Upgrade Front Suspension Ke 30 Any Ideas

[breto]

Well trash the car but not the engine. 18RGU is highly sought after engine so I would be looking after that.

[Thrash em]

If it were a rally car you'd aim for-

 

-the shock to sit about 2/3 out of the strut when parked. This means it has twice as much room to go down as go up. You alter that with spring length or moving the spring base up the strut. So find a stiffer/longer spring or re-weld the spring seat higher up.

 

-the spring to be stiff enough to just have the coils hitting each other in the biggest bump you hit. So after a rally I take a look at our nice yellow springs and see if we are coil-binding more than the middle three coils. Usually the dirt is marked from the coils touching and that is just fine.

 

-The front shocks to be stiffer going down than up. This is the hard one to get, as road shocks work the other way around- they pull the car down and hold it down to stop roll/keep a low center of gravity. You want them to resist the car going down and move it back up quickly.

 

Google 'shock foot valve' and learn about them. The movement you feel when you bounce on the car is done by tiny castellations in the outside of the valve ring, they are used to bleed oil in/out when the car rolls in corners. The main valve doesn't open then, that happens when the weight of the car lands on the shock from a bump.

 

If the car bounces up/down too much you need the shock stiffer in that direction, so make a hole smaller or block it off with epoxy, or stiffen the flexible steel valves with a washer. Change to a thicker oil to stiffen both up and down damping. This is the black art of custom suspension tuning you are getting into, no-one knows all the answers...

 

Rear shocks & springs need to be soft going down so the car squats and transfers weight to the rear tyres for traction. Same problem, if the springs coil-bind more than a couple of coils or the diff hits the exhaust/body you'll have to raise the car or stiffen the shocks. The Celica was just right by the time we finished, it barely hit the exhaust but squatted right down onto the soft bump stops we had. You want it as soft as you can drive it without it bouncing around. Rear shocks are all cartridges, so you can't adjust them.

 

Take the front sway off and try it, it will eliminate some of the understeer but remember it will have more of a tendency to tuck the front outside wheel under and roll.

 

Have you welded the diff? Don't weld the teeth/gears together, just fill opposing teeth with weld so two gears rotate until a pair of teeth hit a weld, and then the gears can rotate back again. This stops the terrible weldy understeer most welded diffs have.

Hey I'm back been trying to get this car on the track nearly there, thanks for all the info you've been a great help.

There was one question about welding the diff.

 

First as I am going to see how the standard ke30 diff holds up, does welding the diff this way make it more prone to failure ( diff or axles)

Also do I weld between the teeth of the 4 opposing gears or just the 2 larger gears, and on both sides as I can get to both sides of the gears.

Thanks man I have read your threads ( how to and how not to ) they are awesome, I still have a laugh when I think about the light switch, cigarette lighter and star picket.

 

Also 1 more thing this 18rg come with twin solex carbs and a home made air box, now I have been told by the guy I got the engine of that they are better with the air box but it only has a filter at one end with a 50mm inlet and I can't see how it would be feeding the back carby as well as the front, also I am having trouble with room for it. I am thinking of biteing the bullet and spending some money on filters there not cheap that's all. I just wanted your opinion as I see you made an air box for the girls car although yours is a lot better than the on I have

Thanks again Mick

[Thrash em]

Well trash the car but not the engine. 18RGU is highly sought after engine so I would be looking after that.

 

I drive my cars hard but also know there limits and also maintain them as best I can to look after them, any way I thought people were more after the injected twin cams I was told the 18rgu was heavier and less powerfull.

I also have a injected 2lt twin cam from a later model celica a friend has givin me I'm thinking of another corolla transplant are these engines any good.

I don't know much about toyotas as I have always been a holden man but have found the smaller jap cars are much better on the dirt and I am having fun working on and driving these cars, the old sigmas with the 2.6lt are great too

[sam k]

You could have a twin shock set up on the front. I did it to my corolla a few years ago. makes a huge improvement to the handling. also the ride is a lot more controlled.

[love ke70]

I cannot help but think, with the weight of a corolla a well setup single shock is always going to do the job better...

[sam k]

Not really, why not have both. This set up improves the current single shock set up. This combined with a good insert such as a BOGE insert and a lower and slightly higher spring rate makes a huge difference. I think I have the only set up like this, so without trying it you really can't have an opinion.

[love ke70]

Oh I can, because I understand the science behind it.

 

what experience do you have in this field to conclude two is better than 1?

 

you are talking about controlling 250kg/corner with 2 shock absorbers. It is overkill and not required.

 

I control over 1100kg per corner with single remote reservoir shocks, and they do just fine including on hard corrugations.

 

Its about quality, not quantity....

[sam k]

The experience I have is a lot of time comparing the differences between running a single damper/spring and two. With a lot of track time, and road time trying to find a good set up for these cars. After many hours of R&D this set up gives the best result. There is a big difference between remote reservoir dampers, and a standard KE strut. I really don't think the two can be compared. It is not overkill, its an extra damper, not an extra spring and not increasing the spring rate. The benefits being you get a better controlled bump and rebound, with out having stupidly high spring rates. The biggest improvement being the better rebound control the extra shock gives you. Yes quality is the most important thing of course, but quality is Proflex, Reiger, BOS, Ohlins, not your Pedder's or Monroe. There is a big difference. Anyway its good for everyone to have there own opinion, but I'm sticking to mine.

[love ke70]

And I will stick to mine, what you have done is interesting,

 

what shocks were you running in the setup before and after going to twinshock?

 

I still maintain what you do with 2 could be done with 1.