FINALLY! But got couple questions...

[JasonNagra]

August 29th, my first REAL track outing with the 240SX. Took place at Streets of Willow, and it ROCKED!!!! The car performed beautifully, realized I dont need to spend anymore money in upgrades, just money perfecting my driving skills. (I call this my sykikchimp realization.) The day was great, I learned A LOT. Did mostly drift, because thats what Im interested in, and I felt confident for my first time. I really want to thank everyone on this board who has helped answering my questions, and help me get to this point in terms of the car and myself. I have attatched a couple pics from the event.

However, I have a few questions about suspension. I have Tein HE's, and they did well. I can see how and why people bitch about there valving, after riding in a FC with KEI office coilovers. But, they were fine for me. What I am having trouble with, is adjusting them. An instructor dorve my car and told me it felt like I was losing travel.

I mean I know not to lower or raise ride heigth by the spring perch, because that affects shock travel which is undesirable. The idea is to only adjust the ride heigth by the lower perch, because these coilovers are double height adjustable. What I am wondering is, in terms of using maximum travel of the coilover (which is desired from the suspension, i think, right???), does this mean that the spring perch on the HE's should be set at near ZERO preload? I called Tein and they gave me the specs from the manual and most people do use those measurements as there guide, but how do most of you guys who actually track/drift your car set it up? I am confused because I dont really know wether to have the spring at about ZERO preload and then just adjust car height from the lower perch? Is this the idea??

PS ~ If anyone with S13 or S14 would like to attend a private drift/grip event on the 19th of this month, please email me at [email protected] The event will be held at Buttonwillow (east loop) so SoCal people and NorCal people are welcome.

Thanks again everyone!!

[JasonNagra]

Dont know what I was doing, but looks fun!

[sykikchimp]

SO glad you had fun!!! Another Convert addicted to the GFCP (go fast crack pipe) W00T!!


Are you hitting the bump stops? which way are you running out of travel? Front or Rear?

I would guess rear, and you need more bump (compression) travel right? Very common problem on lowered 240's. Most guys never realize they have this problem. I have it too.

Since the HE's have linear rate springs, you can gain additional bump travel by preloading the springs a bit. It'll take a bit of trial and error, and you can probably get it very close by measuring how much travel you have available at static ride height, then how much TOTAL is available with no load. determine how much more travel you need, and adjust the spring perch as necessary to increase preload. As long as your not preloading more than the car would load the suspension, you'll be fine.

Once you get the bump travel you want, then adjust height with the lower strut bracket.


-Charles

[JasonNagra]

GFCP!! ROFL!!

Charles I read your post about the not spending on the car a few weeks ago, and I never even GOT what you were sayin untill about 2 hours on the track!!

Anyway, not once did I hit the bump stops. I am asking because the instructor noticed that I should have more travel with the HE's, meaning that maybe the spring perch could be at the wrong measurement, because I did NOT use Teins values. I geuss what im pondering is, for general use on the track, (especially for drift if it even makes a difference) should the spring be at about zero preload? I'm thinking a little tighter thank zero so that the spring is nice and snug within the perches and has no chance of moving around. From there, once I get that value (which will be by doing by measuring and counting threads) I will then lower the car via the lower perch, which will NOT affect travel, right? :bash:

[Dousan_PG]

play with it till you find what you like. that's the best way. its personal perference

mine are not to tein values but what i find most suitalbe for my car and my driving style. takes a few track events. ive been happier with them lately after tweaking them. more to come soon. :) new springs shortly. ah have to redo it all. :(

[Kid Zelda]

Great man, that rocks


I take it the car did not overheat on you :p

I would attend your private thingy, but until I pick a keeper .. I'm not doing suspension work :p

[JasonNagra]

What is your preload like? Is your spring pretty compressed??


Also what are the effects of having the springs preloaded on coilovers? What type of handling will it induce if a lot of preload is placed compared to near zero? I understand that the more preload there is, the more travel you lose. Someone school me, Im a newbie to these fine intracacies. :( :aw:

[JasonNagra]

Originally posted by Kid Zelda
Great man, that rocks


I take it the car did not overheat on you :p

I would attend your private thingy, but until I pick a keeper .. I'm not doing suspension work :p

No the car did not even come close to overheating. Thanks again for your help Omar! Damnits just bring your car to this event. Its all good, you dont NEED suspension, just come. :D

[Dousan_PG]

i dont remember
and i dont want to say
i dont like giving out my settings anyways. its jsut me. my car my setup, my suspension is nuts and lots of gizmos and gadgets here, my speeds drifts style..technique, its all me. ask dorifto. most can't drift my car. :p go figure.

i dont know answer to your other qs. i just fool with stuff and see waht i like. and if i did know (i do know a bit) i cant explain it
im not a school teacher haha..i suck at explaining stuff.

[exitspeed]

het sounds like a you had a good time.

Kinda question off topic, but what kinda rims are those they look fresh.

[sykikchimp]

Maximum available suspension travel occurs when the shock piston is in the dead center of the shock at static ride height. Any change is relative to that.

So if you preload the spring, you will loose some droop travel, but gain bump travel. works both ways.

Now if you already have a surplus of droop travel, that means you have less than adequate bump travel. Remember center of with piston is ideal. Preloading the LINEAR rate spring will only serve to increase bump travel. It will have no negative effect on the springs rate, or how the spring will react to bumps. It will just have to compress less to settle at static ride height.

If you had PROGRESSIVE rate springs, then preloading the springs would serve to increase initial rate. This would cause you to have a little funky handling if you don't plan for it.

[JasonNagra]

Originally posted by exitspeed
het sounds like a you had a good time.

Kinda question off topic, but what kinda rims are those they look fresh.

Enkei Mesh 15X7 0 offset.


Thanks Charles, I had to read that about 10 times to try and wrap my mind around the concept. I will be going to the track again this 19th, and I will just set the preload near Teins specified value, but I will have it a little tighter like I said above. After that I will just play with it to see where I like it for my driving skills. Thanks guys!

[sykikchimp]

What exactly does Tien say about it?

[JasonNagra]

After I talked to Tein about the "reccomended" heigth for the spring and what not, the guy told me to keep it at about 0 preload. He was even confused about the double heigth aspect of the units, so I dont really know wether to trust him or not, but Im gonna run it at the track again on the 19th of this month so do a comparison of how it feels.