Advanced Suspension Mods

[theastronaut]

Drove it around the test loop last night, the front grip is back like it should be. It now rotates going into a corner, can get the tail slightly out with a bit of light trail braking, but it's easily balanced with the steering and throttle. Has good mid corner balance. I only did a lap and a half (6 corners) that are 45-60 mph but I can definitely tell that they're way better than the worn/blown Raceland inserts. It feels a bit soft, but I think that's just me being used to how stiff the Miata is after driving it for the last few weeks.

[festyfreak39]

One side slid in, the other was very tight. I ended up getting a section of pipe and using the press to push it to the bottom, didn't take a lot of force to get it to bottom out. The gland nut didn't quite bottom out, just like in your pic.

Edit- I'm setting the toe now, will post feedback on the KYB's once I have some miles on them.

Awesome thank you very much I might try file mine not to sure about exposed threads

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[theastronaut]

One side slid in, the other was very tight. I ended up getting a section of pipe and using the press to push it to the bottom, didn't take a lot of force to get it to bottom out. The gland nut didn't quite bottom out, just like in your pic.

Edit- I'm setting the toe now, will post feedback on the KYB's once I have some miles on them.

[festyfreak39]

Finally pulled my other blown Raceland apart today, 12.5" tall counting the rounded bump at the bottom, and 1.660" diameter.

Did your bottom adapter pictured slide in? Mine won't slide in. Also appears mine is a bit long

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[theastronaut]

Does anyone have any measurements of the riceland inserts?

My ultra blown VMAXX inserts are roughly 12 1/4" long and 1 11/16" wide. Looking to buy inserts to rebuild them!

Finally pulled my other blown Raceland apart today, 12.5" tall counting the rounded bump at the bottom, and 1.660" diameter.

[festyfreak39]

Does anyone have any measurements of the riceland inserts?

My ultra blown VMAXX inserts are roughly 12 1/4" long and 1 11/16" wide. Looking to buy inserts to rebuild them!

[theastronaut]

Didn't think to use loctite, I'll pull it back apart when I do the other side. I was already wanting to swap out the inserts or buy new coilovers since the car didn't seem to have quite as much front grip as it did when I first built it; it doesn't stick and rotate as easily as it used to when diving into a tight corner. The shock shaft had a lot of wear and slight rust pitting so I'm thinking the inserts were pretty tired. I have a pair of Super Pro inner control arm bushings I need to install, and I want to swap in a PS rack, so the strut blowing is a good chance to catch up on all of that.

I'll put some "track" miles on them and report back. The next autocross is on the 18th so I'll get to test them out there as well. Glad you had fun, it's too bad we had to be in a hurry to get back to the shop. I should have taken you down to the other end of the road that our shop is on; it has a tight downhill corkscrew that is really fun to slide into sideways, then catch it with the throttle at the apex! There's also a section that suddenly drops into a steeply banked corner, similar to the carousel at Nurburgring. Or at least it's similar to the Forza and Gran Turismo versions I've been on... :lol:

[Advancedynamix]

John, as much as it sucks that your car broke, I'm kinda glad that this happened so you could test these out. You're a great driver and really drive the hell out of that little Festiva. I enjoyed my little ride around your "test track" while I was out there. I'm really interested in your impression of the MK1 KYB front inserts. In thoery, they should balance the rear out nicely, seeing as it is a matched setup. Keep us posted on your impression.

[Advancedynamix]

Good stuff! I forgot to mention that you may want to put some red loctite on the threads of the gland nut. I've had those come loose before without loctite. You'll need to heat the strut body with a torch to get them apart after using red loctite on them, but by that time your inserts are probably bad again anyway.

[theastronaut]

The KYB GR-2's were delivered today and I was able get the first one installed tonight. The OD is smaller than the Raceland inserts but it comes with adapter bushings. The bottom one works but I had to cut the bottom ring off of the supplied gland nut and make it work with the Raceland gland nut. I also had to open up a couple of 3/8" washers to space the Rio top hat up enough so the retaining nut would bottom out on the hat instead of running out of threads.




Bottom adapter.




Bottom ring of supplied gland nut cut away.




Ring fits perfectly into the Raceland gland nut.




3/8" washers with the ID opened up to snugly fit the shaft.

[Advancedynamix]

That's very possible. Bilstein 40mm sports were too stiff.

[theastronaut]

For a very small fraction of the price of those Koni race shocks, you can get these with a lifetime warranty. For 26 bucks a shock, I'd give them a try until my next paycheck depended on a second off my lap times. Lol.
Sensen Lifetime warranty shock inserts

I saw those on Rockauto ($38.88 shipped for a pair with the 5% code), but was kinda leery of a shock that cheap. Was leaning towards the KYB GR-2 pn361005 ($67.39 shipped/pair) since I've had good luck with them on the rear, and I liked them on my '64 VW in the past. I also wondered if the Koni adjustable shocks would be too stiff for the light spring rates (150#) even at their softest setting?

[Advancedynamix]

For a very small fraction of the price of those Koni race shocks, you can get these with a lifetime warranty. For 26 bucks a shock, I'd give them a try until my next paycheck depended on a second off my lap times. Lol.
Sensen Lifetime warranty shock inserts

[Advancedynamix]

The proper Koni single adjustable insert is part number 8610-1436.
If you are feeling the need for separate rebound and compression dampening adjustment, the Koni double adjustable insert is part number 8611-1257
I haven't tried either of these on a Festiva yet. I have driven other cars with them though. The adjustment range is really wide with not many clicks, so each adjustment makes a pretty noticeable change. It's hard to fine tune with these shocks, but they do get the job done cheaper than having custom valved shocks built.

[Advancedynamix]

I've got a set of KYB mk1 inserts here. If you take your struts apart we can compare lengths. You'd think I would have written all this down a long time ago. Lol. The mk1 inserts are the shortest that I've found in a standard replacement. You can modify Mitsubishi precis/Hyundai excel inserts to be nearly as short, with lighter dampening. I'm pretty sure raceland just used a generic mk1 insert in those though and everyone just copied them. All the Chinese coilovers for VW mk1, 2 and 3 use the same basic insert from what I've seen. I've taken apart about 8 different brands/styles now.