I'm waiting on SD to get back to me on the price for those. Would rather just get it from Bernie to make sure they will work

 

They should not be anymore than $29-$30.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AAF-ALL64162/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AAF-ALL64180/

 

Those are the ones I have and they are great. ditched the egay sleeves long ago.

 

Just ordered a set

 

Should I get new top mounts? If so, which ones should I get?

 

Curious: how much does he charge for a re-valve these days?

 

I've negotiated my price so I can't share it They are being worked on right now by the way!

 

Its cool, I'm just interested in the "normal" price if anyone knows.
If you do, post up.

 

the NB top hats on Bilsteins are good for about ~5.25" ride height if you have really high spring rates. If you want to get lower than that, then you will need to get ISC top hats or the like.

 

5.25" from what to what?

 

My guess would be from the road to the pinch weld at the bottom of the unibody, however I've never liked this system of measurement as it varies with tire diameter.

(On the other hand, if tire diameter is assumed to be a constant, then the pinch weld method is mush less imprecise than the hub-to-fender method, as the latter requires estimation of both hub center and which point along the radius of the rolled fender constitutes the datum.)

 

on 15" wheels from ground to pinch welds.

I don't know, I just use whatever everyone else uses. I can't really accurately measure hub to fender because 6ULs stick out pretty far, plus there is no marking for the center of hub and you don't know if you are directly at the top of the fender. I think hub to fender thats like 12.75-13"? I can't remember exactly.

 

And yes, I can attest to the limited suspension travel. I've got a set of FM springs on Bilsteins with FCM bumpstops and NB tophats, and at rest, you can see with the eye just how little "free" travel there is. And that's after I lathed up about 3/4" worth of spacers to raise the lower spring perch up beyond the highest "stock" ring.

A question for the ISC tophat crew- at what point, assuming a damper with a body equal in length to (or perhaps slightly shorter than) an NA-style Bilstein, do you start to run the risk of creating so much free travel that things other than the bumpstop start becoming travel-limiting components? (eg, hard things crashing into one another?)

 

I guess ISC top hats are in order Should I get any top shock mounts for my front shocks?

 

thats actually the limiting factor....the front... I think my rears could be dropped to 4.75" and still maintain decent travel (I do run 450 lb springs in the rear though and have a msm bar available if need be). you can try to push it if you like and run 4.5" front and 4.75" rear and only run ISCs in the front, but I don't have experience with that.

And to "answer" Joe's question, I think the tire will hit the fender somewhere well south of 11" (probably <9.5"?). And if you don't have fender liner, it will max out on the LCA, not sure what height that is (I am talking about height from hub to fender at contact point btw).

Btw, those numbers are not from experience. Its estimates based on shlammed folks at CR.

 

I was at 4.25/4.5 with NB tophats and bilsteins. Now after I raised the ride height to 4.75.5.0 and changed to stiffer springs I feel that I was riding on the bumpstops.

I do feel that you could cut the 36mm stops down to 18mm like FCM suggests and the lowered ride height would work.

 

I don't really see how you were that low on NB Bilsteins...are NA Bilsteins a different size?

 

Good question. I do have NA bilsteins with NB tophats

 

FatCat has produced a couple of charts comparing the body length of various common dampers:





Bear in mind that shock body length does not directly correspond to static ride height, as it measures the height of the top of the shock body (the contact surface for the bumpstop) rather than the height of the spring perch. I'm sure everyone here knows that, but since I've heard ride heights being thrown around, just wanted to make sure we're all talking about the same thing.

My concern has entirely to do with the clearances between the various "hard parts" of the suspension system (including the tire-to-body clearance) when the system is in full compression, since the angle of the control arms and height (relative to body) of the hub will be significantly greater at full compression for a system using very short shock bodies or upper mounts with recessed bumpstop cavities (such as ISC) than one using stock-length shocks and stock upper mounts, even if both systems are adjusted to the same static ride height.

 

Well, I'm going to order ISC top mounts no matter what ride height I will end up at. Final ride height will be determined when I corner weight the car after suspension is installed