Advanced Suspension Mods

[moz]

I've got some dummies made up out of teflon.
I'm going to try these out as we use this type of Teflon on various high impact applications in our factory and it withstands the stress better than mild steel.

What do you think charlie?

Is it suitable in your view?

[Advancedynamix]

Also, the lip that is left over with the .390 id should be .200" thick. I wouldn't make it thicker or it will change the squish too much on the rear mount bushings.

[Advancedynamix]

That was 1.5" for the VW mk1 shocks, the Festiva KYB hats can be flat. On my hats for the Festiva shocks I drill the center hole to .390" id (25/64) and counter bore the hole .200" deep by .512" I.d. for a register for the sleeve that is friction welded to the KYB shaft ( stock application uses this register to retain the bump stop and dust boot).
Also, you'll want the spring register diameter ( the part that rests inside the spring and keeps it centered) too be 1.900". The springs are actually a larger I.d. than the specified 1 7/8" (1.875).

[Die-Laughing]

Ok so, I'm going to drill & tap my sleeve nuts for set screws tomorrow because I'm only running 1 nut per corner. No problem there but, when I machine the top hats.. Regarding the center hole for the shock shaft, is it just a clearance hole or ??
I'm thinking that it needs to fit around the threads but, no slide down the shock shaft. Is that correct or does it not matter? I plan to make it work without modifying the shock shaft so, I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this.

Advanedynamix, I know you said to make the rear hat 1.5" thick from the spring mounting surface to the bushing mounting surface to get it in the correct travel range. Any tips for the front? I'm not entirely sure what it all looks like so, I'm going to figure it out as I go. Hopefully I can get it buttoned up tomorrow. I'll take pictures & whatnot. Any help is appreciated.

Just trying to get a head start before I start tearing into it.

[Huli]

I am using rio knuckles with festy lca's and egt tie rod ends. Works great

[moz]

I'm thinking your problem lies in your lca's being too short, as well as the Rio struts being too high.
Have you tried aspire lca's?
Are you purposely trying to lift the car?

I hope I'm not missing the point here.

[sketchman]

You're saying the knuckle was so low that the tie rod end wouldn't attach to the inner?
You couldn't attach everything but the tie rod end and then jack up that knuckle to get it in line?

[zoom zoom]

where I had the car lifted so much that the steering arm was lower than normal, and twisting the knuckle inward(to get the negative camber) clocked the steering arm boss so much that the outter tie rod end was beyond it's range of movement upward. It was in the knuckle, pulled up as far as it would go, and still was a little shy of being able to screw into the inner tie rod.

When I installed the lca the tie rods stayed attached, and the lca was stuck in the knuckle, then twisted up into the box in the frame, and I had to fight it to get it in place. Wish i had taken a pic before i took the struts apart :\

[Advancedynamix]

Matt, I'm a little confused as to your problem. If you angle the tops of the knuckles inward then that gives you negative camber, outward is positive. You should always adjust with the top hole on the knuckle/ strut mount. Your tie rod should fit buy turning the strut/knuckle unless your lift is binding it. If you use Capri knuckles you'll get another inch of lift and vented rotors, but I'd use aspire calipers on them because Capri calipers are troublesome.
Maybe Movin would be better to ask, as he knows lifts. Right now, my festys are all stock or lowered, so I can't picture what your having trouble with.

[bhazard]

You tried Rio struts with uncut Rio springs? That's good for a 3" lift or so.

I didn't cut my springs when I first put Rio struts in. The lift was so extreme it destroyed my drivers side axle.

[zoom zoom]

If I angle the knuckle the other way the tie rod will fit, but ill go back to 0/positive camber. I'll probably put the Rio springs on Festy struts for now but I'd really like to find a way to get that inch and a half of lift back. With stock knuckles stock lcas work so I'm gonna go that route to make sure the tie rods have been my issue. Gotta get aspire lcas and upgrade to bigger vented rotors soon though!

