Colin Harmer
New member
Right off the bat I want to say that this post is not intended to get into the shock debate that went on and on (and on..)a few months ago.
OK?
Good!
Last week I took delivery of a set of front D/A Koni's and Rear Single adjustable Konis from Stu at BSI. I had been using the Bilstien race shock in the past and it just seemed from all the reading that I had been doing that there had to be some benefit from going to an adjustable set up. When I called Stu to get his input on spring rates the response I got was 425# F and 475# R. Now I had been running 700#F and 500#R for a long time and this seemed to be way too soft for me.
Stu's words: "trust me you'll love it"
Yeah well....
I tried to talk myself into rates that low, but I couldn't mentally get there so I ran 550#F and 500#R with his 1" bar.
Now setting up shocks is a bit of "witch craft" at best but I followed the Koni method that I got from a book that I have that goes something like this...
Set it all at full soft (B&R)
Get the tires up to temp
Do 2 laps and add 3 clicks of Bump
Repeat until car gets too firm over the bumps and curbing and loses compliance.
Back off 2 clicks when it does and yor done on Bump.
Add rebound until the car settles in and loses the cadillac "Float" and then "adjust to taste"
That's the "Cliffs notes" version but you get the idea...
It took me about 25 laps at NHIS to get them where they felt good, I mean really good, like better then the car has ever felt!
My car always used to push on turn in and come out neutral. Now it turns in so well I can't believe it and it's still neutral on exit.
You can still hang the tail out if you ham fist the controls but it's basically solid and you can drive it anywhere.
The flexibility that this set up offers is over the top, the car responds to a small change in valving and you can instantly feel what you have done to the handling. I can now totally understand why all high end race cars have 3 and 4 way adjustable shocks, you can dial in anything! I think the day of the non-adjustable shock my well be going the way of the bias ply tire and the single barrel carb...They were considered the gear to have at one time, but we're not in that time anymore. They may cost more than a race Bilstien, but man o' man in my mind they are worth every penny! Through the set up process I was able to knock off 4 seconds off my lap time and even the worst times were better then my previous visits to the same track.
I can't say enough. I am so convinced...
Comments welcome but please let's not open the "cost of IT" can of worms?
Thanks!
Colin
[This message has been edited by Colin Harmer (edited September 10, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Colin Harmer (edited September 10, 2001).]
OK?
Good!
Last week I took delivery of a set of front D/A Koni's and Rear Single adjustable Konis from Stu at BSI. I had been using the Bilstien race shock in the past and it just seemed from all the reading that I had been doing that there had to be some benefit from going to an adjustable set up. When I called Stu to get his input on spring rates the response I got was 425# F and 475# R. Now I had been running 700#F and 500#R for a long time and this seemed to be way too soft for me.
Stu's words: "trust me you'll love it"
Yeah well....
I tried to talk myself into rates that low, but I couldn't mentally get there so I ran 550#F and 500#R with his 1" bar.
Now setting up shocks is a bit of "witch craft" at best but I followed the Koni method that I got from a book that I have that goes something like this...
Set it all at full soft (B&R)
Get the tires up to temp
Do 2 laps and add 3 clicks of Bump
Repeat until car gets too firm over the bumps and curbing and loses compliance.
Back off 2 clicks when it does and yor done on Bump.
Add rebound until the car settles in and loses the cadillac "Float" and then "adjust to taste"
That's the "Cliffs notes" version but you get the idea...
It took me about 25 laps at NHIS to get them where they felt good, I mean really good, like better then the car has ever felt!
My car always used to push on turn in and come out neutral. Now it turns in so well I can't believe it and it's still neutral on exit.
You can still hang the tail out if you ham fist the controls but it's basically solid and you can drive it anywhere.
The flexibility that this set up offers is over the top, the car responds to a small change in valving and you can instantly feel what you have done to the handling. I can now totally understand why all high end race cars have 3 and 4 way adjustable shocks, you can dial in anything! I think the day of the non-adjustable shock my well be going the way of the bias ply tire and the single barrel carb...They were considered the gear to have at one time, but we're not in that time anymore. They may cost more than a race Bilstien, but man o' man in my mind they are worth every penny! Through the set up process I was able to knock off 4 seconds off my lap time and even the worst times were better then my previous visits to the same track.
I can't say enough. I am so convinced...
Comments welcome but please let's not open the "cost of IT" can of worms?
Thanks!
Colin
[This message has been edited by Colin Harmer (edited September 10, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Colin Harmer (edited September 10, 2001).]
