Coilover fitment

[TURBO2GO]

My coilovers interfere with the suspension A arm. Has anyone else had this problem? What is your solution? I am going to remove the helper springs, but when I do and thread the perch all the way up the shock body, it still leaves the main spring loose. I'm posting two pictures showing where the yellow helper spring and purple perch are touching the suspension arm.

 

[Roger59]

My 2 cents is you need to keep the to similar springs, however different only in outside diameter O/D and the same inside diameter I/D, roughly with same similar spring rates. Or adjust to taste:biggrin:

 

[socold57]

yeah kv3 has that issue so far on the nsx


but ive read you can slam it pass that point

 

[TURBO2GO]

Wow... So much more clearance on the V3 than my competitions. Is the shock body that much narrower?

Strange thing is my set WAS on an NSX before, I just have no idea how they fit it. Anyone else with any other coilovers have an issue?

 

[TURBO2GO]

Another angle:

 

[nsxot1c]

Wow... So much more clearance on the V3 than my competitions. Is the shock body that much narrower?

Strange thing is my set WAS on an NSX before, I just have no idea how they fit it. Anyone else with any other coilovers have an issue?

It appears your VRH is the issue. Without it, the coilover would have been cranked up significantly and cleared the Control Arm. Try jacking up the bottom of the spindle and see what it does. Usually the major clearance issues are when the car is jacked all the way up with the wheels off. When you raise the spindle/rotor clearance should get a little better. Although with your VRH it may never clear it unless you modify the control arm. My guess you are encountering this issue because of the combination of the VRH and a race type coilover setup.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Dave,

When there is weight on wheel that helper spring is going to be fully compressed and the bottom of the spring purch (purple) is going to be sitting where the spring divider is (grey). I'm betting that you have the purch seat (purple) way, way too low where it is.

Another problem is that air ride cylinder on top. Normally, your main spring would be up against the top hat. But in this case, the air ride cylinder is against the top hat and then the springs - so that's about 3". I would have assumed that Ravi took this into account when ordering your spring lengths.

But your purple purch is going to have to be ABOVE the top A-arm. It's OK if it's hitting the top of the A-arm as like I said when the car is on the ground the strut is compressed and it sits about 3-4" higher than it does at droop.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Take the helper spring OFF. Problem solved.

You know that it's really only on there to keep the spring centered under full droop and if you go over very, very big bumps that completely unload the wheel or for example the wheel drops into a big pothole.

There is no ride comfort advantage to a helper spring as it's already fully compressed with the car on the ground. See pic attached - this is my rear wheel. Put the camera up under the fender liner and you can see the helper spring is fully compressed with the car just sitting.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Yeah that's exactly what I am going to do is take it off probably. Talked to Ravi, he said the same thing.

But another question is... Is this an ok spot for the canister? I don't know where else they would go.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Looks good to me. :smile:

 

[spider2k]

you are going to use a steel band instead of the zip tie though right?

 

[TURBO2GO]

you are going to use a steel band instead of the zip tie though right?

Yes and cleaning up the hose routing, etc. That's just to show relative position.

 

[RYU]

I'm surprised you haven't contacted Billy yet. I believe you mentioned FXMD ran this setup on their car.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I'm surprised you haven't contacted Billy yet. I believe you mentioned FXMD ran this setup on their car.

Yes they did. Billy gave me all the settings to set these at. I will remove the helpers, it'll be all set. I'd rather save the weight anyway. Like Ravi said, that main spring isn't going anywhere with the cup on it so the helper spring is useless weight anyway.

 

[socold57]

your running swift springs? what happen to the kw springs

 

[TURBO2GO]

your running swift springs? what happen to the kw springs

The KWs that came with the set were too stiff. I switched to softer swift springs. I have both sets now.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I'm going to pull my hair out... LOL..

So the shock body is so close to the arm that in order to clear I took off the helper spring, threaded the purple perch all the way up. Now I have clearance but no adjustability. If I lower the perch, the spring/perch will not clear arm. If I need to raise the perch, I can't because I'm all the way up on the threads. The spring is still loose BTW under full droop.

Will the suspension geometry change that much that once lowered the spring and perch will clear the arm? I haven't been able to test yet as I'm waiting for open end lug nuts. My stock lugs are too short for the new ARP studs. I'll find out soon I guess but does anyone know if the car being lowered will move the coil far enough away from the suspension arm to allow me to lower the perch and get a bit of adjustability?

Look at the pic. Right now if I lower the perch at all, it will hit the arm. And my spring still has an inch of play. I can raise it up by my hand.

