Kosts Krazy Suspension Thread...

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by langjai23

i think i have the 6 inch swift springs with helper springs/thrust plates sitting in a box in my garage. let me check the part numbers on them i cant remember if they are 6k or 7k springs. if you are interested i can make you a deal on them.

Go ahead and check what you have.

[langjai23]

they are the 7k versions.
https://goo.gl/photos/AhTe4iJe7fgqcdD79

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by langjai23

they are the 7k versions.
https://goo.gl/photos/AhTe4iJe7fgqcdD79

Oh man those are in bad shape. No thanks, but thanks for the offer.

[Kostamojen]

I thoroughly analyzed ALL the strut bars available, and found the FT86Speedfactory bar might work in conjunction with the Ground Control plates...

It just arrived today, and as you can see they BARELY fit! Had to move the camber plates to full caster to do it but it works:

[xwd]

I'm going through the same scenario with the strut travel thing. I have MCS shocks which were originally made for CS and the strut bodies are longer than the versions made for STX. I converted them to normal coilovers with 60mm perches, springs, and Raceseng tophats last year. I'm taking the car to SM next year and want to lower the car more but I'm basically out of travel at this point. The MCS have a slotted ear on the strut so I can gain camber back that way and I'll be using adjustable front arms as well. So I'm not too worried about pushing the strut top inward to get camber.

If you had the GC camber plates with the 60mm perch basically in the middle is there room for the perch to sit fairly far within the hole? I can also modify the opening but I'd rather not.

I would have a billet plate machined to match the exact layout of the GC plates and tap the GC plates and use countersunk screws so the spacer and GC plates are attached to each other.

How much space do you reckon you could raise the GC plates before running into any other issues?

In the Honda world GC actually makes extension pieces specifically for this, similar to the rear Raceseng tops. I talked to Raceseng about making something like this for the BRZ and they have had a lot of interest but didn't think it would work without a complete redesign.

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by xwd

I'm going through the same scenario with the strut travel thing. I have MCS shocks which were originally made for CS and the strut bodies are longer than the versions made for STX. I converted them to normal coilovers with 60mm perches, springs, and Raceseng tophats last year. I'm taking the car to SM next year and want to lower the car more but I'm basically out of travel at this point. The MCS have a slotted ear on the strut so I can gain camber back that way and I'll be using adjustable front arms as well. So I'm not too worried about pushing the strut top inward to get camber.

If you had the GC camber plates with the 60mm perch basically in the middle is there room for the perch to sit fairly far within the hole? I can also modify the opening but I'd rather not.

I would have a billet plate machined to match the exact layout of the GC plates and tap the GC plates and use countersunk screws so the spacer and GC plates are attached to each other.

How much space do you reckon you could raise the GC plates before running into any other issues?

In the Honda world GC actually makes extension pieces specifically for this, similar to the rear Raceseng tops. I talked to Raceseng about making something like this for the BRZ and they have had a lot of interest but didn't think it would work without a complete redesign.

I think the plates could go 1/2" before the strut starts to run into issues. If its sitting in the middle of the hole, you can go pretty damn high though.

But I would say try the GC camber plates (mine might be available eventually depending on how good the new springs I ordered work) and see how much additional travel you get over the Raceng, you might get plenty just via that. Also, the Caster adjustment with the GC plates lowers the car even more because Pythagorean theorem LOL!

[xwd]

The Raceseng plates are recessed a bit so they don't really raise the car much if at all. I'm not too worried, I can also enlarge the opening with the new 2016 rules for SM. The 2016 rules would actually allow you to build an entire new shock tower that is higher. It would let you build in all kinds of adjustment or change geometry if you want, but that's a bit drastic for me at this point.

[Kostamojen]

Did my first Autox of the year today... Wasn't that happy with the car.

I did have one "clean" run, but it was red flagged at the end... UGG

[ame]http://youtu.be/SlyJw1uJD5w[/ame]

I had a nasty spin on my 2nd run, which as you can see was pretty nasty snap oversteer. Previously, I was able to "catch" this kind of oversteer, but it just was done after it started slidding.

[ame]http://youtu.be/0uKxm08YUb0[/ame]

You can see it start to snap at the same corner in this video too...

[ame]http://youtu.be/CkwK0g__2IQ[/ame]

Plus, I had a lot of understeer if I pushed the car too hard, it wasn't rotating as nicely as before.

I also had a bad vibration when understeering that I'm not sure about, as you can see in this vid...

[ame]http://youtu.be/kIdoRqVdO0A[/ame]

I'm probably going to try the 6" springs with helpers I just got combined with the old Group-N tophats up front and see how that works, they are 5k instead of 4k so a little stiffer but also shorter, so the helper springs might help keep it at an appropriate ride height.

I'm also contemplating going the "full on route" and upgrading the rear springs/tophats as well. But that won't be right now, maybe a month or so.

[Kostamojen]

My new front spring setup... 5k 6" Swift springs (Z60-152-050) with helper springs (H60-060-015)



I'm re-using my Group-N tophats for normal street use because I wasn't happy with the Ground Control camber plates and how rough they were with harsh roads:



I got REALLY lucky (educated guess work mostly) about the ride height. Using the 6" springs with the helpers gets me to EXACTLY where I wanted to be height wise without having to do major adjustment and they have plenty of preload because of the helpers

First driving impression...

MUCH improved! I know most people want solid bearing solid metal camber plates for track events and competitive racing, but IMO so far I have to say they are not right for the street. Too much of a compromise. In order to get the proper use out of camber plates like that, you need significant other suspension modifications, solid metal bearings everywhere and lots of track-worthy upgrades.

I think Subaru had it right with the tS model, and how they use stock mounts with Bilsteins and upgraded springs. Plus the combination of OEM upgraded bushings and you can really have a car that can work extremely well for normal driving but have that extra quality suspension for competition/fun.

I need to do some harder driving (autox) to see how the spring ratios work with the stiffer fronts, and see how much understeer/oversteer the car has. Right now it feels pretty good though so I'm happy for now.

MUCH improved!

[Kostamojen]

Also, I came up with an alternate MATSU strut bar layout using my old strut bar...

Not sure if I want to run this, or the FT86speedfactory full setup I have which doesnt work with the MATSU strut bar (the speedfactory stock replacement bars are too thick) but I like this idea of running double strut bars:

[Ro_Ja]

Any update on how you're liking your last (current?) setup? Still running progressive rears?

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by Ro_Ja

Any update on how you're liking your last (current?) setup? Still running progressive rears?

Its quite good. Very solid at high speeds, test drove it on some back roads and found it to be very predictable, so I took it to a track day at Thunderhill:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCoqQL4Iswg[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ_wTgdMwJA[/ame]

I had zero issues with snap oversteer or any sort of unpredictable behavior. You can see in the first vid how the car took the hard berm on that corner quite well.

Turn it was very good, and the car had so much traction that the power I'm currently running just wasn't enough. It could easily take another 100hp+ in my opinion in its current configuration and maintain predictability. There were only a couple of times where I felt it needed more front camber, the rest of the time the current alignment was adequate.

I plan on leaving it how it is for the near future, I'm plenty happy with the setup as it is.