Thoughts on Fortune Auto Air Piston Lift System
 

I was just wondering if anyone has heard anything about these coilovers. I was thinking of purchasing a set when they release it for the s2k community. I called Fortune Auto directly and they said they would be releasing it for the s2k by the end of this summer, so before I bite the bullet I just wanted to hear your guys opinions/thoughts on these coilovers.

If I understand the purpose of these, it's to lower the car during road travel but raise it up for obstacles? Would be nice to have if I was loading the S onto a trailer, but dang...where you going to mount that tank?

I haven't found any other threads about installing these. I got a set with pistons at all four corners and installed them last weekend. I've run the air lines but have not yet installed the air tank and compressors as I haven't decided how I'm gonna mount them. The instructions that come with them are for the 500 series coilovers with one sheet addendum for the pistons. The piston instructions call for 1 in of droop rather than the 1/4 in preload required for the 500 series. The fronts went in and work without an issue. The rear struts however I'm having problems with. I'm currently in contact with Fortune Auto to hopefully remedy my issues.

I had originally installed the rear springs with 0 preload and not the 1 in of droop. I had the front struts damper set to about 15 clicks from soft and the rears were about 5 clicks from soft. I then went for a test drive. Almost immediately there was a clunking sound coming from the rear just driving over extremely minor bumps. It was the bumpstops bottoming out. I then jacked up the preload to as far as the strut threads would allow and this stopped the bump stops from bottoming out. I also increased the rebound to 10 clicks from soft. This can't be right as I'm running about an inch of preload on the rears, a full 2 inches from what was recommended. I then tried adding in the 1 inch of droop to the rear driver's side and loaded up the suspension. There is only about a half an inch of strut travel between the bumpstop and the bottom of the piston. The clunking came back just like before. My rear spring rate is 10k and the fronts are 12k.


These are the rear pistons. The spring actually goes inside the cup while the front pistons the spring does not go inside the cup. The front inner piston has a void in the center allowing for the bump stop to travel inside thus allowing for more strut travel. I'm wondering if the wrong pistons were installed in the rear causing this issue.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...36c25b2878.jpg



These are the front pistons showing the void in the middle of the inner piston that allows for more strut travel.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...c6ae525a9b.jpg



These are them prior to install. Note the rear struts are on the right and the pistons are much wider than the fronts which are on the right.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d1b94947e7.jpg

Update:

Matt from fortune auto got back to me and he may have found the problem. The lowest spring rate that can be used with the APLS in the rear is 11k otherwise it will bottom out. He'll be sending me new rear struts and 11k Hyperco springs and I'll send back my struts and springs. Most places advertise these as coming standard with 9k front and rear. Just be advised, the lowest rate in the rear using pistons at all 4 corners is 11k. I'll post again after I get the new springs and struts in and report it it's fixed after that.

I've installed the replacement Hyperco springs and new dampers along with the recommended 1in of droop and there's no more bottoming out. Forgive my artwork but these are the approximate measurements on my coilovers. They vary by a few millimeters from side to side. The front and rear both always have a little load on them due to the bushings that's why you need to set your droop or pre-load prior to installing them.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...0327731b8f.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...dda82920cd.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...2cb0a00e39.png

Any reason why you went with a rear kit as well? Most cars just need the front kit unless they have a very extremely aggressively low body kit all around.

If I did it all over again I would just get the fronts. I couldn't find any information on the kit outside of fortune autos website and an FRS forum. I may go to a front set up only later to see what it's like. One of the biggest time consuming things about it was finding a place for 2 compressors. I assume the front kit only comes with 1 and the tank which would fit easily in the well in the trunk. I had to make a mount with a little step in it to fit the tank on and provide enough room for the compressors below it so it would all fit in the well.

I only have experience with the stancecup kit and all the kits that i've installed were all in the front. But yeah pretty much the same set up, one tank, one compressor, valve, and bunch of fittings.

Adding a second system would only complicate things, especially in the tight s2000 trunk.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...3fbe2251d9.jpg
This is how I fit both compressors in. I had to make a shelf to raise up the tank to fit the little control box under it to leave more room for the compressors. I've only cut or drilled into things that can be easily replaced. I like the symmetry of 2 compressors but it was definitely more work. It would also be nice if Fortune Auto added plugs for the wires to make it easier to run them through the car. The wires come pre connected to the system with a bunch of blade connectors (one of which I had to replace because it came loose from the stress of the weight of the wire roll.) If it came with a couple of plugs from the control box to the wires in the car, it would make it much easier to pull out the whole compressor and tank unit without messing with a bunch of blade connectors. I moved the spare tire tools and jack into a little canvas bag that sits in the spare tire. I replaced the oem lug wrench with a telescoping one I got on Amazon that has 17mm for my aftermarket lugs and 19 for the oem/spare tire ones. Lowes had a 2 pack of awp bags for 10 bucks. The 14in one holds everything pretty nicely.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d75314023b.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...c8bf151dab.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...e06b3fa8ee.jpg

I ended up getting some plugs and installing them cause I was looking for something to do. I used Deutsch plugs I got on Amazon. Cheaper ones could easily be used but I wanted ones similar to the oem plugs. The plugs are hidden being the spare tire cover when it's all closed up.