JVAB AE86 front strut question.

Well, its a good thing I didnt buy that instead. And, as I said in my post after Dave Clark, yes, I'll have to do that, I was just trying to avoid it.

Out of curiousity what setup was that? Is Reigers 5k a corner? Proflex? Something else?

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Ohlins.
But I've had enough bad experiences with adjustable shocks that I wont ever recommend them to anyone, or buy them myself. Everything from kyb street stuff, hot bits, rs&sp, and ohlins. So all across the board price-wise, and its always the adjustment dohickies that fail.

Carl S Wrote:
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> Ohlins.
> But I've had enough bad experiences with
> adjustable shocks that I wont ever recommend them
> to anyone, or buy them myself. Everything from
> kyb street stuff, hot bits, rs&sp, and ohlins.
> So all across the board price-wise, and its
> always the adjustment dohickies that fail.


Ah forgot about those guys. Ive read that alot, that its the adjusters that get you, and some time, all the "clicks" arent the same amount of adjustment.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

This thread makes me laugh.
Until you can win a Max Attack event, the fine tunings of your damper settings are inconsequential. Alignment settings, confidence in the car, and balls are by far the biggest factors.
The people that I see improve as a driver the slowest are the ones that worry about too much about the car. They are constantly adjusting and changing things trying to get faster instead of just getting the driver to be faster.
I have a bunch of cool stuff sitting around here just waiting to go on the car. HP stuff that will net me 100-150 more wheel hp. Three or four Supra diffs are around. Design pretty much done for custom and fully adjustable front suspension arms. Design started for a fully independent rear with tubular crossmember to support the Supra diff. I'm not worried about putting any of it in because I recognize that I still have a long ways to go to be even near the limit of the car as it sits. And I feel confident that with the right driver, as it sits right now, the car is capable already of winning a Max Attack event. Once it's to the spec I want it to be and once I've gotten my personal pace up it will be unstoppable.
So, finish the car, drive it in at least 3-5 events before you consider any major change. Always stick to 3-5 events between any major changes.

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Grant Hughes

Yea, but... I'm just trying to document what I have now.

I have no intentions of madly trying to adjust stuff to become faster. I'd just like to have a solid, documented starting point.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

NoCoast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This thread makes me laugh.
> Until you can win a Max Attack event, the fine
> tunings of your damper settings are
> inconsequential. Alignment settings, confidence
> in the car, and balls are by far the biggest
> factors.

Except, of course, that damper settings can affect suspension response and increase confidence that the car will do what you ask of it ...

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First Rally: 2001
Driver (7), Co-Driver (44)
Drivers (16)
Clerk (10), Official (7), Volunteer (4)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Last Updated, January 4, 2015

Quote
john vanlandingham
Blame is for idiots. losers.

Yeah, that makes sense.
Isn't all the information already on the dampers?
Just call John and find out. I know when I got mine, he'd emailed me what the specs were. It was nearly identical to the Ford Sierra specs.

Morison Wrote:
> Except, of course, that damper settings can affect suspension response and
> increase confidence that the car will do what you ask of it ...

You just reinforced my argument against adjustable suspension for most drivers. People are always really eager to justify why they are going slower than the next guy and looking for something to blame. I've seen it occasionally. I've done it myself, though usually I know when I'm doing it and try to stop it. I do it regarding alignment settings and how I can't change camber. It makes it feel like the car won't handle as well. Last event I did I was having so much fun and just focusing on driving and pushing the car to it's limits, I forgot to worry about the lack of negative camber up front. I ended up a few seconds off the winner, and probably could have won the event if we'd not missed a practice run.
In conclusion, you reduce the confidence in the car because instead of focusing on how the driver is doing, you focus on how the suspension is doing.

Chris Martin is still on JVAB as far as I know and I'm sure we've all seen how he was killing it at GCFR.

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Grant Hughes

NoCoast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, that makes sense.
> Isn't all the information already on the dampers?
> Just call John and find out. I know when I got
> mine, he'd emailed me what the specs were. It was
> nearly identical to the Ford Sierra specs.
>
> Morison Wrote:
> > Except, of course, that damper settings can
> affect suspension response and
> > increase confidence that the car will do what
> you ask of it ...
>
> You just reinforced my argument against adjustable
> suspension for most drivers. People are always
> really eager to justify why they are going slower
> than the next guy and looking for something to
> blame. I've seen it occasionally. I've done it
> myself, though usually I know when I'm doing it
> and try to stop it. I do it regarding alignment
> settings and how I can't change camber. It makes
> it feel like the car won't handle as well. Last
> event I did I was having so much fun and just
> focusing on driving and pushing the car to it's
> limits, I forgot to worry about the lack of
> negative camber up front. I ended up a few
> seconds off the winner, and probably could have
> won the event if we'd not missed a practice run.
> In conclusion, you reduce the confidence in the
> car because instead of focusing on how the driver
> is doing, you focus on how the suspension is
> doing.
>
> Chris Martin is still on JVAB as far as I know and
> I'm sure we've all seen how he was killing it at
> GCFR.
>
> Grant Hughes
> www.nocoastmotorsports.net
> Denver, CO


