D2 coilover help or anyone who's done adj. coilovers.

[mr2mike]

So I installed and lowered the rears on my car no problem. The issue is up front. I installed and lowered the one side and it went smooth. I used the stock end link and there was room to spare on all the adjustments.

Here's a picture so everyone knows what I'm talking about.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/mr2_mike/coilovers002.jpg

This pic looks like the back shocks but its close to what I'm dealing with for a visual for ppl.

The other side however, was a little different even at first look. There was an extra little rubber and metal plate, super thin where I have the green line in the pic. The spring wasn't tight on the coilover so I turned nut 1 until it was tight but not compressed, then tightened nut 2. Not too sure if this is how you adjust that part because D2 says do not adjust these. But it didn't look right having the spring loose. Can anyone comment on that?

So I measured out how the other front side went in and I see that the end link holder on the strut goes right to the base of nut #2 in the pic. Totally different from the other side since the other side has a good 1/2 inch to spare. The other thing wrong is the stock endlink won't fit in properly like the other side??? I get it to fit in at an angle, just to see the height on the car when its all done. I lower the car down and the tire rubs on the nuts 1 and 2 in the pic. big time. So I check the other side and there's lots of room for adjustment of camber?!? So I change the camber on the side in question and lower the car down.
Why is there a difference? Anyone else have this issue or can comment to help me out?

[thinmyster]

when your moms finished swapping my turbo ill send her home to look at it

[jvillain]

Here is my procedure. I am assuming that you are not looking for a specific performance setting right now. You just want to get the ride height set correctly. If you are looking for some thing specific let me know.

The first step is to get the spring preload set. Ideally this should be done with a scale but we will go with a tape measure. For now turn number one up till it just takes up the slack on the spring. We are just looking for it to keep the spring from rattling. Now measure the distance from the bottom of the top hat to the top of collar 1 and set the other coilover the same way. Then using 2 wrenches lock collars 1 & 2.

Take a brush and clean the threads of the tube that all those collars are attached to. That will make the next step easier. Back off collar 4 and by hand if loose enough or by putting wrench on 1 or 2 depending on the direction you are going turn the threaded tube we just cleaned. That will adjust the ride height up and down. After you think you have it where you want it, put the car on the ground and bounce it a couple of times. Then check your ride height. If you need to readjust it jack the car back up and repeat until you get the car the height you want. Then lock down collar 4. Measure from the top of collar 4 to the bottom of collar 2 and set the other coilover the same length.

Most coilover don't do the last step which is to adjust the height of the end link mounting tab up or down until the part of your sway bar that attaches to the end link is parralel to the ground when the car is sitting on the ground. When you set the other side just move the collar up and down till the end link fits in.

Get an alignment. Every time you adjust your ride height your alignment will be effected.

Ramps are great for looking at your suspension when the car is loaded to see how every thing is sitting.

There is lots of tuning you can do with coilovers but until you drive around on your setup for a while and determine how it is reacting it is pointless to do more.

Hope that helps.

[mr2mike]

That helps a lot. Also the end link situation was a mess up on my part. I accidentally used my old back endlink on the front which is why they seemed to be two different heights. So that's fixed.

I did all the measuring and now the tire seems to rub on the coilover. Specifically the fronts. The rear is fine. What position should I be setting the front tower plate at. I was thinking it should be cambered in (closest to the battery since I want to try to get back to the stock camber settings but with the car a good 1.5" lower.

[jvillain]

With mine I shove the tops in all the way and then use crash bolts to get back to -1.75 deg camber up front. By pushing the tops in you get more active camber gain and so need less static camber. That also helps with stopping.

But some thing to keep in mind is that my car spends more time on the track than the street these days. So my suspension is usually very stiff. That much camber gain with a soft suspension may not be safe on the road.

Even having said all that I still need to space my front wheels out farther than I would have had to with the stock struts.

[mr2mike]

So active camber is that with the tops in all the way, the harder the corner, the more its going to camber?

I guess I need more of a definition on active vs static camber please.

I talked to pulse_CRX and he said that I'll probably just need a 3mm spacer from mopac or something like that.

[jvillain]

Static camber is the amount of camber you have when the car is sitting still. Active camber is how the camber changes as the wheels move up and down. In this case are really only worried about when it moves up. As it moves upward the amount of negative camber /----\ should increase.

Say you turn hard left. The weight of the car shifts to the outside and the suspension on the right hand side compresses. At the same time the road is trying to push the contact patch towards the inside of the car forcing the inside of the tire to lift slightly. By tilting the top of the tire in more as the suspension loads up we bring the tire back down flat with the road again.

[mr2mike]

Ok, I think I've got it. Just have to visualize how the physics of this all works so I don't end up shredding a tire from cornering and hitting a bump.

The one thing I don't get is in your quote below.


Originally posted by jvillain
the car shits

haha

[jvillain]

Fixed.:banghead:

[mr2mike]

Ok, finally got the fronts working where the tire doesn't rub. Had to use 5mm spacers from Mopac and slam the top of the struts closest to the center of the car. Did a basic alignment but nothing precise.

As for preload, should I have next to no preload for a softer ride? I read that you have to adjust preload with weight on the car, much like setting the endlinks up.

I also noticed that it took a drive to get the springs to seat in better. My height dropped a good 1/4 of an inch.

Having these fully adjustable coilovers is a lot of tinkering.

[jvillain]

Are you thinking of preload or are you thinking of corner weighting? They are both different beasts. What are you trying to accomplish?

[mr2mike]

Just wanting to have a reasonable ride for the brutal Calgary streets. But I'm trying to learn what preloading does.

[jvillain]

Preload changes the starting spring rate for your springs. In other words you are compressing them even before you put them on the car.

If you are just looking for a good road setup then don't worry about either preload or corner weighting. Follow the steps I posted up top and then go get an alignment. Tell them to max out you negative camber while still staying within the stock specs.