I'm about to buy a 93 twin turbo rx-7 and the first thing I want to do is upgrade the suspension. I want to know what is the best suspension upgrade for around 1000 dollars but 1500 the max. I'm really looking for adjustable height and not 1.5 inches either I need one thats fully adjustable for show and street. If anyone know of any coilover setup help me out please. PS I've been looking at the tein HA's but every site doesn't say if it's fully adjustable does anyone know? and if they are by how many inches do they lower your car?

 

first thing you should do is the reliability mods, unless of course they have already been done on the car...

otherwise, i suggest you use the SEARCH button at the top right of the page and search for it in this forum, search for tein ha or best coilovers or something... this has been asked a lot in here

Charlie

 

try http://tein-usa.com/ i know they have the manual online. you can adjust height on the ha's if that's your question.

 

if you only want to spend between 1000 to 1500, the TEIN HA's are the best choice. they can be had for less than 1000 without the pillow ball mounts and with the pillow ball mounts they are around 1200-1300. contact forum member osdesigns for competitive pricing

 

I'd suggest researching into the geometries of the suspension as well as it's internals. At that point you can determine for yourself whether you want to start with an entry level coilover or spend a couple hundred bucks more to acquire a fully adjustable monotube coilover as opposed to a twin tube coilover without independent ride height and preload characteristics therefore resulting in the use of helper/tender springs.

It just comes down to what you can afford and if it's worth it to you to spend a few extra dollars to acquire a shitload more out of your suspension.

No matter what the Tein HA is the cheapest and best entry level coilover at this point.

For your next step up you'd want to go with something similar to the JIC FLT-A2. There's several other monotube coilovers but they are not revalved for the US streets and you'd find them to be quite uncomfortable.

 

Hey, Rishie, would you please explain how they do this? I just cannot picture adding preload without forcing the the body up higher...

TIA

 

I show you. First picture, then explain:



Basically there's a perch below the spring:



and another above the shock bracket



This is how they keep the two independent of each other. Basically set the ride height by moving the shock bracket up or down to adjust the overall length. Then set the preload on the spring with the lower spring perch.

Ideally you should not require the use of helper/tender springs as a result of this. On top of that you will not loose any suspension travel with a geometry such as this when you lower the vehicle.

Hope this helps,

Rishie

 

BTW, these are as comforable as the Tein HA's although you're upgrading to a larger piston and a monotube design. That along with the independent preload and ride height are amongst the biggest differences. Another thing to look at is the material and coating of the shock bodies as well as threads. The JIC's are made of aircraft aluminum as well as fully anodized as you can see above, including the threads.

The JIC's are not just repairable but customizable in the future should you choose to go with a full race spec suspension similar to the Apex-i N1s.

 

I know the apex'i N1 pro and maybe the HKS hiper damper also have that same feature and also some of the higher end model TEINs as well

 

Well, that's the only setup I could imagine, and it looks pretty good. However, I think that adding preload to a spring WILL raise that corner a little bit. Probably not enough to notice for a reasonable amount of preload...

 

It seems like you would set the pre-load first and then set the ride height by moving the assemby up or down in the shock bracket. I don't see much reason to change the pre-load once it is set, but yes it would change the ride height just like a "normal" coil-over. By setting some pre-load, though, you could avoid having any droop travel that wasn't sprung.

-Max

 

I suggest setting ride height first, then preload with this type of suspension becuase one may set the preload and acheive 25% at each corner, but then if not lowered evenly will create a skew in this distribution. Does this make any sense, Max?

It is correct that the N1's, hyperdampers, Tein R series, are of the same geometry. They are monotube with independent ride height and preload abilities. The only difference there would be that they are not as suitable for the street. More designed for full time track use. As well as the materials of the shock bodies.

When I met with Tein at SEMA the engineer said that the material for the shock bodies is different on various models and applications. So it's kind of a toss up unless you specifically ask for that model when calling Tein. As for the Apex-i and HKS, I'm not sure.

Rishie

 

thanks guys whats the cheapest you've seen the JIC's for?

 

the rx7store has JIC's for $1550 that's the cheapest i've seen them go for for FD.

 

You could contact Rishie, ARD T2, and ask for his price.

Mark