** decided to move the post in here to see if it gets a bit more exposure to the racing gurus **

I am about to install an S0 Mugen coilover setup. Shocks and springs are now being tested and measured by a raceshop that agreed to work on my car, and I promise to report fully, but for now I have nothing but questions...

Scott at King has been very helpful, but I thought I could get some additional help from the vast well of expertise available here.

My first problem:

How do I set spring preload? Halfway from full retract to full extension? Or do I keep the settings as received?
Is this a set and try procedure?

Installation instructions are in Japanese, so not much use to me.

I am having the coilovers installed at the Honda dealer.

I'll corner weight and align at the race shop. I'm concerned however that lack of documentation may lead to an improper install.

Any hints? For clarification these coilovers allow spring preload by adjusting the spring perch, and height adjustment by adjusting the shock into the shock base.

[Edited by Luis on 03-17-2001 at 06:43 PM]

 

how much?

 

How much what?

----

King recommends that I preload the springs half an inch.

Any comments? I don't want the spring to become loose, but don't want to bottom out either.

 

[QUOTE]
Posted by Luis:
My first problem:

 

how much for the kit?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Unicron
[B]
The Comptech coil overs have a different spring rate for each corner of the car.

 

With some spring applications (not coilovers) springs are preloaded in order to make sure the mechanism does not have to deal with initial compression rates that are out of spec or a totally unloaded mechanism. Could this preload be to handle an extreme unloaded situation either flying over a bump or even jacking up the car, so that the springs, etc. stay in place?

 

Could be. These coilovers do not have helper springs like the ones you see on Bilstein and Tein models. Helpers are springs that are always colapsed and extend to absorv any slack that may develop in the situations you describe.
This could be one reason.

Preloading seems to be fairly common in motorcycle shocks, but the obvious reason is that the motorcycle itself has very little weight hence preloading is a must.

An advantage I can foresee is that you can adjust ride height without changing the preloading. So, preloading on car shocks may be unusual but does not sound like a bad thing in itself.

After a couple of conversations with the guys at the race shop, it looks like the best approach will be to set the preloading at the minimum that will prevent the shock from bottomming out. If it does, preload must be increased.

Very much a trial and error method. Of course, bottomming out a shock may not be such a happy experience.

I don't understand why people say this is easy. I must be thick.

 

Here is a picture so that people understand what I'm talking about:



The shock body (in gold) screws into the base (in silver). This is where where you can adjust ride height without affecting shock stroke.

 

Unicron, did our Comptech springs come preloaded?