phosty
29-10-2007, 03:20 PM
Well, after having them sat in my garage for a couple of months (they arrived in August from MY Garage in Glasgow), and only part fitting them (only got the fronts on initially) I have finally finished fitting the Daiyama Coilovers.
After reading on this forum all I could about coilovers and recommended spring rates, comparing them to Teins, D2, K-Sport etc etc I decided on F:10kg/mm, R:6kg/mm. This was primarily because Nutter_John had opted for F:14,R:10 and after discussing with him this sounded a bit on the stiff side for what I intended (i.e. the daily commute with fun at weekends).
The facts:
Daiyama Coilovers:
Total Weight:Front 4235g (Stock 5710g), Rear 4015g (Stock ????g)
Front Adjustment: 73mm total threads on height adjustment collar. Recommended 15-20mm minimum engaged. Assume 23mm engaged, leaves 50mm ride height adjustment. On this setting, coilover length is 49mm shorter than stock damper+coil (uncompressed).
Rear Adjustment: : 73mm total threads on height adjustment collar. Recommended 15-20mm minimum engaged. Assume 23mm engaged, leaves 50mm ride height adjustment. On this setting, coilover length is 73mm shorter than stock damper+coil (uncompressed).
Front Coil: 10kg/mm, 200mm length, 90mm OD, 13mm gauge, 1.67 kg
Rear Coil: 6kg/mm, 220mm length, 85mm OD (63mm ID), 11mm gauge, 1.45 kg
Ride Height (Arches):
Stock (before): FR=690mm, FL=690mm, RL=680, RR=680mm
Coilovers (after) : FR=645mm, FL=645mm, RL=640, RR=640mm
(2 turns (2mm) of preload collar, 23mm engaged on height adjustment)
I have them set initially at the highest setting that Daiyama recommended (i.e. 23mm threads engaged on the lower ride height adjuster) to minimise speed bump scrapes etc. Even on this setting, the car was dropped 45mm at the front and 40mm at the rear. It looks like the wheels fit the arches now much better. See what you think:
uploaded/4134/1193665797.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665821.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665842.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665889.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665939.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665980.jpg
How do they ride - well, even coming down from Nutter_Johns settings I was still worried I was ordering something bone shakingly hard, especially when compared to the OEM units and Teins ( see this thread (http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13908)).
However with the F:10kg/mm, R:6kg/mm I would say they are very similar to the stock springs/dampers in terms of firmness. I initially ran the fronts with the damping knob (0-32 clicks) set at 0 but I was finding that on fast roads with medium pot holes/dips or speedbumps I was grounding out (not sure on what yet - think it was the front centre member). At the other extreme 32 clicks it just gets a bit too rigid, and over the supermarket speedbumps the wheel wasn't rebounding fast enough even at slow speeds to prevent slight hopping of the fronts. So I have settled for the time being at 16 clicks, front and back. This seems to limit high speed bounces and limits oscillations to 1 bounce.
On winding country lanes they feel much tauter and controlled than the the standard setup with body roll much reduced and the car seeming to react much quicker to steering inputs than before. I have yet to take them to Knockhill for another blast on the track down there because I wanted to fit an ATF cooler first and maybe new brake pads (cooked both last time) but I'm sure they will be an improvement on track too.
Gary at MY Garage was very helpful with technical info and even getting a faulty damping adjuster knob replacement to me very quickly. My only niggle would be the delivery times from the manufacturer which took a little longer than quoted.
Given that this was the most complicated thing I've ever done on a car it turned out to be quite simple in the end. The only problem I had was due to the fact I had to do them one wheel at a time using a jack, the anti-sway bars needed jacking up / levering down (if it was the first or second wheel on the axle) so the bolts would fit in the holes.
uploaded/4134/1193667790.jpg
Just make sure you have a good solid bar (I bent 2 tubes trying to align the holes) and you'll be fine. Fronts took about 3 hours (being very methodical). The rears were dead easy, 1.5 hrs for both.
