Shocks and Spring Rates

[eschaider]

Originally Posted by DaveW

Anybody had any experience with the Koni 8211 or 8212 shocks, price into oz ex US is about $550AU ea including freight, which i think is worth considering over the AVO's

Re: spring rates,
I've read the previous posts particularly around the Classic Revival setups, but most were awhile ago, what has everybody ended up settling on, Barry from Toperformance in Melb is suggesting based on his calcs of ratios, weights, etc tha the suggested 450 / 525 lb are too stiff, and suggests 375~400 fronts and 450's in the rear would be about right.

Whats the feel and satisfaction levels ?

Dave

Dave,

Here's a pretty good tool I picked up some time ago. I either downloaded it or built it from formula's on a spring manufacturers site - don't remember which anymore.

It works amazingly well. Remember as you do your spring solution that these cars only have about 600 lbs per wheel they support so if you use a spring that produces a wheel rate of 600 lbs the car will feel like it has no suspension.

Be sensitive to the use/presence of sway bars. In general sway bars allow for a softer spring rate and gain vehicle control through the sway bay essentially using both springs to stabilize the car in turns.

The sway bar approach not only softens the boulevard ride but it also provides a suspension that absorbs and accommodates fairly significant imperfections in the road surface without the driver loosing control from a rigid non-compliant suspension set up. In general it goes something like stiff bar/soft spring or weak bar/stiff spring.

FWIW on a smooth racing surface (if there is such a thing) the car will want and can use to advantage, higher wheel rates.

Ed

Well it turns out the XL spread sheet is larger than 39KB so it is not uploadable. If you would like it, PM me with an email address and I'll send it to you.