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KYB adjustable shocks are a good option. I have them front and rear and with no front swaybar I can still corner and manouver the car like people wouldn't want to believe. And with skinny 185 tires on the front too.
My car is LIGHT though. Which helps a lot. (gutted 94 hardtop/ ls1 converted)
With all due respect, no. Not really. The car is less capable than a stock one. The tires are much smaller and no sway bar at all means more body roll. That might be plenty good enough for you. But it's less good than it was stock.
And the KYB AGX's are not great shocks. They are one of the options we carry because sometimes folks want them, they like the price, etc. But one of the issues with them (and with others) is that you'll note the **** is on the side. That's a shock that is not adjusting the flow of oil through the shock's piston (which is important for changes in damping that involve piston speed).
The Crusaders are twin-tube gas bag. So they aren't gas charged like a monotube.
The difference between them and the UMI/Strano's, damping wise, is the Crusaders can be purchased with either drag or road race valving whereas the UMI/Strano's are intended to dominate auto-x and road race.
ramey
In addition to not being gas charged. Viking uses a smaller piston, isn't as sensitive to small piston movements as mono-tube shock, and like I mentioned in an earlier response the adjuster itself works quite differently. The Strano/UMI stuff adjusts rebound on the piston of the shock (so do Koni). When you have that you are adjusting the flow of oil through the piston. If you adjust on the side like the others, you simply open a bypass in the foot valve. This makes a difference in how the shock works and reacts at various piston speeds.
The original go arounds for the AFCO built Strano/UMI stuff were also twin tube "gas bag" shocks. In fact back then I'd say those weren't really "strano" at all. I agreed to help, but as time went on it became clear to me that we really, really wanted a mono-tube setup if we were going this far. As we made those changes, and subsequent revalves, the kind of became more joint effort. But even in the AFCO twins, they still were piston adjustable shocks.
Also, the valving are quite different. And no shock has as big a range as what I've done with the Strano/UMI, or with a curve that is as, IMHO, good.
With all due respect, no. Not really. The car is less capable than a stock one. The tires are much smaller and no sway bar at all means more body roll. That might be plenty good enough for you. But it's less good than it was stock.
And the KYB AGX's are not great shocks. They are one of the options we carry because sometimes folks want them, they like the price, etc. But one of the issues with them (and with others) is that you'll note the **** is on the side. That's a shock that is not adjusting the flow of oil through the shock's piston (which is important for changes in damping that involve piston speed).
I never said it's as capable as a proper setup with a swaybar. But removing 500 lbs of weight from these cars changes them a lot
I'm not telling people to go removing their swaybar, and most don't gut their cars to this extent either
I never said it's as capable as a proper setup with a swaybar. But removing 500 lbs of weight from these cars changes them a lot
I'm not telling people to go removing their swaybar, and most don't gut their cars to this extent either
It would certainly help given the small tires and no bar. But there isn't a car made that doesn't have front bar on it from the factory, and there is a reason for that. Even 2300 pound cars like a Miata. (which also comes on bigger tires than 185's).
Not to change the subject back to my initial thread starter... but I ended up going with the Viking Coilovers which I ordered from Midwest Chassis on Monday (Clevis upper mounts on front and rear with standard T mount lower for the front and transverse mounts for the rear).
Looking forward to getting these bad boys installed! I'll post pictures of the before and after!
Not to change the subject back to my initial thread starter... but I ended up going with the Viking Coilovers which I ordered from Midwest Chassis on Monday (Clevis upper mounts on front and rear with standard T mount lower for the front and transverse mounts for the rear).
Looking forward to getting these bad boys installed! I'll post pictures of the before and after!
I doubt it then, I just see our vendors on here talk about them somewhat frequently, but have yet to see anyone get them on your car. Probably doesn't matter since you're drag focused. What spring rates did you go with?
I doubt it then, I just see our vendors on here talk about them somewhat frequently, but have yet to see anyone get them on your car. Probably doesn't matter since you're drag focused. What spring rates did you go with?
I went with 300 on the fronts and 175 on the rear with a 14" spring height!
Okay so I have an update finally! I started with the rears as I envisioned them to be easier... Long story short, everything ended up bolting up and the holes that had to be drilled were fairly easy. I have bolt on LCA's, so I had to stack washers in between the gap of the lower transverse mounts, but other than that it was fairly simple. Rear height started out at 28" and after I installed the coilovers (with the lock nut about 1/3 of the way up the shock), the car was actually about .5" taller. The bottom lock nut ended up being almost at the very bottom of the shock for the rears (literally 3 turns from the bottom) for me to reach a height of 26.5". I have completed the passenger side front as well, and that job was also relatively straight forward. The only problem I ran into was getting the spindle separated from the upper control arm (turns out you have to just hit it really hard with a hammer). I also replaced the worn outer tie rod end when I was in there, which was super simple. I woke up Sunday morning with the flu, which has put me down for about 3 days, but I plan to get back at it this weekend to complete the front driver side... 3 wheels down, 1 to go! I'm REALLY not looking forward to taking off the brake master cylinder, which is why I saved the "best for last"! I know it's not finished yet, and I will probably still have to mess with the height settings, but here is a pretty sweet before and after picture!
01-23-2017, 11:41 PM
but I ended up going with the Viking Coilovers which I ordered from Midwest Chassis on Monday (Clevis upper mounts on front and rear with standard T mount lower for the front and transverse mounts for the rear).
I know it's not finished yet, and I will probably still have to mess with the height settings, but here is a pretty sweet before and after picture!
