Race Car Shocks

[Steve49841]

What are you guys using for race car shocks, and where are you getting them from.

[SLOroadster]

I've got a set of Konis, I'm going to pull the fronts off and send them to Lou Mondello in Australia to have them revalved since the fronts are a little soft for race use, the rears are fine however.

Will

[Garm]

^ You won't have to, Will; I have two more sets like mine coming in.

[dbrick]

^ You won't have to, Will; I have two more sets like mine coming in.

One for Will, one foe Steve...Easy sale...

[Garm]

^ hopefully! These are Lou Mondello re-valved Koni fronts.
I have mine halfway between soft and stiff, they seem perfect.

According to Lou, this is the "correct" valving for these shocks (whatever that means)

[SLOroadster]

^ hopefully! These are Lou Mondello re-valved Koni fronts.
I have mine halfway between soft and stiff, they seem perfect.

According to Lou, this is the "correct" valving for these shocks (whatever that means)

There is speculation that Koni got the valving switched between the front and rear shocks, the rear damping rates work better for the fronts, and the fronts better on the rear, or as I understand ,the fronts are too soft on the damping for comp springs, and the rears are pretty good.

Will

[Steve49841]

I really need to come up with a plan for the entire suspension on my car but I was thinking the shocks are first. I was looking at some of the packages on Datsunparts.com, and see he is selling KYB's, but I don't know if they are suitable for a race car or not. Garm, if your selling a set of Koni's I would be interested.

[spl310]

There was a set of Konis on eBay recently. Bob2 on the forum was selling them. I don't know if they sold, so if you need a set, you could hit him up as well.

[jamesw]

The ones Bob2 had for sale looked very nice. I hope mine end up looking like that when I'm done w/ them.

I am interested in finding out more about the work Lou does. I looked into sending my shocks in to Koni for rebuilding but it's almost as much as buying a new set! Garm: hit me up pls.

Cheers
James

[SLOroadster]

I really need to come up with a plan for the entire suspension on my car but I was thinking the shocks are first. I was looking at some of the packages on Datsunparts.com, and see he is selling KYB's, but I don't know if they are suitable for a race car or not. Garm, if your selling a set of Koni's I would be interested.

If you stop and think about it a minute, if the stock Koni's are deemed underdamped for the front springs (comp springs are about 800 lb springs I think) there is no way the KYBs can handle that sort of spring rate when they can't deal with the stock springs as is.

I've had enough people tell me that my front Konis aren't stiff enough to be ideal so I'm going to follow other peoples thinking on this (because all the people who have told be this are a lot faster than I am.) I've run my konis at full soft up front and had control issues, at full hard those issues were lessened, so with even stiffer damping (both compression and rebound) the car should be fantastic. Its pretty good now, but it apparently has more to give with the proper damping rates. The KYBs are FAR softer than the stock Konis on full soft. It sounds like those will be a step in the wrong direction.

Will

[jamesw]

Figuring out damping is a second order differential equation - but it can be done. Just not after a full day of engineering audit at my company! Just need spring rate and travel distance and you can figure it out. Integrate F = KX and then put in the upper and lower bound to solve the integration.

Cheers
James

[Garm]

^ Or put some shocks on the car, go driving, and decide "needs more....." or "needs less...."

[Steve49841]

Okay....so....are we saying it's gotta be Koni's over adjustable KYB's? In the Wiki Tech section there are some part numbers for 80 series Koni's but I don't think thery are externally adjustable.

[spl310]

I know that some folks with comp springs have the KYBs and are happy.

[SLOroadster]

I know that some folks with comp springs have the KYBs and are happy.

Sid, that might be fine on the street, not on the track. KYBs were never designed as a performance damper for race use. The Konis weren't really either, however they set the damping hard enough that they COULD be used as one. A Koni set full soft has WAY more damping than a KYB, or a Bilstein for that matter. If I found a several second per lap gain by stiffening up the dampers to full hard, it stands that the KYBs are WAY WAY too soft for race use.

I'm sure there are other shocks that will fit with some modification, the Konis are the best plug and play option however. I know Carrara used to make a set that fit, they became QA1 I think, Bilstein made a set, but those are too floaty as well. Koni makes a double adjustable setup that requires modification to the pickup points in order to mount them. If you REALLY want to spend some $$$$$ Ohlins can likely make you a set that will work. I've heard of a couple SCCA cars running Ohlins.

Will