I have a pipe cutter I use for the housing. and I drill the bottom out. For a hole that big I will be buying a 1/2" drill. All I have are 3/8" drills. I need to have one around anyways.

I've also wanted to drop my inserts down lower, so it's something I will be doing as well in the coming months. I have really really old konis, and they are the older style. I know that for my car they redesigned them slightly.

 

Concillian

this set up is nothing like a stock strut set up. the koni's are nuts. it is everything you have ever wanted in a strut. esp. for the roads we have in california (bay to tahoe). i never thought a subaru could feel so good on the road wih such high spring rates. i am now pushing my winter tires to the brink, and i cant wait to get some 18's again and solo this thing.....

josh

ps and now i need to swap springs front to rear? ugggggg.

 

No, there no need to swap them. I'm just letting you know why I did it this way. Traditionally people run them how you have, which is fine. It will keep the steering response a little tighter, but if you hate understeer, I'd swap them. Having them higher in the rear helps the car have a rotation friendly attitude.

 

You don't have to swap just yet. I could think of a few things that you can do to help get the rotation you want. More air in the rear. Bigger sway bar. Heavy duty mounts. Rear strut tower brace (dunno if this really works, but I think it works for me).

I run my L on Stance GR+ coilovers, 8k front, 6k rear, with a bunch of other suspension tidbits, and though it daily drives a little rough, it handles pretty well during auto-x. At least that is what other people tell me.

 

i am not going to swap at this point. although i have to take the front rt one off to find out what is loose onm the strut. i think the threaded collar is loose on the strit housing up front. it only makes noise on sharp edged lines in the road. i noticed it spun freely when adjusting the height, so i am going to pad it or stick some deadening foam in-between.

as i said yesterady, my poor winter tires sidewalls are just getting trashed....

josh

 

Personally, I like running just a little less camber than max grip in the rear. You don't stiffen the suspension so much it starts losing contact with a little rough spot and it's cheap and easy relative to buying parts and switching them out.

I run about 0.5 degrees more positive in the rear than in the front to adjust bias. There is a pretty large difference between -1.2 front / -1.0 rear and -1.2 front / -0.7 rear. Those are basically the street alignments I've used. Obviously an autox alignment would be significantly more aggressive.

Without ability to adjust rear camber, you'll typically gain negative camber as you lower, even a moderate lowering will give you significant camber. Typical street alignment will remove some of what is added in front, but rear is not adjustable with stock pieces and creates larger problems for getting the rear to move.

What is your current alignment F/R?

There is a LOT of handling adjustment to be had without swapping parts around just in alignment adjustments. I think it's always the first place to start, because it's completely transferrable. If you understand how changes in alignment adjust how the car feels, you can carry that knowledge forward and apply it to any other car, regardless of suspension setup.

 

My Alignment:

Front:
Camber -3
Toe: 0
Castor +4.25 (for now)

Rear: -1.5
Toe: 1/4 Total Toe Out

 

my alignment is TBD. i have not had an align yet. i wanted to get everything *tight* so to speak before i commit to any settings.

for winter i typically run

0 toe
-1.8 f
-1.2-5r

summer

0 toe
-2.0 f
-2.0 r

we'll see what i get when i finally adjust out the rear. i am thinking camber bolts top AND bottom to achieve what i want....

josh

ps fwiw, the car rotates now like no ones business. a larger rear bar in the next month, and i think i am done for a while.

 

Me:

Camber, -3 front, -1 rear, 0 toe, and caster... whatever it is stock.

 

So forgive me for being a total suspension noob, but the GC setup and koni inserts are all placed into the stock struts with some modification of the old stuff, and basically becomes a set of coilovers right?

If I can get a good set of coilovers for $900, this will definitely be my next mod as my suspension blows right now. I was under the impression that a decent set of coilovers couldn't be had for under $1500

 

Yep. These are cheap, work wonders and easily are better than most $2000 coilovers.

You only get rebound adjustment from the 8610s, but that's not a big deal really, there is plenty of compression for street driving, and with linear springs over 250lbs the springs are doing most of the compression resistance.

 

Off the shelf coilovers.

With the Ground Control set-up, you are essentially piecing it all together yourself. You take a bunch of parts and build it into a "coilover" set-up.

 

Yeah that's what I figured, now maybe I"ll finally put in my group Ns

 

Gagan,
I'm assuming camber plates will be extra $$$, so I'm planning on sticking with the Noltec's to save money. Is that cool?