How to fit coilovers

[pdtaylor18]

dont be, FC\'s have four on front and two on the rear.

[TiddlesRX7]

Yeah i know i just got scared seeing that. I just thought for a second that mine had been modified or something!

[TiddlesRX7]

Right I got the coilovers fitted today. I got a mate to help me (cheers Ash!):wave . We just took our time with it and found it to be easy enough to do. We only found a couple of problems.
1/ Which way the pillow ball camber plate sat on the fronts (See pic below)

2/ The rear adjustment for the height were seized so that determined my ride hight.

Now the first point it was a bit of a guess (still not sure its the right way hopefully someone on here will help) I positioned it so that the L or R (depending which side your doing) was facing the engine bay of the car rather than pointing to the wing.
The second point well after struggling to get the adjustment nut to move, Liberal amounts of WD40 was applied and the shocks were fitted anyway. I\'m hoping that after a run out and more WD40 they might free off so that I can adjust the height. If not I\'ll have to take them back off and try something else. Now i know what im doing I recon I can have both rears off in a mater of 10 mins so its not so bad!.
Anyway As we were stuck for now with the ride height at the back we adjusted the front to suit as best we could. Roughly 1/2" or so lower than the back. Now its a lot lower than I wanted but im stuck for now so I thought i\'d post a pic of how low it is anyway. I\'m gonna put it a back to stock height maybe slightly lower but not much.
I\'ll try and do a wright up of how I did the strip and re-fit of the shocks when I can.
If I have done anything wrong that you can see please msg me on here. Cheers.

[TiddlesRX7]

Here you go. Dam it I resized them wrong. i\'ll sort it soon but i\'ve got to do something now so maybe later.

[TiddlesRX7]

Sorted. Here you go.

[pdtaylor18]

looking good but what i would do is when you are happy with your setup is to put the camber bolts as far apart as possible unless you are going to have several setups for track/road etc. If they do come loose at least they will only give minimal movement.  Have you set yours up to zero? as i need to do a basic setup on mine but just wondered if the zero markings on mine relate to a standard FC setup.

[TiddlesRX7]

Looking good but what i would do is when you are happy with your setup is to put the camber bolts as far apart as possible unless you are going to have several setups for track/road etc. If they do come loose at least they will only give minimal movement. Have you set yours up to zero? as i need to do a basic setup on mine but just wondered if the zero markings on mine relate to a standard FC setup.

No Pete I haven\'t even moved them (when I do im gonna replace them for shiny stainless ones). They were set this way when I got them. I\'m working on the theory that I don\'t have a clue about setting it up so at the first chance its going in to get set up properly. I need to free the rear adjustment nuts off first though so I can set the height. After that every thing else can follow suit.
On this point, does anyone know the standard set up for an FC? or have a link to somewhere I can find out. I took height measurements before I started but they were all over the place as one shock was Foo**d. As for camber etc I have no idea. Cheers.

[DRIFTMOTION]

Hey Adrian,

I recognize that suspension!!!! Ya motor is looking great mate hope to see ya this Sunday?

Anyhow... Here\'s the reason why I\'m posting to this thread.

Heres your info you asked for about the FC\'s suspension geometry.:2eek





RX-7 FC3S SUSPENSION GEOMETRY

FRONT
                   
TOE IN (UNLADED)* (    mm ( in )    3 ± 3 ( 0.12 ± 0.12)

                                 DEGREE    0°18’ ±  18’
       
MAXIMUM STEERING ANGLE    INNER      36° ± 2°
                                        OUTER     32° ± 2°
                                      CAMBER     0° 20’ ± 30’
                                      CASTOR     4° 40’ ± 45’
                             KINGPIN ANGLE      13° 45’


REAR

TOTAL TOE IN (UNLADED)*    mm ( in )      3 ± 3 ( 0.12 ± 0.12)
                                         DEGREE          0°18’ ±  18’
                                         CAMBER        - 0° 44’ ± 30’

           
* FUEL TANK FULL, RADIATOR COOLANT & ENGINE OIL @ SPECIFIED LEVELS. SPARE TYRE & JACK IN DESIGNATED LOCATIONS

Hope this helps.

[Brett]

You sir are a legend! :wave

I will add this thread to modifications sticky at the top

[DRIFTMOTION]

Thankyou Sir!:rollin Just spent a half hour typing that up!:Grrr I\'m not the fastest of typers....

You sir are a legend! :wave

I will add this thread to modifications sticky at the top

[TiddlesRX7]

Cheers Paul, thats gonna help big style mate. And yes you are a legend. See you sunday.

[pdtaylor18]

I never cease at the fountain of knowledge that comes from this forum, thanks as well, good info. On a different level, if you lower the car do you try to keep it to the standard settings or do these change in any way ?

[DRIFTMOTION]

I think that depends on your requirements.... Car manufacturers set the geometry for the best handling with the least tyre wear / stress to the components like king pins, wheel bearings. If you lower the car it will increase the camber angle and reduce the caster angle and increase tyre wear on the inside of the tyre. If your happy with how the car handles in standard form then get your car\'s geometry reset to standard setting. If you want less understeer and more oversteer then increase your camber.

Increasing camber will improve how the car feels in the bend...(better tyre footprint) But will make it less stable on the straight. (tenancy to track the road surface)

Increasing caster will improve the steering\'s ability to centre itself (useful for oversteer / drifting) But again will make the car to track the road surface, it will also increase the effort to hold the steering wheel whilst in the bend.

You\'ve also to consider toe in... Increased toe will improve cornering but again decrease straight line stability.

I would recommend that any car that has been lowered or had aftermarket suspension fitted be re-aligned by a reputable laser wheel alignment centre. If the car is to be set differently to standard settings then take to an alignment centre that are known for setting up motorsport/race cars.

Or get your car setup to standard... Mark the adjusters with tipex or marker and have a play yourself.... Typical pillowball camber adjusters have between 3 to 5 degrees adjustment either way over standard settings.

If I get the time I will post a thread with a little more details than this....

I never cease at the fountain of knowledge that comes from this forum, thanks as well, good info. On a different level, if you lower the car do you try to keep it to the standard settings or do these change in any way ?

[pdtaylor18]

Now thats the best explanation I have heard for a long time, nice and simple and understandable. Should be a sticky that.

[TiddlesRX7]

Well I ended up putting my original Bilstiens back on the rear of the car today as I couldn\'t get the height adjustment nut loose on the Teins.:confused: I tried gently heating it, hitting it asking it nicely but neither of them would move. So as a last resort they were put to one side till monday. The plan now is to make a jig (that sits in a vice) to hold the shock that sits in and locates on the nut. That way I can put a bar in the bottom of the shock and try and turn it that way.
This has had a plus side. I have been able to set the fronts to somewhere near the right height so I can drive to the meet tomorrow at Guys Court.:Thumbs-up