Fury_786

Like it says, im going to be upgrading from my struts/shocks and springs to real coil-overs

i like drag racing, but im looking for a stiff spring rate that will allow me to roadrace/autox and drift the car without the miles of body roll i have now

ive been trying to figure out some rates for my car (2001 SS with iron block and 9" ~3750lbs) and im wondering what you guys are using

SIK02SS

iTrader: (11)

FRRAX would be a better place to look and ask. But this is very open ended and driven largely by user preference and needs from the car. People run front rates anywhere from 550 to 1000 and rears tend to top out around 250 iirc. It's about finding the balance and ride that you want from the car.

What coilovers are you getting? Hopefully something that uses a commonly found spring that can be replaced/swapped if you want to increase or decrease your spring rate.

Any pics of the front end of your car that shows the canards and splitter?

zacht

iTrader: (18)

subscribing! would like to see how this thread goes!

KTK Z28

iTrader: (6)

I'm running ground control coil overs with 550 fronts and 175 rears. This is on a ls1 aluminum block stock rear end BTW. I feel that those rates are overall too soft for the street. I wish I would have went to a higher rate. It also is going to depend on how low you want to go, the lower you are the more spring rate your.going to need in order to keep it off the bump stops.

Fury_786

im thinking of getting either strange or qa1's and i was looking in the 650ish front and 400ish rear range

pics of front end here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearanc...plitter-2.html

JD_AMG

I guess you haven't searched at all? The only thing you will be doing with those shocks are going strait and hurting your back over any kind of road imperfections. They are non-gas charged drag shocks (although sometimes labeled as street/strip shocks, they are more drag shocks than anything else).
If you are interested at all in turning you'd only be going backwards by buying something like that.

If you want coilovers for handling/street driving look into either something high end like Penske, or Bilstien race shocks (unbalancedengineering.com)
Or a more affordable route with Koni sports (single or double adjustable, whichever you prefer) [stranoparts.com] with ground control sleeves to adjust ride height. Or regular Bilstien HD/SLP with the same ground control sleeve (although regular bilstiens are not adjustable).
For the rear get ground control perches for the axle so you can adjust the height, and a custom spring from them (or whoever you choose). - this means no rear coilovers.
I see no advantages of running a coilover in the rear, this topic has been covered so many times, where you mount the coilover on the rear was never meant to take that kind of stress, its risky.
While were at it don't forget swaybars. You can play around with sizes but I think a 35mm front and an adjustable 22mm rear [stranoparts.com] would be a good starting point (and REALLY help with the body roll).
You may also want to look into a Fays2 watts link.

*Also note, just because some of your drifto friends do something to their car that works doesn't mean it will work for your Fbody. These are solid axle cars with different geometry then most of the cars that are used to drift. I know some of them get away with really goofy spring rates and wheel/tire sizes that will likely not do anything for you on your car.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Ahhh, BAD idea(s).

First, Strange and QA1's can't handle rates like that.... Not even close. Second 400 in the rear? 4 times stock? Why? Front is workable, but 400? I ran 600 fronts, and 150 rears on my autocross car (that wins). SIK02SS has my lowering springs which are 550/150.

If he wants adjustable height for handling/street then I'll point him to KW Variant 3's. They have the adjustment on height, and are double adjustable on damping too--and independently so, the compression and rebound are not linked. http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...=148&ModelID=7 Those come with 400 fronts, and about a 175 on the rear.

Fury_786

i appreciate your input...i was researching spring rated that are offered for cars that are about the same weight and weight balance as mine. i dont ask my "drifto" friends to do anything for me.

and i have searched on the topic, unfortunately on here, there are about a billion good, bad, and idiotic writeups and opinions on everything, thus why i created a post to interact with people and get some real time input on the subject

and thank you Sam, i would love to get a set of KW's but the budget wont be quite that high before the next event i want to go to...im looking for something around ~11-1200 bucks thats why the coils looked good.

i am interested in the koni ground controls and some form of struts, i havent seen anyone do this setup on the rear yet though, and i was wondering what id have to do to make it work. fabrication isnt an issue, just like to understand lol im assuming the ground controls just replace the factory style coil spring?

as far as spring rates, if i go with the coil sleeves, how would i go about selecting a spring rate?

JD_AMG

Never said you ask them to do anything, just letting you know that if they do something to their 240sx like running super high rates in the rear, its not going to be the same result as you running super high rates (like 400lbs/in like you stated you were looking at - not sure where else you would get the idea to run such a high rate).
I've never heard of anyone being remotely competitive (let alone winning anything) with Qa1's/strange or other drag shocks in handling events (and after riding in a car with QA1's before its not hard to see why, its like driving a boat/dump truck hybrid). Just saying if you searched for shocks on here or FRRAX you should have seen numerous threads about what works (konis or bilstiens for example) and what doesn't (drag shocks like mentioned). And also proven spring rates like what Sam mentioned above (although you have more front weight, but still) .

