I'm sick of doing 2-3 laps, coming off track, unbuckling, climbing under the car, making adjustments, getting back in, strapping back up and going back out to find out that maaaaaybe that wasn't the right adjustment. The amount of time wasted gets frustrating after a while. Lets say I want two more clicks of compression but I need to either spend/lose 5-10 minutes of track time to do it, or just suffer. There's got to be a better way, its 2016.

I'm sick of adjusting my shocks by hand, especially the fronts. I feel like a blind guy at an orgy trying to find a bathroom, and its an emergency, everything is hot, not fun. I know that most of the time I can preset them and forget them, and I do. But on occasions, I get it wrong, or I just want to play with my setup. See if I can make an improvement, bla bla bla. I know tein has an EDFC, actually they have 4 different ones, but I've never seen a single fast driver running tiens outside of a magazine ad. Assuming they're like most jdm shocks, they'll be a pain in the ass to get rebuilt and tbh I doubt they come anywhere near a JRZ 2way or TTX24 which is what I'm leaning towards atm. Does anyone make ANYTHING that fits the bill? Or am I SOL till I make my own adrino nightmare creation?

Also while on the topic. Does anyone make a blade style swaybar thats also cockpit adjustable?

 

The Arduino route isn't a terrible idea. You can control four servo motors with just a few lines of code and run the switches to the cockpit. You can also use this to show you what setting you're currently at.

 

Have someone help you make those changes at the track in pit lane to reduce the time. Are you really messing with the shocks that often? I can see at a test day but I don't see messing with the car much during race weekends. If the shock settings match the spring freq's well, dial the car in with bars and pressures. Its unfortunate to lose time in a session to a wrong direction in setup but part of it.


I think part of the reason you don't see anything with those options besides cost is that almost all racing series have a ban on electronic valving adjustment. SCCA, NASA, IMSA, F1.. I can't think of a series that does.

 

Prolly fair game in Global Time Attack and S2k Challenge.

 

You may be able to use the TEIN EDFC on your non-Tein shocks. The fit specifications are on this page;

http://www.tein.co.jp/e/products/new_edfctejun.html

If you can make it fit, a little custom machine work may be easier/cheaper than designing and building your own stepper motor setup from scratch.

 

I am sure you could find a stepper motor to adjust to turn the right amount per "click". If you are really going to get a different shock setup what about bilstiens electronic shocks? I know there was a guy making them fit his BRZ/FRS a while back.

 

I know Austin Cabot was working on an electronic shock setup for his then TTD FR-S.

 

Is that who it was? I remember the thread from FT86 forums but I couldn't find it this morning.

 

Just as an FYI, Tein SRC's are on at least one time attack winning S2000, and many other competitive cars. They can be rebuilt by Tein USA, Counter Space Garage (and Evasive) get custom valving/shimming done by Tein, so you aren't locked in to the OTS valving. It's up to you how you want to spend your money and time (money). There is a lot of info and shock dynos on them, and the CSG spec SRC's seem to be the best starting point if you want to do this in steps. You'll be able to get into a great set of coilovers and the dual controllers for thousands less than a 2 way moton or ohlins before the headache of making them electronically controlled. Is the extra 10% performance (in a very subjective area of car modification) worth that? It's your call.

 

So, here's a thought (and probably not a great one):

You know how difficult it is to reach an adjuster at the top of the left rear shock (because the fuel lines are in the way)? Well, my JRZ's came with a four inch "remote" adjuster. It's a little flexible line with the thumbscrew on the end, that you use in place of just a plain thumbscrew. Well, if you can make four inches work, how about forty? Perhaps a speedometer cable. And, yeah, you'd end up with 8 adjusters in your cockpit, but maybe you could get clever and bring that down to four by pairing them up as appropriate.

Like I said, just a thought...