THSCC Forums

... cant you use the RS struts? It is basically the same suspension setup until 05, correct?

- dow

So I got tired of the boing-boing-boing of the stock struts and did something about it last night.

Installed the rear Konis that I had on the WRX wagon, leaving everything else stock. Set them at 3/4 turn from full soft. No more bouncy, and the car just feels nice & firm but really smooth now.

There's a left turn on the way to work that's fun to take slightly sideways (yeah, I know - they're all fun that way), but it would keep me busy with the steering due to the car bouncing off of the undulations in the turn. This morning, smoooooooth. No bouncy, just turn in, floor it & drift.

I'd still like to hear more about those Koni bumpstops you got, Donnie. For now I've just used the stock bumpstops from a WRX sedan with a little cut off the bottom.

I'll try to get you part numbers. My car has been on jackstands now for a week. Sam says he ordered all four bumpstops from Koni, but only two showed up (and it wasn't readily apparent from the packaging originally) so when we went to install we didn't have everything we needed. The fronts are on, just need the rear bumpstops (should be here today or tomorrow) and we can assemble and get those on. Then gotta get it aligned.

Hey, is there an allowance in the rules for cutting stuff to get to shock adjustments? My STi has a plate over the top of the rear shocks that covers the adjuster. Can I just drill the center of that plate?

I'm also noticing there's no way to get to the adjuster without removing the rear seat, and you have to remove the lower cushion and then the upper (just a bunch of annoying bolts) and then you can get to it. But it looks like there's enough room if you just had a much longer adjuster to shove down in there (just deforming the seat a bit and perhaps the rear tray, but you don't have to cut or remove anything). I was thinking of machining something that I'd just leave in there. Thoughts on that?


--Donnie

I left the bolts off of the bottom left & right of the seatback cushion, so it's only bolted down in the middle. I can unhook the sides without the middle coming unhooked, then hook them back after making adjustments. If the bolt removal isn't allowed, then maybe you could just duct-tape them down next to the holes?

My STi was bought used, and didn't come with the rear cover plates. But I'm thinking that you can't even reinstall the plates over Konis (without cutting a hole in them), because the adjuster thingie sticks up too far. For the fronts, I cut a hole in the rubber dust cover thingie so that it fits perfectly over the Koni adjuster. Keeps the dirt out & saves the bearings. (yep, I know that from experience )

I believe in 2004, they made a rule change to permit access holes to be drilled on interior panels for shocks for Stock class. But it had to be interior panels. So for the MR2, I SOL because the panels that cover the shocks were external. Stupid rules

_________________
Jim Pastorius
2008 Silverado VortecMax
1992 Camaro CMC#92
2002 BMW R1150R

2009 3rd Place CMC Mid-Atlantic Championship
2009 CMC Hyperfest Winner

Donnie, you can trim a minimal amount needed to get to the shock adjusters. In the Celica I had to cut 'half moons' out of the plastic panels to get to the rear adjusters. If your setup is similar to the '02 WRX (I installed the Konis on Tom's WRX when he was running stock) then we drilled through the covers for the strut towers (these were made of aluminum. He still needed to pull the seat back in order to get to them, so he just left them at full stiff all the time

As for a better solution, I did create and adjuster using something like this that you could affix to the top of each rear shock and then just use a 3/8" ratchet to adjust. If you get either a 6" or 8" you could have it just stick out an inch or so above the rear seat. - AB

_________________
'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

Actually, I remember him just leaving the seat unhooked on both sides so he could adjust them. Same way when he was running in STX with the Teins.

I am currently running my seat this way, via advice from KA, and it worked like a charm to allow me to get the dampening I needed with quick changes.

Thanks Kev!

- dow

So what kind of liquid are you using to dampen them? I hope it's not something that will stain the seat.

An update...finally got the car on the road last week. Aligned it yesterday (got between 1.5 and 1.9 degrees of negative camber all the way around) and drove it to the mountains today. My impressions so far are that the car is smoother than before, but still firm. That front sway bar is WAY better than the 27mm Whiteline that I had. The thing just doesn't roll!

So far I'm a huge fan of the shocks for road use. I know they'll be better for autocross use, but I'm doubitng it's a huge amount. The bar will be the best upgrade for sure as far as getting good times out of it.


--Donnie