Hi all,

Does anyone have a copy of the Ohlins install/setup guide? I'm curious to know how the Ohlins are adjusted and want to see what their recommended setup for the FD is.

If anyone knows and could comment that would be great!

Cheers

 

This might make my thoughts a bit clearer... Please excuse the n00bness in advance



1. Preload spring? I thought it just made sure the spring rate doesn't change when I adjust the height. What does 'adjusting' this by using C-spanners on the perch achieve?

2. Height adjustment? I think by grabbing the entire spring assembly here and turn. I *think* its adjusting the height?

3. Damper adjustment? The little **** adjuster screws onto the end here and gets the click-styled adjustments. This one has to be damper? Strange thing is when I screwed the **** down it already starts clicking before its on securely. Once I got it secured, I had a little play with it and removed the ****, but the entire little screw came out with the adjustment ****!... Surely I've done something complete wrong here. I screwed it back in without too much hassle.

 

The PCVs are not pre-load adjustable. When looking at 1, you have two collars, the one nearest the ground locks the collar above it and the top collar adjust the height. Loosen the top collar to lower the car and tighten it to raise it. The **** on top is dampening, I usually set it to the softest on all four corners then adjust 3 clicks harder everytime until I find the sweet spot. You should read this for the install:

https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/%5Brx7-boutique%5D-beginners-tutorial-installing-coilovers-fd-909096/

 

Yeah, I have since confirmed preload/height are not independently adjustable on the PCV.

Do you have any documentation on these at all? I've got part of the DFV installation guide and it suggests a 2mm preload and 10 click rebound setting. I might follow that setting recommendation and see what height and ride it gives me. If the height is near-stock and ride is comfortable, I'll use that as a starting ground.

Thanks for the install DIY thread. Will be extremely useful

 

Forget about Preload - Generally speaking, its bad. (Preloading to limit droop is a race technique not often used, and only used in front)
The blue spring is a tender spring- its job is to keep the main spring seated when you unload the suspension.
When manufacturers suggest "2mm preload," they're telling you to just snug the spring so it doesn't unseat when you lift the car off the ground, or go off a bigass jump.

Just set your ride height where you want it, and dont worry about whats going on with the collar vs tender lengths, etc.

and FYI - Spring rate is a material property. It doesn't change no matter what you do to the spring, aside from heating it with a torch.

 

After doing more reading and speaking with others, I've almost forgotten about preload. As you mentioned, as long as the spring doesn't unseat itself then I'm happy

However as for the height setup. I've been suggested a 60:40 bump:droop ratio. Any thoughts on this? Or given I'm not going to be dumping the car on its guts or raising it to WRC spec, the height range I'll be playing in should allow more than enough bump/droop?

 

those are sum nice coilovers
pls share your experience of the ride quality and performance

 

I ended up setting the PCVs up similar to the suggested settings for the DFV model.

All round:
25mm lower
10 clicks rebound adjustment (out of possible 20)

The ride was immediately firmer than the OEM Bilsteins I had in there. Initial turn it felt heaps sharper and the car felt very flat through corners.

Over pot holes, ditches, speed bumps etc the car is definitely firm but not uncomfortable. It doesn't jar or crash over them.

All in all, these coilovers are great! I definitely don't feel like the 11k/11k spring rates are of a concern for being 'too stiff'. Off to the track in 2 weeks

 

Update for the curious: Gone to the race track and found 2 seconds over the OEM Bilsteins. There were no other changes to the car.

Damper was set to F:18/R:16.

I had to play around with the ride height at the last minute due to some guard issues, so my alignment was slightly out.

Enjoy!!

S-bend (Corner 11). A lot less lean than OEM:


Track Layout. Hi-Lo speeds


Speed vs Distance. New vs Old PB


Enjoy

 

I have the same coilovers and love them. 18F-16R seems kind of stiff.. What tires/sizes are you running?

 

I was running F:235/45R17 and R:255/40R17 Potenza RE55S.

I think you're right though, I did go to another track day since but this time on different tyres (Kumho KU36) and I only had it on F10/R8 and the car felt great. Though its hard to make a direct comparison because they are different tracks and tyres.

 

Im running 275/40 R17 Toyo Ra1's all around and Im set at 12F/9R right now. Thinking of possibly adding a RB front sway bar and sway bar reinforcement bar into the equation, see how how I like that. Really like the road holding capabilites of these Ohlins coilovers, their shock valving is spot on. Was planning on changing spring rates initially, but cant find any reason to. Ohlins knows suspension.

 

I had the Ohlins shock dyno'd before I installed them and I can't say I know how to read the graphs very well, but everyone I've shown them to were impressed.

Do you think RB swaybars are necessary? I've been told to avoid changing them away from stock and just let the suspension do the work.

 

I hear arguments both ways. I want to get the Racing Beat adjustable sway bar so I can test it at different settings and see what works best.. At the very least I want to install the front sway bar reinforcement bars as the stock mounts for the sway bar are laughably thin and flexible.. Ill let you know my findings once I pick up one and install.. If anyone has one for sale, let me know

 

Awesome. Look forward to it. Here is a little snip of something I wrote a while ago...

14 Oct 2011 Shock Dyno

I went to Brett @ Shockworks to put the Ohlins onto a shock dyno just to avoid any double handling. It would be painful to install them and realised one (or more) are busted.

The results were excellent! They're very consistent, no leaks and very stiff. I couldn't be happier.

Super easy to pull apart. Doesn't need spring clamps cos of the keeper spring.


On the dyno. It gets pretty violent, especially when we forgot to adjust one of the fronts to full soft! The shock got too hot to even hold.


Fronts
Force Vs Velocity

They differ a bit because one was done on full stiff and the other was done on full soft. In hindsight Brett said we should of done the other in full soft as well, and offered me to go back to get it done, but I'll probably not bother. Nice gesture though.




Force Vs Displacement

Brett mentioned the rounder the better (or something like that) but you can see it's not so round in the first bit and something about that happening when its under a lot of force at speed. The oil in the shock is overheating but not to worry, because the dyno was going spastic for it to happen.




Rears
Force Vs Velocity

Super consistent, can't ask for much more.



Force Vs Displacement

These didn't have the same issue with the high speed/force as the fronts and came out perfectly.