Anyone running 5" length springs on the front?

[a_ahmed]

Just wondering if anyone is running 5" length front springs?

If I were to go stiffer front and rear say 12/10, vs my current 10.7/8.06 setup.. I figure to go lower I may use the 5" front and my current 6" front to the back. They are stiff anyways shouldn't bottom or anything like that. As is with my new lowered height I am not bottoming out or rubbing (yay confirmed finally)

Bad idea? Pros/Cons? Not doing it now but just wondering.

In that case I could run some tenders front and rear too no?

[Matt93SE]

I wouldn't recommend going to a spring that short. that leaves you almost zilch for spring travel before coil-binding the spring.

[Def]

I ran some 5" 420's on the front. They never coilbinded due to getting into the bumpstops when really hitting something, but the rate to coilbind was a bit above the 6" 380's in the rear. I'd think something that stiff would probably be ok, but you have little travel with a 5" so I'd think staying with a 6" would be the smart thing to do.

[a_ahmed]

Okay fair enough...

I am just brainstorming here a bit...

I tried the 350lbs/inch springs I bought from (mccoy was it?) and I didn't like it. I'll be selling them... too frickin soft and bubbly boat for me... Of course the car would have needed softer front to match but none the less the rear felt crap but more comfortable. In fact I have come to like my setup alot over time now other than it being a bit too front biased/understeery...

I've finally figured out my problem of what I complained about as high speed/mid corner oversteer... it was in fact understeer and then rear losing grip and power oversteer as was the obvious case on track. Recently getting rid of alot of weight from the front has helped turn in and get rid of alot of that understeer, combined with some dampening changes... I am no longer experiencing the same issues of before... but I still no likey. I should be getting my progress rear sway and heim endlinks for the rear next week... I'll still run it full soft but it should work better than the hicas bar according to a few peeps I talked to locally who track their 240s with a whiteline on full soft... apparently still stiffer than the stock crap (both whiteline and progress are 22mm solid, but progress comes with heim endlinks while whiteline comes with that crap design).

Now I feel like trying ridiculous **** just for ****s and giggles if no one's tried it before... I know 12/10 has been tried on our cars... and works... but I feel like doing something ridiculous like 14/12... just for ****s and giggles... I mean I do run r comps so woopie do lets try it? I figure that way it should definitely not bottom out by running a 5" front (eh I guess?). Swift has some crazy springs like that with their fancy materials.

However... I can't go much lower unless I do something about wheel wells... and get some real wide fenders not the chopped monstrosity I have...

With the current rates I am running 7 clicks compression front and 5 rear. This is post-last bouncy track day and man the car is so much more controllable... and faster. When I lowered the car it became far more bouncy... (eh?) so after cayuga I figured let me up the compression and voila the result. It's still a bit on the bouncy side on the rear however... so I'll try 9 clicks compression front and 7 clicks compression rear. That leaves me with a few more until full compression at 12 clicks.

I am however curious what the 8611-1257 can handle... I remember reading on sr20forums that some guys ran 1000lbs/inch (wtf?)... but they mention they were revalved... but I was confused when they said revalved pre/post of some date (apparently koni changed the valving on the ots stuff -- this was like 2005 to 2007). 700lbs/inch is 12.5kg/mm and 14kg/mm is 783.96lbs/inch... those guys do mention running 800lbs/inch as upper limit on the DA konis.. and I know PJ runs 700 on his autocross 240's front

That being said... to go lower in the front I will think about next year or post that year going with some 285/30/18 like pj... that should allow me to go low in the front...

I feel like the car could use a bit more rear spring... it may seem odd and opposite to common knowledge... but then so is what I did with no arb and not liking it while most people say it's a good thing... in fact I'm loving running the HICAS arb and hopefully will see how the progress one goes (its 3 way adjustable so I'll toy with it). In fact I feel like adding a bit more rear spring even trying equal rates maybe?... Stupid I dunno but just for experiment. ADAM who is a local guy setting touring car lap times with his s13 with an ls1 runs 10k/10k with teins...

Meh... ****s and giggles research, i'll go ahead and try this ridiculousness. I was thinking of just getting some 12kg/mm 5" fronts and swapping my front 10.7kg/mm 6" to the rear.

[Matt93SE]

My personal opinion is that it's time to call an expert.. If the car still isn't handling the way you want it to, take it to a shop and let them look at it. They'll charge a couple hundred bucks to get it set up properly and then you can just go and have fun vs. spending $1000 on a set of tires that only last a track day while you're throwing $200 sets of springs at it once a month and another $60-100 on alignments and corner balancing..

But that's just my $0.02.

[a_ahmed]

lol I like the challange and tinkering part of this whole thing... What really motivates me is the tinkering part... that's the beauty of it to me. The car is better and faster since cayuga already... which means I'm not screwing up THAT much :P

[Bumnah]

You seem to change things around so often, I'm not sure how you're keeping track of it all. What's changed and how that change has improved the car.

I love tinkering as much as the next guy, but you've done like 2 track events this year, and like 15 car setups.

[a_ahmed]

Well every subsequent change has made the car faster/more controllable so I'm alright I am back to Cayuga on the 20th so I'll be able to best judge it that way though.

I may just turn this into a trailer queen down the line as I already have another car... I just want to go all out with this car and since the season is unfortunately almost over I'll be scheduling next year more so than this year.

By the way dunnville autodrome has been indefinetely closed down in ontario... That was to be my next track day on the 6th.. Long line of law suits by locals complaining of noise.

[jmauld]

You'll need to go upwards of 500lb to go with a 5" spring, and you'll want to pick up a barrel-type spring from GC.

[a_ahmed]

Mind explaining what you mean by barrel type?

I have a straight 600lbs 6" in the front already fyi

[jmauld]

Some of the shorter GC shocks, look like a small barrel instead of a striaght spring. IOW, the spring is wider in the middle then at the ends. The ends are still 2.5", but the middle goes out to 3" diameter or so. The advantage is that design gives you a small amount of additional spring travel before it coil binds.

GC used to have all of the specs of their springs on their website, but they've either hidden it or took that info away.

[McCoy]

Ahmed, if your wanting to consider making all these radical changes to your car, with the end result of being faster, then you should really consider getting some type of data acquisition that gives more than just lap times for the data. The seat of the pants feel usually is not the most accurate and looking at overall lap times is ok, but doesn't really tell you if you are just getting better at driving the car or if your changes actually made a difference or not.

I'm going to say it again... take some sort of HPDE or evolution school. I'm not saying your a bad driver by this statement... but there are several things an Instructor can teach you to help shave time off your laps without resorting to throwing $$$ at the car.

[BlackFire240sx]

Spend the money on a DL1, track time and professional instruction... You'll get more gains and more consistancy per $

AND if you like tinkering, you'll love the DL1!

[BlackFire240sx]

Haha, you beat me to the punch by seconds McCoy! So I guess I'll second that, lol

[Matt93SE]

3rd.....
The only real changes I've made to the car in the last few years have been maintenance issues (before the roll cage anyway).
I've gained ten seconds a lap with just seat time and instruction alone.