August 29, 2007 - A bevy of bumpstops.
I sent my "wish list" of dimensions to the engineers at the shock company. They responded with their recommended shock and shaft combinations. I can't believe how helpful these guys are being. Of course, part of what I'm doing is helping to set up the specification for a potential future Flyin' Miata product, so it's a possible they wouldn't be quite this responsive to an individual racer. But it's great being able to go right to the guys who actually build the parts to ask questions. I'm keeping the name of the company quiet for now to avoid all the detailed questions that FM is expected to answer as soon as a rumor of a product shows up. Let's see if I can get something to work first. There's another set of revalved Miata shocks coming this way for comparison, it'll be very interesting to test the two back to back.
They've asked me to get the car on the road so I can get some rough compression and rebound settings. These development shocks have a wider than usual range of adjustment, and they want me to close in a bit on a more ideal setup. In the front, that meant cutting out about 2.5" of compression travel to keep the wheels out of the fenders. The big bumpstop is crude, but it will do the job for now. That's not full extension, by the way!
I put the car on its wheels this morning and drove it in to work. This is going to be interesting, I've never started with a blank slate before. Initial reactions are a good, a smooth ride with all the hard edges taken off small impacts. Of course, there's only so much I can test driving to work in traffic, so more adjusting and testing will follow. I suspect I'll need a bit more compression damping, but with 7" of rear travel and nearly the same amount in the front, I should be able to absorb just about anything.
tags: suspension |
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