet! let us know how it works out.