Corner Eight Coilovers
#64
Cheap effective setup...and I've already tried all the other OTS shocks and springs.
If you order the kit which comes with the aluminum upper spring isolater you can easily make a custom perch out of it which fits better, goes lower, and gets rid of the stock pieces.
I did it with both the Konis and now the Bilsteins (two different eBay kits). Involves two simple ID bores on a lathe...and works great without mangling shocks (set screws), perches or collars.
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t37149/
The ID of the set ring for the threaded collar is purposely 0.010 smaller than the OD of the collar for an interference fit. Once tapped in with a mallet it doesn't rotate during adjustment, or bounce up on the road.
Here is an example of the kit you need to look for:
90-97 Mazda Miata Sleeve Style Coilover Kit 330391:eBay Motors (item 400073509344 end time Jan-13-10 11:22:51 PST)
I've seen these with grey, red and now yellow coated springs. All the others have black plastic isolators which leave you SOL for fabbing a perch.
Installed:
those red shocks are really yellow as in Koni yellows.
To me these kits should be designed like this, but then you'd have to order for your specific shock...something GC will do, but our CDM friends won't.
I moved the 350lb/in springs up front and ordered QA1 250s for the rear with current setup. I had the out of the box 450/350 setup with the Konis and couldn't live with it daily. It was also pretty twitchy at the limit.
I'm also convinced the 7in QA1 springs handle road imperfections where droop is an issue much better than the 5.5in eBay junk. I definitely feel like the rear tires are always on the road and giving me good feedback now.
#68
I tried to get a very close fit for the perch to shock, but ended up 2-3 thousandths over on each, and would like for it to be closer next time. I purposely bored the collar section 0.010 under the threaded collar OD for an interference fit since it's easy to deform the thread tops.
I HAD to do this on MY Bilsteins since they are NB models with the goofy open-end spring angled perches.
#71
I have yet to take a picture. The car has sat there over the whole break besides my brother trashing it. I expected to get a lot more work done, but haven't even taken the wheels off due to work.
Apparently I wasn't the first one to do this though, it appears Rob did something similar:
I'm not sure if those are NA Billies or not though.
I'll try and get you a pic before I head back to school next week.
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elior77
Suspension, Brakes, Drivetrain
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09-17-2015 09:20 PM