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Im not really sure im understanding what your saying but your helper spring wouldnt have any relation to shock droop. as soon as you put body weight onto the helper spring it will be fully compressed. they are literally dormant unless your strut goes into full extension and this would only occur in very rare scenarios e.g if you hit a big hole and the suspension fully extends or you lift a wheel. majority of the purpose of a helper spring is to keep the actual spring under load on full extension/ no load so it doesnt flop around and fall out of the perch. if you had the correct length springs for the ride height your wanting you shouldnt even really use keeper springs at all. they can be used to have a very very minor effect on going over sudden bumps etc where they can dampen the effect of them by effectively introducing a very small amount of low spring rate characteristics when the suspension goes into full travel/extension for a very short amount of time which can help with stability e.g if you were doing 400kmh and hit a bump in the road and the suspension maxed out it would be less harsh than if you just had a static rate spring in there.
yes. 950lbs springs in the back wont compress much at standing weight. Droop is from any situation that corner gets lighter than what it gets just standing, and extends with or without spring pressure. Max Droop is full extension of the shock, possibly lifting a tire
yes. 950lbs springs in the back wont compress much at standing weight. Droop is from any situation that corner gets lighter than what it gets just standing, and extends with or without spring pressure. Max Droop is full extension of the shock, possibly lifting a tire
Yes that is correct,
Sorry im still not following what you meant by how it relates back to your keeper springs.
Sorry im still not following what you meant by how it relates back to your keeper springs.
so whatever height of the helper spring area is compressible after mounting is the droop, which is the length of shaft (red in your video) inside the shock body at standing weight. right?
round2 adjustment is you actually measure main spring compression (if any) and adjust spring perch so you end up at exact desired ratio, if thats your goal
Last edited by ViciousLSD; Oct 14, 2021 at 09:10 PM.
isn't that what I said? 500lbs for 1 inch PLUS another 500lbs for another 1 inch = 1000lbs for 2" of compression (from its original height)
Yea, don't know why the way you worded it threw me for a loop, something's wrong with my brain today. In basic terms preload increases the required amount of force to begin a compression cycle. More preload means more force required to compress the spring. That's why ride height is controlled by the spring perch, which also controls spring preload in most cases.
An easy approach is give it as much bump travel as possible while keeping the bumpstop usable. You always want to hit a bumpstop before the tire hits the chassis.
Any travel not used for bump is left for droop and for however much droop you have and what your ride height is at will determine if you need a tender or helper spring or not.
It also varies what the car is. I set my Fit up different than I do my Evo. My Fit is an open diff FWD car, up front I sacrificed some bump travel for a bit extra droop and utilize a tender because I always want both front tires on the ground, even if one only has a tender spring rate being applied. The rear is set up for max bump travel because lifting a rear wheel isn't a big concern.
Last edited by Ayoustin; Oct 14, 2021 at 10:02 PM.
Hot damn I've been led astray in the past with adjusting coilovers that have separate preload/body adjustments.
Why do so many companies and people tell others to adjust the height of their coilovers with the lower body perch?
There might be confusion here too. Bottom-side threads is mainly for height adjustment, BUT you put your spanner wrench on the actual spring perch to turn the whole thing (?)
I would adjust height bottom side first, if that is max'd out (witness hole) then its time to move the spring
Last edited by ViciousLSD; Oct 15, 2021 at 10:23 AM.
Had a good lengthy chat with Jon@TRE today. He's a busy guy, glad he made time. It's nice to have someone to talk to about life with the Evo (car friends dont care) and how it can destroy you from the inside lol. One day you're the one to watch, then the day comes when the car just breaks something new every time - causing yellow flags reducing/delaying session times for everyone, asking for help pushing/towing the car out of the way, leaving oil on track, belching, leaving the car on the venue, hitching a ride home, getting a tow truck on site. *sigh* the stares. This car was supposed to be my stress reliever. I think Jon liked that you guys talk'd me into handling the TC issue and ditch the big deal shops. Thanks y'all.
Anyway, i'm coping by (really) cleaning the underside of the car lol. Hoping for a brand new beginning after this episode. 10year anniv next month yay
I've always said Jon is a GREAT/goto guy and source of info IF you can reach him. He's busy, which is good for him, bad for us
I think I piqued his interest because the items i need rebuilding is queue'd up, and that I have broken so many things in just the last <30 race miles :
Speaking of compressing/preloading a coilover spring a few inches in the real world, is there a spring compressor for coilover setups or we're talking about a shop press with some special attachment? is the top thread strong enough?
Not related to that question...
I just tried to work on the FA510s. For the record, the rear has about 108mm piston travel. The smooth part of the shaft goes in 100% right about when it hits bottom.
That said I'm struggling with these coilvers for my target stockish ride height and minimum 1/3 droop ratio. I'm going to call FA to beg for a longer lower threaded tube, 1 to 2" longer. Am I making sense?
Last edited by ViciousLSD; Oct 16, 2021 at 09:33 PM.
FA510 fronts. This one looks like it has enough room to work with. Over all length shown is the maximum (1.5" in the tube-bracket), not adjusted for ride height yet
Math verified by my 8yo
Last edited by ViciousLSD; Oct 17, 2021 at 09:09 PM.
I'm not happy with this. I need more height below the spring perch to get the tire clearance I was going for. If FA doesn't have a longer lower bracket, I will have to get 1" shorter springs, or take out some droop or I will have to try and flip my control arms and maybe gain 10mm(?)
Last edited by ViciousLSD; Oct 17, 2021 at 09:54 PM.
I'm not happy with this. I need more height below the spring perch to get the tire clearance I was going for. If FA doesn't have a longer lower bracket, I will have to get 1" shorter springs, or take out some droop or I will have to try and flip my control arms and maybe gain 10mm(?)
Try ditching the helper spring? that will move the spring perch up by 35mm
Try ditching the helper spring? that will move the spring perch up by 35mm
yes that's kind of an option BUT the top hat has a ~15mm protrusion/guide to center the spring (it begins after the silver washer), so if your spring/slider goes lower it can get jammed. Maybe the dust boot + helper spring seat can keep the spring/slider centered , or the guide can be extended?
I think I did convince FA to sell me an extended lower bracket-tube. Paid, lead time up to 3.5weeks. I'm aware the control arms can only go so far down, so I'll be watching out for that.
There's another thing, the FA fronts don't have a bung for the camber bolts. wtf. I'm not sure why they didn't include it in the design. Maybe I can max out the camber bolt setting and fill the gap with something?
