Koni coilovers installed. Impressions....

[mfuller]

Well everyone, I finally installed them now that the weather is getting nicer. I only have a few pics, and I'm not done fiddling with them yet - still need to set ride height in the rear (front is set) and re-aling the car.

Driving impressions? It's stiff. Like Corvette stiff, so it's fine on smooth roads (although you feel every bump and expansion joint). I haven't driven on a bumpy road yet, so I'll cover that later. But here are some pictures; enjoy.

http://www.aleromod.net/albums/mfuller/P3120052.jpg

http://www.aleromod.net/albums/mfuller/P3120051.jpg

[SikMindz]

Looks good! Is there gonna be anyone at the track that you're going to to film your runs? I really wanna see how your car handles...:thumbs:

[Tweeter]

Looks good, I would love to have a set of those.

[mfuller]

Well, I've hit a snag - the rear springs are too long. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem with the threaded lower perch, but if I thread the perch lower on the strut, it will rub on the rear tire....not a good thing. The back end of the car needs to come down a good 3", so I'm ordering 8" springs...wait, those are 4" shorter! Well, yes. I'm going to raise the lower spring perch 1" for more tire clearance, and coupled with the 3" the back end needs to drop, I need a 4" shorter spring. Thankfully, Eibach Race Springs are only $55 each. I should be set in 2 weeks - then I need to re-learn how to drive the car.

In the meantime, stock struts and springs will be re-installed in the rear of the car for now. I know the ride height will be acceptable even if the front-to-rear spring rates are way out of whack; it just means the car won't handle as well as it could. I don't want to run the risk of breaking something on my drive to MI this weekend if everything isn't right - as it is, the rear swaybar is constantly hitting the exhaust pipe because the back of the car is so jacked up, and I won't accept that.

Still, I am very pleased with how Truechoice Motorsports put everything together. They didn't have the car to tinker with, no corner weights or motion ratios....all things considered, I'm still ahead of the curve. Stay tuned...

[jaketuff]

Just looking at those makes my ass hurt!:D

JOUT

[iceman]

Glad to hear you are workin out the snags! Can't wait for another ride :)

BTW your old springs are getting installed very shortly, hopefully some of your driving skills transfer to me through them :)

[cavingman]

these look PIMP in real life
good job matt :thumbs:

[AaronGTR]

:eek: I want, I want. Man those look sweet. Your getting all the nice toys!:D

Lets us know how the tire clearance issue turns out, and how the spring rates work. If you're going to a much shorter spring in the back it will need to be stiffer won't it? I hope you find a good spring rate that'll keep the car balanced.

[mfuller]

And it's my own damn fault.

As many of you know, I drove up to Detroit this past Friday to have DHP dyno-tune my car. Anyway, while driving down one road (maybe 10 minutes from the hotel), we encountered a railroad crossing. Evidently, my brain wasn't working too well (it was 1AM), because even after I saw the pickup truck 100 feet in front of me bucking wildly as it went over the tracks, I didn't have the good sense to slow down. Can ya'll see where this is going?

Anyway, I crash over the (extremely rough) tracks. I get that bone-jarring thud that you feel when you know something hit hard. I'm almost sure I had bottomed the front struts out and bent my wheels or blown a tire or something. But the car still drove fine. When I arrived at my hotel, I looked over the car carefully. Yep, the front air dam was still intact. The wheels were still completely round, and my tires didn't look to be losing air. Whew, I thought.

Saturday came and went without much concern. Sunday rolled around and I got on the road home. "Hmm, I thought.....this doesn't seem so bad; maybe I'm getting used to the racecar-harsh ride. Or maybe MI roads aren't too bad." [b]Wrong-o.

Yesterday, I thought that things felt really soft; the car definitely wasn't as sharp as when the front coilovers were installed last Wednesday. So last night, I pulled off the front coilovers. I removed the springs, and started playing with the compression adjuster. No change in how much force was needed to compress the strut. Sh!t. Now I'm sure I broke something.

Upon review of my shock schematics, my best guess is that I destroyed the compression valve. So, the fronts are going back to Truechoice to be rebuilt, and be shortened by 1 inch (so I have a bit more compression travel). So ya'll learn from my screw-up: if you lower your car anywhere near 2", be careful on RR crossings. If you bottom out, you'll break something. [End Rant]

I'm a moron.

[sound_xtreme]

HAHAHA, that sucks man. Sorry to hear that. I idle across tracks with my custom coilovers. People get ****ed but it saves my cars life. Any kind of warranty on them or will you have to pay for the damage?

[mfuller]

Originally posted by sound_xtreme
HAHAHA, that sucks man. Sorry to hear that. I idle across tracks with my custom coilovers. People get ****ed but it saves my cars life. Any kind of warranty on them or will you have to pay for the damage?
Happy to amuse you. :knob:

As I said, it's my own damn fault; I can't pin the blame on Koni or Truechoice. This is a non-warranty issue, so I'll have to pay for the repairs. Thankfully, the one saving grace is that Koni struts can be rebuilt instead of just replaced (so I might only pay $300 instead of $600).
I suppose when you push the envelope, stuff like this is bound to happen; so I'll chalk it up as a learning experience.

[AleroME]

lol.. sorry to hear that matt. I ran over some stuff with my lowered car and the only thing I get is more dents on the sub-frame/frame. Example: Before I lowered the car.. I tried pulling my car on to up on Ramps, a buddy of mine shouts out.. give it a little more gas. A tap of the pedal .. and my car fell off the ramps.. ended up denting the little lip where the trunk jack goes on both sides. I just laugh at it now and don't use ramps anymore.. only jack and jackstands. lol

[sound_xtreme]

But man, i dont understand how you brok it.....how fast were you going???? I have bottomed out my struts TONS of times so far since I haven't had them shortened yet and mine are still running strong, and mine are stocks! :eek: But seriously sorry to hear bout your bad luck.

[cavingman]

Originally posted by sound_xtreme
But man, i dont understand how you brok it.....how fast were you going???? I have bottomed out my struts TONS of times so far since I haven't had them shortened yet and mine are still running strong, and mine are stocks! :eek: But seriously sorry to hear bout your bad luck.

michigan potholes and railroad tracks my friend

[sound_xtreme]

Ummm, i believe we have just as many tracks here, actually probably more. and lemme tell you country roads suck and BGSU campus roads arent much better.