[mazda121BP]

Tilt in the top instead of moving out the bottom... Or get longer control arms? I hope this helps and isn't just my stupidity

[zoom zoom]

ok charlie, I've got an issue, interested in your opinion here.. What I have right now..

stock axle(as far as i know it came from advance NEW a couple weeks ago)
stock lca
stock inner/outter tie rods
02 kia rio struts(stock) with the exception of the lower hole reamed out to give me negative camber.


When I installed the rio struts, they just bolted in! but when I installed the lca and axle, I had to plug in the lca (tie rod already hooked up) then twisted the knuckle up into the strut. I can do that now, but I think this is where my steering issue is comming from and I want to fix it.

Anyway, with the knuckle angled out due to the reamed out strut holes for negative camber, the tie rods don't line up straight. So the outter ball joint is in a bind when the suspension is fully decompressed! Since I've been riding in the upper part of the strut, I've probably been topping out the struts on acceleration and the ball joints are doing weird things to my steering during hard pulls.

Is there an easy fix for the tie rods, or do I just need to lower the car a little (1-1 1/2") by putting rio springs on stock struts? I'll still be riding in the upper range of the struts and probably won't have any sag doing that. Also, that pic is with the axle totally compressed, if I push the lca up beside the knuckle it looks like it lines up with the hole, but do you think I'll need to swap to aspire lcas anyway to keep the axle from having a chance of bottoming out?

[Advancedynamix]

Wow Charlie that last one was incredible. It's gonna take a few reads to get that to sink in! Thanks for all your input! This is a hobby for me too, just on a much lower and slower level Haha, I'm not tossing a thousand dollars into a new suspension setup every couple weeks :p Your words are not taken lightly and keep me motivated and pointed in the right direction(I think lol), thanks!

Your welcome. If any car community should know suspension, it should be this one. These little cars have amazing potential, and they are so easy to improve. Mazda did a great job at designing a FWD supercar, they just had to make this little supercar capable of climbing mountains and carrying5 passengers across entire continents. This versatility has it's price, compromise. I can't provide affordable suspension parts for everyone, but I can provide the knowledge and share the experience necessary to educate everyone on what needs to be done in order to fine tune these awesome cars for their personal goals. What's awesome about the Festiva is that it has such great suspension that it can be fine tuned for performance, while also increasing the cars comfort, stability and driveabilty. Heck, a 16v engine (be it b6 or BP, or FE3) on a G- series trans improves the cars handling and stability drastically, by placing more weight bias where the car needs it, over the front wheels. Improving these cars is so easy, and cheap. I'm still really excited about this and it has been over 3 years now since I started Tweaking Tweak. Lol. I've never been so excited about a car that I've tuned, and this is the least impressive by far when it comes to curb appeal. To hell with fancy sports cars, I'll take my Festy ( or 5) any day.

[Advancedynamix]

That gives me a better idea.. I completely forgot about bumpstops and I wasn't aware how important they are. It sounds like bumpstops will be very useful to me. What is the proper way to setup a bumpstop? It sounds like I should put the car together in the lowest setting and make my bumpstop that length and then add preload to get the height where I want it. I guess this is where your spring rate & length comes into play. It sounds like I didn't completely fail with my 200#F / 175#R setup. I cheaped out on shocks but, I'll have to make due.

There is no real right or wrong way to set up bump stops, just use common sense ( they are intended to add progressive resistance to the dampeners, not to stop the shock from traveling). Get several styles and test them all out. I prefer VW New Beetle stops because they are cheap, long and easy to trim.
If you got KYB GR2 front struts for a mk2 VW then I think you'll be very pleased with your choice. The dampening will be drastically better than stock Festiva struts and they will allow more drop and negative camber.
I like my 200lb springs on my B6t/ gseries swapped car, but I find this rate a bit stiff for a my b3 cars. I am currently running 185lb front/120lb rear on my 89 DD. 185 lb is still a bit stiff for the front of this car (no a/c, 4 speed) so I think I'll get some 165lb springs instead. I want more spring sag in the front, and these 185's only sag about an inch. I'm looking forward to running the 185lb springs and Bilstein 36mm struts on the front of my B6t car when I get the engine built for it ( Tweak is currently broken).