setting ride height

[wareaglescott]

What tool do I need to set ride height? Is there a special wrench for the shock adjustment?

Thanks

[Jeff Kleiner]

Unload the springs by jacking the car up and you will be able to turn the adjuster rings by hand. BTW, after getting them set I do not tighten down the locking setscrews---it boogers up the collar threads making it difficult to turn the rings in the future. With the weight of the car putting tension on the springs the rings do not move.

Jeff

[wareaglescott]

Thanks jeff

[GoDadGo]

Unload the springs by jacking the car up and you will be able to turn the adjuster rings by hand. BTW, after getting them set I do not tighten down the locking setscrews---it boogers up the collar threads making it difficult to turn the rings in the future. With the weight of the car putting tension on the springs the rings do not move.

Jeff

I didn't want to set the screws just yet because of this issue so:
A Big Thanks For The Bayou State Regarding Not Tightening The Set Screws!
My front looks good at 4.5" (Body Is Not On Car) but I need to bring the back down so that I can measure it for the drive shaft length.

[CraigS]

Better yet, remove the screws and trash them.

[MisterAdam]

a trick i learned years ago is to use a ~1/16 piece of weed wacker string (plastic) and drop it in the set screw hole. a poor man's nylok, creates friction but doesn't "booger" the threads

[AC Bill]

As to Scott's original question regarding a tool for the job.. there is actually is a collar adjustment tool. I bought a set of Tokico wrenches, but they work fine on the Koni's, as I'm sure other makes would..There is even adjustable ones available for several size collars, nice if you own more than one vehicle.
Someone might need them if they marred the threads already.

https://1c2a8a2161d644d95009-22d26b38e78c173d82b3a9a01c774ffa.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.c om/image/suspension/suspension-E4-XS1-Z001A0x-Bilstein-spanner-wrenches.jpg

[NAZ]

Your Konis should have come with a nylon pellet on the end of the set screw to prevent damage. If you're damaging the threads my guess is you either lost the pellet or tightening them too much. If you don't have the nylon pellet present use a lead shot pellet the size of the minor diameter of the hole. Before you discard the set screws on the adjuster nuts better use some torque stripe or other method to ensure that they really don't move.

[GoDadGo]

I don't recall seeing any pellets, but the Weed Wacker String seems like a great way to go if the plastic pellets are M.I.A.
Ordered a coil over spanner wrench from Speedway Motors just a few minutes ago.
Without the body on the car, but the engine and transmission in place, my front end has dropped to 4.5" while the back is still sitting up at 6.3".
Not going to mess with it until I get the seats and battery in place, plus a little play sand to mimic a full fuel tank.

Thanks All!

[AC Bill]

You will still need to put a few miles on it, before setting final ride height. It will settle a tad.

Get the alignment done "after" that happens. Good idea to note what height it's set at when the alignment is done, so if it settles more, you can just raise it back to the original specs, without needing another alignment.

[RoadRacer]

I don't think anyone's mentioned it here, but I recommend setting corner weights at the same time. It's unlikely that you'll set each corner exactly the same. Corner weights make a big difference to handling. When I first checked mine it was amazing how far off it was. You'll need to borrow the scales but it's easy to adjust yourself.

[wareaglescott]

I don't think anyone's mentioned it here, but I recommend setting corner weights at the same time. It's unlikely that you'll set each corner exactly the same. Corner weights make a big difference to handling. When I first checked mine it was amazing how far off it was. You'll need to borrow the scales but it's easy to adjust yourself.

What is involved with this? I am a total newbie with no experience in this area

[BEAR-AvHistory]

For a quick & dirty to get you in the ballpark with a pair of 2X4 stacked on top of each other & laid under the main chassis tubes at the corners. This will give to a good starter ride height when the tubes are lowered into light contact with the wood.


I wood not get all into ride height till the body is on & the car is fully weighted as it will be in normal use. Being a big guy, about 10% of the cars weight, you might want to think about doing this with you in the car.

Recheck is needed down the road, no pun intended, as the car will settle with use.

[canuck1]

I know this may be a bit dated but this is how they set ride height at Build School back in 2005:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2/seangibbs/FFR%20roadster%20pics/Build%20School/frntfuellnes.jpg

Using a stack of 3 2x6's (2x4's would work just as well), coil overs were adjusted so tires were on the ground and frame tubes rested on the boards placed across front and rear:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2/seangibbs/FFR%20roadster%20pics/Build%20School/stringrack.jpg

This will get you close enough to 4.5" ride height for initial alignment. It does settle some after a few miles so you may end up closer to 4.25" by the time it comes to final alignment but that worked for me.

Sean

[GoDadGo]

I know this may be a bit dated but this is how they set ride height at Build School back in 2005:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2/seangibbs/FFR%20roadster%20pics/Build%20School/frntfuellnes.jpg

Using a stack of 3 2x6's (2x4's would work just as well), coil overs were adjusted so tires were on the ground and frame tubes rested on the boards placed across front and rear:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2/seangibbs/FFR%20roadster%20pics/Build%20School/stringrack.jpg

This will get you close enough to 4.5" ride height for initial alignment. It does settle some after a few miles so you may end up closer to 4.25" by the time it comes to final alignment but that worked for me.

Sean


I Big Thanks From Camp GoDadGo!

I was messing with this last night and since I didn't go to the build school little tips like this are a big deal and very much appreciated!

[wareaglescott]

great tip with the 2x4s. Got plenty of those lying around. Thanks

[Chiller]

RoadRacer--what weights did you set your corners to?
Thanks

Chiller

[RoadRacer]

What is involved with this? I am a total newbie with no experience in this area

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but it is related. The next step after setting rough ride height should be to balance the car. Corner balancing is another term. I learned everything from this book Performance Handling (https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Handling-Handle-Techniques-1990s/dp/0879384182) first, then by playing at the track.

A quick google brought up some articles to read:

Understanding Corner Weights (https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/understanding-corner-weights/)
Setting Ride Height & Corner Weight (http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ctrp-1009-setting-ride-height-and-corner-weight/)
Corner Balancing Is A Lot More Important Than You Think (http://www.turnology.com/features/corner-balancing-is-a-lot-more-important-than-you-think/)

The basics are that you want the weights to be balanced side-to-side 50/50 so the car steers equally into left or right hand corners. Start there, and then balance front/rear (as much as you can) to get the feel you want. Understeer/Oversteer can be affected by this balance as well as anti-rollbars, stiffness etc. The way you adjust is adjust the coilovers - raising one will put more weight on all the others, and vice-versa.

Suspension tuning is a lot of fun, but obviously best done at the track :) And of course understeer is a good thing to start out with - easy to learn. Oversteer will get you in trouble fast! I don't know this, but I expect FF have dialed in understeer by default to make it safer.

[unrealmach1]

Just finished day 1 of the build school and they still use the 2x4 trick to set ride height.