Ok so here is my situation. I currently have Raceland (read Riceland if you want) Ultimos Coilovers on my 1997 Miata 1.8 Naturally Aspirated with an open diff.
I have been to 3 events so far in this car. The first two were full rain standing water wet and I did fairly well. This last event was 70 degrees and cloudy and the car was bouncing all over the course and was pretty much uncontrollable. I did ok as I was in the front half of the pack of 70ish cars. I just want to get it to handle a little better. One thing that keeps happening is I am loosing traction to the inside rear tire and it just spins. I know thats due to the open diff but I don't have the money to purchase a LSD.
Currently The engine is stock other than a 3d printed cold air intake, headers, and full exhaust. The car has a half cage, stripped interior, Light racing buckets, Fender flares, 15x8 wheels with 225/50R15 Nitto NT01s, and the Raceland Ultimos.
The springs that come with the Ultimos are 485 F / 475 R according to the website. From what I've been reading I need more like 650 F / 450 R or 500 F / 350 R something more along those lines. My question is should I get the stiffer front springs and leave my rears alone or leave the fronts alone and get a softer rear. I know that the raceland shocks aren't the best and I don't want to over work them but I also don't know what they can handle. I am looking for some advice from someone with experience in this situation.
My other option is when I bought the car there was a full set of KYB AGX 8 way adjustable struts in the trunk with no springs. I am also wondering if there is a better spring option for these shocks either ebay coilover slip ons or factory sized "performance" springs. I don't know if the KYBs are any better than the Racelands. They don't seem to be blown as I can push down the piston with a lot of force and it comes all the way back up smoothly and slowly.
I am on a very tight budget as I have a family, mortgage, and 2 year old to take care of. I am not looking to spend a ton of money on all new coilovers or anything like that. I can afford a few hundred bucks on some different springs. Please keep your comments helpful. Thank you!
My advice would be to sell the kyb agx shocks on miata.net and sell the racelands on craigslist. Peruse this thread and see what floats your boat. Use your best judgement but used bilstein shocks are known to last a very very long time.
Actually the other important question to ask is are you limited to a class for autocross? Are you trying to stay e stock? Look at their rules and see what is allowed. If you aren't limited then go with the budget bilstein and the torsen.
As already mentioned sell the Racelands and KYB's and look into a Bilstein setup, especially if you plan to keep autocrossing or tracking the car.
If you look around you can usually find some decent deals on shocks and sometimes springs.
Sleeves, bumpstops, and other smaller items will most likely have to be bought new.
I have around $500 in my setup, minus the price of shocks which I already had.
Everything was bought new and included paying to have my tophats extended which you can get away with not doing.
Also look into getting a torsen or I know plenty of people who autocross / track with a welded and love it, so that may be an option also.
Thanks For the input! I looked at that link and it looks like a good setup. I will likely be following it unless someone else comes up with a better option before I get to it.
Actually the other important question to ask is are you limited to a class for autocross? Are you trying to stay e stock? Look at their rules and see what is allowed. If you aren't limited then go with the budget bilstein and the torsen.
The club that I Autocross with doesn't follow the SCCA standard rules. There are only two classes for Front engine rear wheel drive cars. Stock and Modified. The only thing that changes your class is any tires below 200 treadwear are in modified anything over is stock... lol. I know its kinda silly. But I'm just doing it for fun and so far I have been doing pretty well. Just need to get rid of the traction robbing bounce. Feels like ridding a pissed off bull. LOL.
Yeah I looked at the Bilstein setup and its fairly similar to the style of setup my buddy just finished building for his Rallycross car. Obviously less travel than his but similar idea. And yeah I will be saving for an LSD but with the amount of bills I have it will honestly take 2-3 years to get enough set aside for that. Thanks for your input!
Ok so little update. I just scored some 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata Silver Bilsteins with 70,000 miles on them for $60. Should be here in 3 days form California. I also found a set of NB tophats with bushings and washers on Ebay for $80. Once the shocks and the tophats get here and I make sure the shocks are in good shape I will be measuring and ordering springs and perches.
Hey, just wanted to say I've been having similar thoughts for an approach to new suspension. Probably going to do the budget bilstein build method as I'm a little wary of Racelands/Rokkors just due to their reputation. My purpose is also just budget/autocross.
What are your thoughts on buying used suspension? Do you have any qualms about it? Seems like a lot of people are wary but price is something I'm more worried about.
Bilsteins hold up pretty well and don't have a lot to go wrong. As long as there's no obvious leaks or damage and they've got good gas pressure (i.e. when you compress them fully the gas pressure extends the shaft again reasonably quickly) they're likely to be fine. People have reportedly dyno'd 200k mile bilsteins off a miata and they've been good still.
As suggested earlier in this thread. I am going to sell my KYB AGX 8 way adjustable shocks. They have roughly 25,XXX miles on them. I am asking $200.00. I tried to add a post to the "For Sale" thread but for some reason I don't have permission. If anybody has any questions about them or about shipping please send me a message. Thanks!
I have them posted on several of the local pages as well as craigslist!
Also on a side note. Does anybody know where to find the spring insulators that go between the top of the springs and the NB top hats? My top hats didn't come with them.
I run my Koni setup with no top isolators. Works just fine. If the ultimos are shot and can't be sold I would say use the 485lb spring for the front and get some 350lb ones off summit for the rear.
Most of my parts came in last night. Just waiting on my shocks and top hats to come back from the machine shop. Then I need to weld the extensions into the top hats and assemble everything. Shouldn't be much longer!
So I got everything back from the machine shop last week and threw it all together and got it put in the car. Such a huge improvement over what I had before. It is like a new car. It did so much better yesterday at the autocross than it ever has before and its a lot better on the street as well.
Final Parts:
4X HD MSM Bilsteins 70,000 miles used $60
Removed the spring perches and had the C-clip groove moved down 1" at machine shop.
2X Hyperco 550 lb 6" front springs (part number CO6-550) $100
Lol. Nice. Thanks man! The new suspension is incredible. Its like I just got a new car.
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