Coilover street suspension setup springrates?

[Spooler]

Well, I have read all of the threads on the suspesion setup 3 or 4 times each. Here is what I have at the moment. Springs, KYB Gas struts, Strut bars front and rear, lower adjusters for camber up front with toe adjustment in the rear. I am going to go with a coilover setup and section the struts but need some user experience with springrates front and rear for the street. At the moment if I drive a sweeping turn at 100+ my rearend seems a little loose. The strutbars helped some but I need a better setup to put this sucker on rails.

[HB280ZT]

Just so you know the stock springs on the 280Z are 107 lbs front and 127 lbs in the rear, if my memory is still all there, who knows now a days.

 

So that being said what are your current spring rates?

 

From there we maybe able to give you a bit more advice.

 

Me personally I run 225 lbs front and 250 lbs rear coilovers on my 1977 on the street and the track when I get a chance.

 

HB280ZT

[DREW RBZ]

As you noticed when you read through the threads there is a variance in what individuals find is acceptable for street use with occasional track time...I went through this as well.. I ran 300 front and 350 rear for a SHORT time and it was far too stiff for street from my personal experience Also is said oo stiff for the shocks to be efficient. I then changed out to 225 front and 250 rear and this is far better They arestill a little rough on our crack riddled bumpy streets here but I am happy with the setup...its not supposed to ride like a cadillac:) Its very much personal preference and what you are comfortable with especially if using on the street quite often. I am running these above mentioned spring rates (8 inch) with shortened struts with illumina adjustables and stiff swaybars front and rear.

[Spooler]

I was gonna check my existing springrates before I made my mind up. The shop doing my floorboards has a springrate checker. He races dirt track. My swaybars are 1" and 3/4". I have read like crazy using the search function on this site. This is gonna be tough to get right the first try.

[tube80z]

This is gonna be tough to get right the first try.

 

Actually it's quite simple if you are willing to make a number of measurements. For spring rate you can use ride frequencies and decide on how stiff you really want to go. These use your sprung and unsprung weights to set the frequency for your car. A car set to 2 Hz (hertz) will behave the same whether it is light or heavy car. The problem with using recommended spring rates is that your car may have different weight distribution and/or sprung/unsprung ratios.

 

Just a thought.

 

Cary

[blueovalz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the KYB inserts you've mentioned might be taxed pretty well just going to 200 lb/in. Unless I'm thinking of the wrong dampener, these will not sufficiently dampen the stiffer spring rates (IMHO 200 or above).

[Spooler]

At this moment I have some motorsport auto springs I got back in 1992. I doubt they are 200 lb/in. They will be gone shortly. If I deceide not to do the coilovers/sectioning I will be changing them out for Illumina's.

[johnc]

This is gonna be tough to get right the first try.

 

The whole point (which many people forget) of going to coil overs and using standard 2.5" ID springs is to make spring swaps quick and easy. Don't worry about getting it right the first time. If its not right, you buy another pair of springs, swap them out in two hours, and sell the old ones on eBay.

[Spooler]

The whole point (which many people forget) of going to coil overs and using standard 2.5" ID springs is to make spring swaps quick and easy. Don't worry about getting it right the first time. If its not right, you buy another pair of springs, swap them out in two hours, and sell the old ones on eBay.

 

 

 

Very good point.... Thanks. I also wanted the ride height adjustablility that you get using this setup and more travel by using sectioned struts.