Ah got it. Unfortunately, since it's an auto I cannot put it in neutral without turning the car on. Every time I lower the car, the car loads up until I turn it on, put it in neutral, then reverse, then forward.

 

It was 66* here in NY today so I finally took the Supra out after installing the MCS coilovers, all the SPL suspension bits and giving it a proper alignment.

It feels FANTASTIC. All the nervousness, the weird way the chassis was upset by bumps in the middle of turns and the feeling the car wanted to kill me every time I got on the throttle are all now completely gone. I can now also feel much more what the chassis is doing, where before it was a bit more numb. There is still a little bit of a steering dead spot right off center but I've come to peace with the fact that is almost impossible to get away from with newer cars. I am still on the oem tires too. I bet it will feel even more amazing once i get the 295 wide 200TW tires on.

I ended up with 550/500 spring rates so it feels close to my evo now as far as ride quality. I would actually say it's a good bit smoother than the ohlins on my Evo, especially on bumpy pavement.

One issue is that I did a dumbass move and I guess I forgot to fully tighten the upper strut mount bolts on one side and when I dropped the car to the ground, the strut slightly shifted. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but with the way the strut towers are designed and how high the MCS adjuster is mounted, I had them very close to the strut openings to get as much negative camber as I could from the camber plates. Well, once the strut shifted slightly, the adjuster hit the strut opening and ended up bending the adjusting rod. I have an email out to MCS, I am hoping this will be an easy replacement.

 

The joys of DIY. Every time I do something like that (which is pretty rare thankfully), I just tell myself how much money I saved doing the overall project myself.

 

Yea, rare for me as well. I even used a paint marker on every suspension bolt I touched during the installs which is something I never bothered to do in the past but guess which bolts I didn’t paint mark during reassembly? Lol

 

Nice update! Glad to hear it all worked out. I pulled mine out and washed it tonight. Haven't driven it in 3 weeks but taking it to work tomorrow.

 

Heard from MCS. Fixing the adjuster rod would mean taking the strut off the car and sending it back to them. Right around $300 for the repair, plus shipping.

I am going to run it how it is the first couple events to see how it feels. If I feel I need to adjust things, I am going to try and bend it back myself, if that doesn't work, I guess I am sending a strut back...

 

this is the big thing that sets apart MCS for me... my first experience with them was comparing my NC Miata with Ohlins to one with MCS with similar spring rates (little stiffer front little softer rear IIRC) and how much better it rode and handled bumps. How they can handle a stiff spring rate but still ride so well, that sentiment is what sold me on Ohlins... but the MCS are so much better than that. Well at least the R&T Ohlins, I'm sure their TTX and higher end stuff is better, but that costs even more than MCS

 

Put my track wheels on. Now the car doesn't look lowered at all. lol

Looks like a day full of rain for my track event this weekend. Welp, at least I'll learn the chassis!

 

How do the MCS hold up to street use?

Long ago when my track car pulled double duty as a DD, the Ohlins were the top choice because their materials and construction held up to street driving better than most other shocks.

Are the MCS at the same level? Or do they need a little more care and attention to keep corrosion away?

 

the only people I know with MCS's don't daily their cars, so I can't comment on that with any experience... but they're sold like all race shocks, no dust covers or bumpstops or anything. so if you get your own dust covers and stuff that should help. and their valving is more durable than traditional race shock valving, its similar to how Multimatic does their valving, so you can go longer between rebuilds.

edit:
Ohlins bodies are aluminum like most race shocks, other than dust covers and bumpstops, what about them contributes to better street durability?

 

Ohlins Road and Track are TÜV Certified.

 

I mean yeah, but throw dust boots and either rubber bushings or rubber seals on the sphericals (think exposed sphericals are a no-no for TÜV) on race shocks and most of them will pass too.

 

This ^

I'm sure other vendors could get there with minor changes and going through the process, but Ohlins actually did it and you can buy them off the shelf like that.

 

So, my first track day with the Supra is in the books, and oh boy what a day.

First off, the Supra in the cold and wet with 200TW tires, on a track I have never been on yet, is absolutely TERRIFYING! Also didn't help that I haven't been on track in almost four years.

Day started off in the 40's and by the end of the day it was maybe mid 50's. The first three sessions claimed four cars. I think two cars went into the armco or tire walls in the first session. Six cars crashed by the end of the day. Needless to say, I put my noob brain on and took it REALLY easy after continuing to see that destruction.

So yea, the Supra was super tail happy with the 200tw tires and wet and rainy sessions. I could barely give it more than 20% throttle if the steering wheel was anything off center. Most of the day the tires where max 70F and by the end of the day as it started "warming" up I was able to just get 100F in the tires, which is probably still not even close to what they need. A bunch of people brought all season tires. Welcome to the East Coast I guess. The AWD and FWD cars with all-seasons where by far the fastest, which made sense. The good news is I was able to learn the car and track at much lower speeds than if it was a dry warm day. Lime Rock is much more fun than I had anticipated, and deceptively challenging.

In the last session I knew the track a bit better and was able to start going a little faster. There is absolutely a ton of potential in the car and I can't wait for a warmer dry track day. I also need to get my Sparco seat, harness and hans in the car. I am sore today from trying to keep myself in the seat, and I wasn't even fighting huge G-forces yet.

Enjoy this video of me tip-toeing around the track. Sorry for the bad audio. The GoPro decided to not use my external mic for some stupid reason.

 

little off topic, but is that the Garmin Catalyst you have mounted or do you have a giant phone? if the Catalyst, how do you like it? Why did you choose it over something like the Aim Solo 2 which can do OBD2 integration (and maybe other stuff?). I'm thinking of upgrading from my phone+gps+obd2 dongle setup whenever I get around to finishing my Miata so I'm curious