Not sure if this was just a mistake but these cars don't have struts, they are coil overs in the front.
Are you talking about running an adjustable spring perch in the rear?

You can select your own rate on their site: (these are all rear springs)
http://www.ground-control-store.com/...hp/II=20/CA=67
You should be able to run other springs as well, like Sam's springs, or generic ones like these:
http://pitstopusa.com/c-134779-sprin...l-pigtail.html
Can't guarantee that though.
Also Im sure you know, but a road race/autox setup will be different from a drift setup, you may have to choose which is more important to you.

Fury_786

that was pretty much exactly what i wanted to know. i know our cars dont have rear struts, which is why i didnt understand how the ground controls would work for the solid axle. i was using a lexus sc430 to compare since it was almost the same weight and distribution as my car, however i totally didnt think about the IRS vs solid axle. and as far as spring rates, i was doing the k to lb conversion (what i found online was Xk times 56= lbs rate) anyhow, i def dont know much about suspension setups since all this thing has ever done was drag race.

my car already handles like a tuna boat in a storm, im sure due to my $250 in shocks/struts and springs...everything else has been upgraded, and its time to make these on par with the rest.

the watts link idea also looks really promising and im thinking ill have to get that setup. i would imagine i can order one for my moser 9"?

im thinking about going with some kyb shocks/struts and the ground controls till tax season comes around and then acquire a set of KW's. i know kw is a badass brand, just sucks there arent any other real coilover choices for our cars that are a little more affordable. also, im still running the stock SS swaybars with some poly end links. the UMI pair looks pretty good.

SIK02SS

iTrader: (11)

As I mentioned before, spring rate is really dependent on the users preference. You may want to start in the 550/150 range and go from there. if you know the size of spring being used (and they are a common spring via eibach, H&R, ect), you can find them cheap on ebay or through google. You most likely are not going to run the same spring rates for auto-x/hpde as you will for drift events. It's all going to be trial and error to find the "perfect" rates. But a good start is the tried and proven 550/150 used by a lot of people

JD_AMG

I was talking front, our cars dont have struts at all, front is coil over shock, 3rd gens had struts.

definitely not the way to do it, as you see you got a REALLY high rear rate...
I have strano springs as well (550lbs/in front/150lbs/in rear) and they definitely handle great, not something you want to over look here.

Uh oh... What is "everything else"? Do you have other drag suspension stuff on your car?

Forgot you had a 9", you may want to talk to Sam (stranoparts) here, or Jim Fay (Fays2 watts link) to see if the clamps will fit the axle housing, or if you can have clamps made.

Coilovers aren't something magical, certainly not something you "need", the adjust ability will be a plus for you (although you need an alignment every time you adjust height) but a proper set of shocks/springs will amaze you:
http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=90&ModelID=7
Will be WAY better than the KYBs (which adjust compression and rebound with the same ****, and are known for being low quality - some rears have broken at the weld that holds the shock body to the axle)

Fury_786

the car has UMI LCA's, moser 9 housing with the longer lca brackets, umi panhard rod, spohn tunnel mount tq arm, some brand of weld in sfc's (dont remember who) BMR k member. the shocks are ST fronts and kyb rears and the spring are some ebay garbage ive had for a while...i think i paid less that $100 for them, they are definitely garbage, but the stance is nice

im going to be putting front lca's on the car asap as well since the c5 brake upgrade brackets are hitting the backs of the control arms at crank lock...ive got extended inner tie rods to get more travel from the steering and wheel spacers to help with the clearance, but ill need the actual caliper brackets to clear the arm its self. im looking to get approx 60ish degrees of angle out of the front wheels when i get done. although i need a front sway bar that has a little more angle to the bend closest to the end link vs. the stock 1le bar.

so aside from the koni's and kyb and the kw's lol what is the consensus on the eldelbrock stuff?

David_viny

What about VariShock coil overs? http://cachassisworks.com/vas_home.html

I hardly ever hear of anyone use them, seems fairly popular with the pro touring crowd.
Looks good on paper, pressurized, mono tube, double adjustable.

Fury_786

i try to open the link to their store, and its not found...wonder if they dont sell them anymore

SIK02SS

iTrader: (11)

I've never heard of anyone running varishock coil overs on a 4th gen fbody...1st gen yes, but most of those owners are strictly street drivers so reviews are lacking

JD_AMG

Tunned mounted TQ arm isn't helping, you may want to look into getting a full length one. And the BMR K-member is a drag only K-member if I remember right, and not really made to take street abuse or road racing.

I think I read the edelbrock shocks are comparable to bilstiens, but you can only adjust height, not compression or rebound.
Konis are widely used for a reason.