Hi,
Just recently ordered your Street/Race Coilover kit along with Tokico HPs all round for my S3 RX7.
Was wondering if you could recommend a spring rate range for these (front & rear).
Will be using the car primarily as a weekend toy for the street with the odd track day.

Cheers
Rory

Hi Rory

I've got a '85 GS that I use as a daily driver/weekend autocrosser. I've been really happy with my setup, but you may want something a little different since you are doing trackwork as opposed to autocross. I'll tell you what I run, but will recommend that you wait to hear what Billy has to say before placing an order.

Front: 275 Lb. springs/Illumina Struts/Race coilovers/Camber Plates/Respeed swaybar
Rear: 150 Lb. springs/Bilstein Shocks/Adjustable rear perches/adjustable swaybar (stiffest setting)

My car works great for it's intended purpose. But like I said, there will be some difference between our setups due to the applications.

Rory,

Thank you for the recent order. The HPs you purchased are our "street sport". They are a bit stiffer than the standard HPs. What sway bars are you running? Since you are overseas, what would you call your tracks, fast sweeping corners or slower technical corners?

-billy

Thanks Billy,

I'm in SA so the local track here is Mallala which is very tight with a lot of hard braking. Sometimes described as like a "fight in a carpark"

Currently running stock swaybars front and rear but open to suggestions...

Rory

Thanks for the info!

Went for the HPs due to the cost factor. What setting do you use on the Illuminas up front?

I read somewhere, but perhaps Billy can clarify, that the HPs are very similar mechanically to the Illuminas just with a set dampening (3-4?). Any truth to this?

How do you find that spring rate on the street?

Rory

The setting I use on the front Illuminas for a race is usually between 3 & 5, depending on the condition of the course.

As far as the ride on the street, if the streets are smooth then its great. If the street is torn up a bit with pot holes or patches, it will rattle your teeth pretty good (mostly due to the Bilsteins though). But any discomfort is worth it due to the handling of the car, and if I had kept the rear Illuminas in, then the rattling over rough roads wouldn't be nearly as bad because I could adjust for it (those Bilsteins are a very hard shock).

If the track that you run is as tight as it sounds, then you might actually want to go with more of an autocross type setup than a road racing setup. But a lot of that will depend on the course and your driving style.

I prefer a soft sprung, heavy swaybar approach. But a lot of others run rates as high as 450 Lbs and almost no swaybar. Lots of arguments made for each camp.

All I can say is, listen to what Billy says. He's the expert, and he advised me on my setup every step of the way and got me exactly what I asked for.

If you look in the other sections of this forum, you'll find a thread titled "fast autocross run". That should give you an idea of how my car handles on an autocross course, and how tight those courses are....

P.S. I went ahead and grabbed the link to it. Here it is: http://re-speed.com/forums/index.php?showt...0&#entry515

Exactly what I was thinking.



This does sound like a autoX type track. You are limited on your spring rates due to the street kit you purchased. We normally only suggest a 250# rate for these in order to lower the car enough with the 7" springs.

The blues I believe are a 2 or 3 on the illumina setup. Your choice for the "sport" blues will be in the 3 range. (Once Sam completes his shock testing we will know for sure)

I like to suggest heavy sway bars and softer springs. I like my bar to control the roll and allow the weight to transfer with softer springs. Many forge,t high spring rates that control roll have little room to move if hit with a surface change while in full roll (bump).

I feel you would be well set with 275# up front with the "sport" shocks. You will need to work on the sway bar aspect soon.

Rear rate should be half the front rate + 25# or 50#

-billy

Cheers for the great input guys...

Will give the soft spring/heavy sway bar combo a try and see how it responds; then go from there.

Thanks again.
Rory