Tony Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Anyone can install coilovers but if we are to be authorized installers then i insisted on one-to-one training on their product, the good the bad and ugly... To enable this Absolutely shocks offered a set of coilovers at cost to auction in the main MX5 owners club forum... All bids were blind and all monies over cost was donated to charity. John Turner offered the winning bid for his MX5 MK1 The product Absolutely shocks fast road Gaz coilovers These use the OEM top mounts and with a coil rate of 350/250 other than the OEM 250/190. 42 level damper adjustable and most importantly a Nickle plated body to belay corrosion, and each unit comes with a damper dyno certificate The install was simple as?...... I decided to remove the front camber/castor adjusters for the install since we are calibrating the chassis anyway and i wanted to ensure these were free and lubricated, as a consequence the Geometry needed a formal recovery before a "settling" test drive. Once settled (fine tune to follow) here is the calibration report Reasonably distressed the chassis was recovered to complement John's investment The actual calibration is good but i do have concerns for the SAI disparity and although their position does not effect the current positions it will limit future evolution of the chassis. So coils installed, chassis calibrated then it's test drive time...... Not good ..... Seemingly the master valving on the rears were not set to AB's specification so in the morning Derek will pick up the correct units from Gaz and we will install these and re-calibrate the chassis. I suppose this sort of event is why i wanted to experience "Absolutely shocks" so we can do it right, do it once. Once the replacements are installed and the chassis Geometrically calibrated we will corner weight the car........ To be continued Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Part two ............... Corner weight time Some interesting figures appeared I forgot to photograph the final weights but after adjusting the coils we had 160kg 175kg 160kg 160kg The 175kg is due to engine components.... Next step was the final Geometry calibration... Actual figures i won't display because they belong to the owner but i can show you some of the new software in action By not going "stupid low" and maintaining horizontal wishbones and steering arms we achieved a static Toe in with a dynamic loss to O on the bump..... That's good by the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Looks very impressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 All looks super... wish we had that over here can i ask a quick question? or two what do you level before weighing the car, what i mean is ...do you get a level from the tyre contact or can you get the chassis level or what? I just noticed that the feet of the scales seem to be a bit higher at the rear... what else is factored in, tyre pressure, fuel tank? is it weighed with a driver? sorry just curious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 All looks super... wish we had that over here can i ask a quick question? or two what do you level before weighing the car, what i mean is ...do you get a level from the tyre contact or can you get the chassis level or what? I just noticed that the feet of the scales seem to be a bit higher at the rear... what else is factored in, tyre pressure, fuel tank? is it weighed with a driver? sorry just curious Good questions..... The tyre pressures are set and the fuel is at the track day levels. Then we place the scales on the ramp level a master scale and fire a laser from this to the other scales, one-by-one these are then leveled. We don't have the driver in the car since correcting his weight would effect the coil preload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Cool .. i love Lasers thanks for the education Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hms Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Interesting figs Tony. Quote I forgot to photograph the final weights but after adjusting the coils we had 160kg 175kg 160kg 160kg The 175kg is due to engine components.... Unquote. My question comes from the time Lexie was corner weighed at TDI on one of your open days. The figures were: Fns Fos 288 283 248 263 5kg difference across the front I would think is not a worry. I was concerned about the disparity across the rear axle and the fact the the rns tyre had to be replaced because of the tyre feathering on the inside shoulder. The cause turned out to be a knackered shock, the wear went away when the Abs Shocks GAZ were fitted. (Very happy with them.) The disparity here was 15kg. What do you think would be the maximum allowable differential across an axle, on a standard set up car. (i.e. not set up for ovals etc.) The NA you set up above has a 15kg discrepancy, which could be dialed out by adjusting the spring perch? I assume this would adjust the ride height for that corner, altering the geometry settings. How do you balance out these conflicting issues. (Ride height, corner weights and alignment.) H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 Interesting figs Tony. Quote I forgot to photograph the final weights but after adjusting the coils we had 160kg 175kg 160kg 160kg The 175kg is due to engine components.... Unquote. My question comes from the time Lexie was corner weighed at TDI on one of your open days. The figures were: Fns Fos 288 283 248 263 5kg difference across the front I would think is not a worry. I was concerned about the disparity across the rear axle and the fact the the rns tyre had to be replaced because of the tyre feathering on the inside shoulder. The cause turned out to be a knackered shock, the wear went away when the Abs Shocks GAZ were fitted. (Very happy with them.) The disparity here was 15kg. What do you think would be the maximum allowable differential across an axle, on a standard set up car. (i.e. not set up for ovals etc.) The NA you set up above has a 15kg discrepancy, which could be dialed out by adjusting the spring perch? I assume this would adjust the ride height for that corner, altering the geometry settings. How do you balance out these conflicting issues. (Ride height, corner weights and alignment.) H In an ideal world the disparity would be zero.... In this case we couldn't use the perch because to reduce the weight the perch needs to be lowered. So for balance we would need to move engine components. Geometrically there can be issues, so we test the gains by doing "pull downs" then road test the for deviations on th bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjturner Posted May 15, 2008 Report Share Posted May 15, 2008 Just to give an update. The car has been transformed and is great on the road, comfortable and loads of grip. Just got back from the Nurburgring, where it has clocked up 52 laps this weekend with no issues. I upped the damping as suggested and it felt more purposeful. It delivered the neutral handling I wanted, its what you need when you find a car facing the wrong way on a 80mph corner. Quick through the corners with a good turn in, and kept up with most things on the twisties. Thanks very much Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Looks mega, now they just need an SW20 kit :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Looks mega, now they just need an SW20 kit :rolleyes_anim: I'm sure they are working on one...... Derek is at the open day Sunday, if you are there you can poke him in the eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 I will be there in the MR2, it couldn't not show really could it? :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squares Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 That is fantastic. How much is a corner weighting session Tony? Would like to do the same for my 200sx. :rolleyes_anim: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 That is fantastic. How much is a corner weighting session Tony? Would like to do the same for my 200sx. I borrowed the scales..... Mine will be here late June... and yes we can set the 200sx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squares Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 That is fantastic. How much is a corner weighting session Tony? Would like to do the same for my 200sx. I borrowed the scales..... Mine will be here late June... and yes we can set the 200sx *Holds hand in the air* - me me me me! I officially volenteer to be the guinee pig if you like mate? - well not me, the car, you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 That is fantastic. How much is a corner weighting session Tony? Would like to do the same for my 200sx. I borrowed the scales..... Mine will be here late June... and yes we can set the 200sx *Holds hand in the air* - me me me me! I officially volenteer to be the guinee pig if you like mate? - well not me, the car, you know what I mean. I know what you mean ..... I'll take your car on, it will be interesting to know what dynamic index she has Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pishtail Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 I notice that you have used OEM gaitor/bumpstops. Is this in favour of the poly ones supplied by Gaz? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted December 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 I notice that you have used OEM gaitor/bumpstops. Is this in favour of the poly ones supplied by Gaz? Dave The Poly is an upgrade mainly for the (then) track car or those that want to lower the car to the max. The new GAZ/wim "gold pro" are avalible now and to be used in the MA5DA race series.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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