 

[Mac Attack]

Put the helper spring back on and use the perch to compress it while drooped so that your perch is above the arm, but your main spring is not loose.

BTW - Nice setup!

Dave

 

[CL65 Captain]

First off the purple perch HAS TO be above the A-arm like in the last pic.

And having play in the spring under droop is OK, remember - weight on wheels, the strut compresses and all that play is gone and the spring will be tight.

See this pic - when jacked up the helper spring is completely uncompressed and the main spring is actually a little loose. WOW you can see in the pic it is fully compressed so the strut is compressing 3-4" with the car on the ground.

But you are not going to know how much you need to lower/raise it until the wheels go back on and you take the car off the jacks. Then you have to jack it up, take the wheels off, adjust it, put the wheels back on, lower the car, check the ride height and repeat over and over again until you get it right. Or once installed - take it to a shop to corner balance and then align and let them do it.

Here is what I do, because I have the same problem as you with my JRZs. I put a jack under the brake rotor or the wheel hub and just jack it up compressing the strut and then lower my perch down to where I need it. Or sometimes if I am wearing shitty pants, I just use my thighs and push the rotor up to compress the strut and adjust my perch down.

Now when you lower the jack the bottom perch (purple) is going to be resting/hitting against the top of the a-arm and won't let it droop further than that. And like wise, you can't adjust the purple perch down because it's hitting the a-arm. But like I said above, use a jack or your legs and push up on the rotor to compress the strut (all you need is to push it up a little bit) so that you can then lower the purple perch down a little more. That's OK because as we said, with weight on wheels the strut is compressed and it sits 3-4" higher and the only time it would need full droop is if you were pulling a Dukes of Hazard.

 

[KANE]

It appears your VRH is the issue. Without it, the coilover would have been cranked up significantly and cleared the Control Arm. Try jacking up the bottom of the spindle and see what it does. Usually the major clearance issues are when the car is jacked all the way up with the wheels off. When you raise the spindle/rotor clearance should get a little better. Although with your VRH it may never clear it unless you modify the control arm. My guess you are encountering this issue because of the combination of the VRH and a race type coilover setup.

The VRH canister places the spring at the exact same position as the original kw spring perch, This is not the issue, damper body length is the issue. These dampers were utilized on a race car and never verified to fit a street driven nsx, with oem placement of arms at mounts.

Ravi

 

[Mac Attack]

the only time it would need full droop is if you were pulling a Dukes of Hazard.
[/B]

But what if he uses the VRH to bounce at car shows or in the track staging area?

His next question on this setup is where to mount all of his switches :biggrin:

 

[KANE]

Dave,

When there is weight on wheel that helper spring is going to be fully compressed and the bottom of the spring purch (purple) is going to be sitting where the spring divider is (grey). I'm betting that you have the purch seat (purple) way, way too low where it is.

Another problem is that air ride cylinder on top. Normally, your main spring would be up against the top hat. But in this case, the air ride cylinder is against the top hat and then the springs - so that's about 3". I would have assumed that Ravi took this into account when ordering your spring lengths.

But your purple purch is going to have to be ABOVE the top A-arm. It's OK if it's hitting the top of the A-arm as like I said when the car is on the ground the strut is compressed and it sits about 3-4" higher than it does at droop.

Incorrect. the vrh canister is 20 mm total thickness when collapsed, spring fits inside canister.

Also, for KW competition, the spring fits against a separate spring perch below the top hat, not up against the underside of the top hat.

Ravi

 

[CL65 Captain]

Incorrect. the vrh canister is 20 mm total thickness when collapsed, spring fits inside canister.

Also, for KW competition, the spring fits against a separate spring perch below the top mount, not up against the underside of the top mount.

Ravi

Ravi - I said that I assumed you took into account the canister when ordering spring lengths.

 

[TURBO2GO]

It appears your VRH is the issue.

No this has nothing to do with the VRH. Fitment on the VRH has been perfect, and to my surprise it is also extremely light. Ravi has been super helpful so far trying to help me with this issue that has basically nothing to do with him. Frankly I can't believe the amount of time the guy has been putting in to help me with my super exotic non-standard parts.

The real issue is that this suspension came off a race NSX in Germany, and I got very little detail on it from Procar when I bought it. That car may have been using custom control arms for all I know.

So I wanted to document all of this on this thread, and hopefully it will help someone else in the future. Going to try a few different things tomorrow.

 

[KANE]

Ravi - I said that I assumed you took into account the canister when ordering spring lengths.

My statement was to correct your assumption that the vrh canister takes up 3"

It does not, in fact only 20 mm when collapsed.

Ravi