Here's the latest on my attempts to get race quality coilovers for the Hemi based cars: I've now been driving on the rear shocks in coilover formation for about a week. Originally, there were some extra clearance issues that had to be addressed. We had some new pieces custom fabricated, and I installed them last Tuesday. Here's the functionality so far: Ride height: It looks like I can drop the rear about 1 1/2 inches from stock without the springs ever unloading. If we add a take-up spring, or are just willing to live with the suspension completely unloading if you go airborne (not likely) then there's enough adjustment to lower the car about 3 1/2". I don't think that's even physically possible without the wheels hitting the wheel wells, so basically, I could lower the car as much as would ever be possible under any setup. I've adjusted ride height about 10 times by now. Because I don't have new suspension on the front yet, I settled with lowering the back about one inch, just to level the car out. I had it too low at first, and it looked like the rear was sagging. Popped it back up 1/2" to get a nice level stance. Adjusting ride height took about 3 minutes per side. Springs: I have 550, 450, and 350 pound springs. I tested 550's first, and I should have been on a road course. The car was on rails, but ride quality on country roads was bone-jarring to say the least. Then I tried the 450 pound springs. Bingo! This is the spring for me for street use. Incidentally, I was able to completely change springs in 30 minutes, while talking on the phone. If focused, I think spring change-outs can be done in 20 minutes a side. Rebound and compression damping: Once I settled on the 450 pound springs for the street, I started playing with the damping. Setting both rebound and compression to almost full stiff was enough to make every little crack in the road transmit to the car. But I was still able to turn corners with a lot less lean than stock, and handling was much improved. The car would probably still understeer, but it was much closer to a balanced set-up. I'd need to be on a road course to actually flog my car to set it up best. I then set the damping to full soft. The result was soft enough that the springs got a little bouncy, so I started dialing in some damping. I ultimately got a ride that was much smoother than stock, yet handled better than stock as well. Adjusting damping from full firm to full soft took about 20 seconds per side. Weight savings: The suspension drops 5.4 pounds per side, but because the shocks are mounted body up, you drop even more unsprung weight, which is great for racing/handling. I dropped almost 9 pounds of unsprung weight per side. Here's a couple of pictures to try to show what they look like. These are still not a marketable coilover. There's too much custom work to make them fit. I think they may get down to about $900-$950 per rear pair including one set of springs. Currently, to replicate my coilovers is probably closer to $1200 per rear pair due to the needed custom pieces. We'll see what happens. Thanks for watching.
Very cool! Since this is an update, and I've just come on board, I've probably missed some background, so bear with me if you've covered this question elsewhere: How would you compare your customs to the KWs, Tien etc? What are the advantages, disadvantages etc?
First - these are obviously true coilovers, which makes ride height adjustments quick and simple, without even removing a tire. Second, you can even change a spring in the 20 minutes. Springs cost about $60 each, so for serious racers, they could use one spring for comfort on the street, then change to a racing spring on track days in about 40 minutes on the rear. Also, there is independent compression damping and rebound damping. Meaning you can actually tune the car for personal taste on the street, and tune it for track setup on the track, or tune them for drag racing at the strip. The key is tunability. You can make this setup firmer than anything available. You can also make it so soft it'll feel like a Cadillac. It's all based on the driver's wants and needs. As I mentioned, I've already tested 3 different sets of springs. In total, I think there's about 9 different spring weights suitable depending on needs. Ultimately, you ought to be able to get this with whatever springs and damping range you'd want. Nothing else on the market even comes close.
Wow! I completely forgot about this thread. Most of what I had said back in November turned out to be true. The first production set shipped yesterday. Street price is $1089. They look slightly different from that picture, as the top mount was improved, and some other pieces were changed and anodized to match. My picture was of an early prototype. It was interesting to read my comment about how long spring changes took. I timed it once, and could completely remove and reinstall the entire rear suspension in 34 minutes, from the tim I jacked the first rear tire up, until I dropped the car off the jack the final time. Simple spring changes would be even quicker. Finally - we figured out the secret to adjusting ride heighth by hand - no tools required. Jack up the car, remove tire, twist by hand, install tire, drop jack. 5 minutes.
yikes, If you can remove your wheel with your hands I sure don't want to get on your bad side. :shok: haha, you should try having someone like Erik lift up on a corner and see if you can reach in there and twist it. :thumb2: Now that would be worth a video.
OK ok ok - so I omitted a step: remove lugnuts. If I had a video camera, I'd tape the entire process to show you guys - it's really very simple.
Well, I've seen pics of you. It's probably going to take more than just some kid to unload the suspension on a corner :muscle:
