Faulkner springs
aka Keith - 8/8/11 at 10:38 AM
Just want to say a little thankyou to Faulkner springs for great service. 
Decided at 5pm on a Tuesday that I should actually get a new set of springs for the MK, arrived as promised on the Thursday. The car is
transformed...out went the 350lb fronts and in went the 175's....I decided I would drop the nose an inch whilst I was at it, moving from 9 to
8s....
....what a difference it has made...for years I had put up with the understear and front end skip, balancing it on the throttle through corners, now I
can balance it on the throttle and make the car wag its tail if feeling like a hooligan....power overstear is available 
.....the front grips and
grips and grips ... with a twitch from the back telling you it is at the limit.... should have done it years ago....
The car is a totally different animal, the weight transfer and the balance have all been moved and now taking my time to learn its behaviour...
Cheers
Craig
MK9R - 8/8/11 at 11:51 AM
Well done craig for getting over the "Set a car up as a hard trackcar", as it doesnt mean you will go quicker, the car should be set as soft
as possible. 
Were they the original springs i built the car with?? if so i suppose you can blame me
[Edited on 8/8/11 by MK9R]
[Edited on 8/8/11 by MK9R]
aka Keith - 8/8/11 at 12:14 PM
Austen, they are as you originally set it up..but no one to blame but myself...have been reading the forum since before I bought the car...just did
not get round to changing the springs,(assumed that it was the car was as should be and adjusted my driving style to suit)....I expect that there is
a little too much front grip, but atleast I can now adjust the dampers to suit and fine tune to 4 wheel drift....
need to train the inner ear on overstear though, instinctively I dial it out through the thottle, and having just seen a vid of the car in action,
there is no big visible movement of the car..so my ear is feeling it well before it is visible in action...
..
..
guess what Austen - I even got around to giving the engine an overaul, 16 shims needed doing...
....
...the car and the soundtrack still brings a grin the the face...
Cheers
Craig
MK9R - 8/8/11 at 12:18 PM
quote:
Originally posted by aka Keith
Austen, they are as you originally set it up..but no one to blame but myself...have been reading the forum since before I bought the car...just did
not get round to changing the springs,(assumed that it was the car was as should be and adjusted my driving style to suit)....I expect that there is
a little too much front grip, but atleast I can now adjust the dampers to suit and fine tune to 4 wheel drift....
need to train the inner ear on overstear though, instinctively I dial it out through the thottle, and having just seen a vid of the car in action,
there is no big visible movement of the car..so my ear is feeling it well before it is visible in action...
..
..
guess what Austen - I even got around to giving the engine an overaul, 16 shims needed doing...
....
...the car and the soundtrack still brings a grin the the face...
Cheers
Craig
bloody good engines those zx9's!!!
What springs have you got at the rear?? I was amazed how much grip the rear end gained on my fury when i softened it off
franky - 8/8/11 at 12:23 PM
How's your dampening set?
I've just gone to 600lb on the front for a softer set up, it may sound strange but the car's so much softer as It lets the springs work as
they should and the dampening control them. Like yours it grips almost too well! Many ways to skin a cat and all that.
Glad you've found an improvement
aka Keith - 8/8/11 at 12:23 PM
Austen, I have still got the originals on the rear...do you think that a lower spring rate on the back will improve it? or reduce the damper
resistance?....
MK9R - 8/8/11 at 12:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by aka Keith
Austen, I have still got the originals on the rear...do you think that a lower spring rate on the back will improve it? or reduce the damper
resistance?....
How does it handle now, with the current new set up??
aka Keith - 8/8/11 at 12:58 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MK9R
quote:
Originally posted by aka Keith
Austen, I have still got the originals on the rear...do you think that a lower spring rate on the back will improve it? or reduce the damper
resistance?....
How does it handle now, with the current new set up??
here is where my lack of set up craft is shown in the spotlight....how does it handle??....
So still with 15 inch wheels., and 50 profile tyres...20lb front and back...dampers 6 clicks hard on front, 6 clicks hard on back......
With the new set up the ...back end seems to roll a little before the tyres let me know that they are on the limit, and I can feel the back end
beginning to slide before letting go completely (I can feel the movement in my inner ear, but you cannot see it on the road).....
I hope that this answers the question- does it?
Cheers
Craig
MK9R - 8/8/11 at 01:34 PM
quote:
Originally posted by aka Keith
quote:
Originally posted by MK9R
quote:
Originally posted by aka Keith
Austen, I have still got the originals on the rear...do you think that a lower spring rate on the back will improve it? or reduce the damper
resistance?....
How does it handle now, with the current new set up??
here is where my lack of set up craft is shown in the spotlight....how does it handle??....
So still with 15 inch wheels., and 50 profile tyres...20lb front and back...dampers 6 clicks hard on front, 6 clicks hard on back......
With the new set up the ...back end seems to roll a little before the tyres let me know that they are on the limit, and I can feel the back end
beginning to slide before letting go completely (I can feel the movement in my inner ear, but you cannot see it on the road).....
I hope that this answers the question- does it?
Cheers
Craig
So the car just snaps out at the back, no gradual slide. If you try and feed the power in early do you have to keep backing off to stop a spin??
SOunds like back end is pretty damn hard, especially as you say the front is subtle now. You say you have 200lbs at the back aswell, i dont know what
the mech advantage is like on the mk, but doesnt sound like the springs are too stiff. Trouble is could be loads of things, but it could be too
stiffly damped, the dampers probably arent valved correctly for such a light car, so as soon as you wind the rebound up it makes the back of the car
too stiff in compression. You could try softening the rear dampers right off and see what that does. Have you set up the rear geo??
Check the geo, and try softening rear dampers right off and see what that does.
Alternatively are you sitting on the bump stops as soon as you get any roll, that would give the snap oversteer you are feeling. Put a cable tie on
ther damper piston and see if its getting pushed into the bumpstop.
[Edited on 8/8/11 by MK9R]
[Edited on 8/8/11 by MK9R]
aka Keith - 8/8/11 at 02:14 PM
Sorry Austen, cleary not communicating well enough....
I believe that I can feel the back end begin to slide (the best term I have for it is squirrly)..at which point I bring the car back into shape rather
than let it go...if I feed the power in early, at around 10k revs when the power comes in the back end then she will step out, not quite snapping out,
but quite close and resolved by backing off the throttle...
I believe that the back end starts to go before I get close to the bump stops, it does not feel like a lot of roll but it is there.
...I will soften the dampers right off and see what happens...
..add to list of things to do - rear geo - check and shim uprights if necessary
Cheers
Craig
sebastiaan - 9/8/11 at 06:36 PM
Inspired by this thread, I've done some calcs on my own Indy (pinto powered). I've attached the XLs as it might be of use to someone. This
uses the standard Indy dimensions. It's a rough approximation but should be OK to use as a starting point.
It seems I would need roughly 250lb front springs and 175lb rears, as opposed to the 350/175 combo that is currently fitted. Hmm...
<edit> It seems we can't attach files anymore. Could someone host it for me somewhere?
[Edited on 9/8/11 by sebastiaan]
aka Keith - 10/8/11 at 07:43 AM
quote:
Originally posted by sebastiaan
Inspired by this thread, I've done some calcs on my own Indy (pinto powered). I've attached the XLs as it might be of use to someone. This
uses the standard Indy dimensions. It's a rough approximation but should be OK to use as a starting point.
It seems I would need roughly 250lb front springs and 175lb rears, as opposed to the 350/175 combo that is currently fitted. Hmm...
<edit> It seems we can't attach files anymore. Could someone host it for me somewhere?
[Edited on 9/8/11 by sebastiaan]
Sebastian, I for one would be interested in seeing the XLS...I am sorry that I cannot host it, but would appreciate it if you could send it to
me...
cheers
Craig
scudderfish - 10/8/11 at 08:43 AM
quote:
Originally posted by sebastiaan
<edit> It seems we can't attach files anymore. Could someone host it for me somewhere?
[Edited on 9/8/11 by sebastiaan]
I can do that. Send it to dave.g.smith@gmail.com
sebastiaan - 10/8/11 at 09:32 AM
YHM, thanks!
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
quote:
Originally posted by sebastiaan
<edit> It seems we can't attach files anymore. Could someone host it for me somewhere?
[Edited on 9/8/11 by sebastiaan]
I can do that. Send it to dave.g.smith@gmail.com
scudderfish - 10/8/11 at 09:58 AM
http://www.smithfamily.org.uk/~dgs/Stuff/indysuspension.xls