Just need to fit the DPX remote damping adjustment system now. Anybody any suggestions for ideal 12v sources to use for the fronts and rears?
After reading on this forum all I could about coilovers and recommended spring rates, comparing them to Teins, D2, K-Sport etc etc I decided on F:10kg/mm, R:6kg/mm. This was primarily because Nutter_John had opted for F:14,R:10 and after discussing with him this sounded a bit on the stiff side for what I intended (i.e. the daily commute with fun at weekends).
The facts:
Daiyama Coilovers:
Total Weight:Front 4235g (Stock 5710g), Rear 4015g (Stock ????g)
Front Adjustment: 73mm total threads on height adjustment collar. Recommended 15-20mm minimum engaged. Assume 23mm engaged, leaves 50mm ride height adjustment. On this setting, coilover length is 49mm shorter than stock damper+coil (uncompressed).
Rear Adjustment: : 73mm total threads on height adjustment collar. Recommended 15-20mm minimum engaged. Assume 23mm engaged, leaves 50mm ride height adjustment. On this setting, coilover length is 73mm shorter than stock damper+coil (uncompressed).
Front Coil: 10kg/mm, 200mm length, 90mm OD, 13mm gauge, 1.67 kg
Rear Coil: 6kg/mm, 220mm length, 85mm OD (63mm ID), 11mm gauge, 1.45 kg
Ride Height (Arches):
Stock (before): FR=690mm, FL=690mm, RL=680, RR=680mm
Coilovers (after) : FR=645mm, FL=645mm, RL=640, RR=640mm
(2 turns (2mm) of preload collar, 23mm engaged on height adjustment)
I have them set initially at the highest setting that Daiyama recommended (i.e. 23mm threads engaged on the lower ride height adjuster) to minimise speed bump scrapes etc. Even on this setting, the car was dropped 45mm at the front and 40mm at the rear. It looks like the wheels fit the arches now much better. See what you think:
uploaded/4134/1193665797.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665821.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665842.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665889.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665939.jpg
uploaded/4134/1193665980.jpg
How do they ride - well, even coming down from Nutter_Johns settings I was still worried I was ordering something bone shakingly hard, especially when compared to the OEM units and Teins ( see this thread (http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13908)).
However with the F:10kg/mm, R:6kg/mm I would say they are very similar to the stock springs/dampers in terms of firmness. I initially ran the fronts with the damping knob (0-32 clicks) set at 0 but I was finding that on fast roads with medium pot holes/dips or speedbumps I was grounding out (not sure on what yet - think it was the front centre member). At the other extreme 32 clicks it just gets a bit too rigid, and over the supermarket speedbumps the wheel wasn't rebounding fast enough even at slow speeds to prevent slight hopping of the fronts. So I have settled for the time being at 16 clicks, front and back. This seems to limit high speed bounces and limits oscillations to 1 bounce.
On winding country lanes they feel much tauter and controlled than the the standard setup with body roll much reduced and the car seeming to react much quicker to steering inputs than before. I have yet to take them to Knockhill for another blast on the track down there because I wanted to fit an ATF cooler first and maybe new brake pads (cooked both last time) but I'm sure they will be an improvement on track too.
Gary at MY Garage was very helpful with technical info and even getting a faulty damping adjuster knob replacement to me very quickly. My only niggle would be the delivery times from the manufacturer which took a little longer than quoted.
Given that this was the most complicated thing I've ever done on a car it turned out to be quite simple in the end. The only problem I had was due to the fact I had to do them one wheel at a time using a jack, the anti-sway bars needed jacking up / levering down (if it was the first or second wheel on the axle) so the bolts would fit in the holes.
uploaded/4134/1193667790.jpg
Just make sure you have a good solid bar (I bent 2 tubes trying to align the holes) and you'll be fine. Fronts took about 3 hours (being very methodical). The rears were dead easy, 1.5 hrs for both.
Just need to fit the DPX remote damping adjustment system now. Anybody any suggestions for ideal 12v sources to use for the fronts and rears?