In short, sure you want at least "Pretty Damn Good" components but the biggest variable is always the driver.
The biggest improvements is THE DRIVER learning how to brake hard as late as possible and maintaining balance and control.

ANYBODY who has ridden motorcycles a short while knows this (even if Americans are hardware whores when it comes to bikes too.)

What I don't understand is why Timmy can't back the springs down, spin off one nut and look. Should be ELECTRIC PENCIL ETCHED IN since I thought the stickers were lame.

And if he looks now then maybe he'll remember in 4-7 years when he's done with getting into Med School.
If I tell him again, he'll probably forget.
Again.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Timm,

You just couldn't resist putting your hand in the blender?

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

I am certainly still on the JVAB stuff.

I've toyed around with different spring rates, and continue to.




I've raced alot of other stuff....i raced karts for 12 years, where i saw all kinds of fancy adjustable chassis come on the market. Usually drivers would get too stuck up on adjusting this and that, and not on driving or the other important junk. They'd often get the set-up sooo wrong, that they might as well not race.

Basically good stuff is all that 90% of the population needs. When you start fightting for 10ths of a second...then worry about adjusting.

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Chris

Dazed_Driver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> John, what is the stroke of us AE86's guy's front
> struts? I have the spring rate, valving, but not
> the insert part number so I cant seem to find them
> online to look it up. (again, part number for finding a stroke) Thanks
>
> Feisty Peacock?
>
> My noodle I doodled was ate by a poodle


The part in bold is key. I HAD the rest of the info. It IS penciled in. You're NOT reading what im saying. Your so blinded by your views of me that you skimmed over the part saying the only thing I needed (wanted to document the stroke, too) wasnt documented.

Oh well

@Robert... But it just looked SO appealing.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

~8" with a 1.5-2" bump stop or so is what I recall mine being. Probably nearly same setup for you.

The part number has to be removed. I can just see someone buying a car with JVAB suspension on it, blowing an insert, reordering the insert at whatever valving comes normally on that part, and ending with a horribly mismatched and poorly handling setup. Plus having the part number wouldn't tell you the length of the bump stop.

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Grant Hughes

And, having the part number won't do you any good either if the limiting spacers from inside the tube have been changed or removed....or if the top mount is a newly machined piece weldded on, or a modded mount from another make...

I think forums like this make a lot of people too lazy to figure it out themselves...Sure, they inspire others to go out and build neato stuff too. But, I can't count the number of times I have seen posts asking for measurements of things that people have sitting in OWN their hands or in their OWN garage---and not just complicated fancy measurements that require accurate calipers or special tools, just regular old dimensions that you can get from a tape measure.

Example:
"Need wheel for my 1996 suby. What is the bolt pattern?"
"Picked up a set of passat brakes at the junkyard, what size are they?"
"How long are the bumpstops on my type R sweetness?"

If you are really concerned about it, take some measurements and call up the bilstein tech line. Surely they will know what parts they MIGHT be. john has mentioned several times that he buys the inserts in large batches from old ford thingys laying around in europe. It wouldn't take much _Imagination_ to figure this all out with google and a phone call. Like 30-minutes TOPS including disassembling the shock you have, measuring, washing your hands, typing on the googles and or calling bilstein...

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____________________________________________________________-

One. Class -- 2WD

www.quantumrallysport.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Quantum-Rally-Sport/281129179600?ref=nf

Or even quicker to just call John and ask him.
John doesn't even respond to my tech questions via the web most of the time.

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Grant Hughes

Do It Sidewayz Wrote:
> I've raced alot of other stuff....i raced karts
> for 12 years, where i saw all kinds of fancy
> adjustable chassis come on the market. Usually
> drivers would get too stuck up on adjusting this
> and that, and not on driving or the other
> important junk. They'd often get the set-up sooo
> wrong, that they might as well not race.

You mean some people account for driver error by adjusting the chassis instead? Never!

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.