MX-5 Project log thread
- Thread starter Howard
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Caporegime
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- 11 Mar 2005
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I had a receipt which listed shock replacement when the car was 3 years old, 4 listed against the number and Bisteins listed as the make, never checked to confirm if this is true but i have no reason to doubt, was fitted by Jct 600 which was the dealer network the car was sold by.
Make sure you put a condom/balloon over the adjuster to stop it seizing.
Water balloons work well as they are tiny.
It will stop all the muck getting in it and you can still adjust it with it on.
Or you could find an o ring small enough to put between the adjuster and the damper body.
Water balloons work well as they are tiny.
It will stop all the muck getting in it and you can still adjust it with it on.
Or you could find an o ring small enough to put between the adjuster and the damper body.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
£629 is the usual price for it, then £99 for the mk2 top mounts.
atm you can get the sportdrives, bump stops and M2 mounts fitted for £820.
Then a trip to WIM will cost another £100.
I cant make that unfortunatelyall the meets recently have clashed with holidays etc!
You'll have to organise a meet at a time that suits you then
good job but why didn't you strip brakes while you were at it... and clean them up abit, would prolly improve braking no end. i bet the pistons are pretty 'lazy' / 'seized'
are those 2 pot calipers enough ?, seems abit under braked
are those 2 pot calipers enough ?, seems abit under braked
It's a light car with ~115bhp, not very demanding on brakes. Driving these is more about carrying speed, rather than scrubbing it off.
However upgrading to the 1.8 brakes is often a popular mod when increasing power.
So what setting you got it on for stiffness? You say it feels a little bouncy so it seems you may have the shocks a little too soft, probably on setting 2-3 area? If so get that up to 7-8 area, that seems to be the favourite sort of settings.
Flukester,
They are fine for the road, though a popular, and fairly cheap, upgrade is going to 1.8 brakes which use the same calipers but larger discs. A 1.8 setup with plain discs and good quality pads (M1144, Yellowstuffs etc) is plenty good enough, even for trackdays.
Flukester,
They are fine for the road, though a popular, and fairly cheap, upgrade is going to 1.8 brakes which use the same calipers but larger discs. A 1.8 setup with plain discs and good quality pads (M1144, Yellowstuffs etc) is plenty good enough, even for trackdays.
Are the shocks yellow? If not then you have normal OE spec shocks, just made by Bilstein. Also yes you would notice the difference between different shocks, they really can alter how the car feels a great deal. Also with the shocks having to be replaced that doesn't sound like you have yellow Bilsteins as those last for ages (70k miles if not more).
Phil said - 6 to 8 clicks from the hardest setting for road use, I had it set to -7 clicks, I yesterday adjusted it to -6, which has improved it. It wasn't *that* bouncy, just slightly more so, it's better now!
Right, yesterday I went to Performance5 and Phil (great bloke!) had a look at the suspension and did some tweaks for me, before I set off to Wheels In Motion in the afternoon for the full geometry calibration. The suspension isn't quite sorted yet, but the driveability of the car isn't affected so I'm willing to wait for a solution to be crafted, for perfection's sake.
I then took it for a nice long drive today and, well, what can I say. The combination of new suspension and having the geo done has totally, utterly transformed the car. It's so much sharper, more direct, each tiny bit of steering input is dealt with in such a crisp fashion, it changes direction beautifully. Body roll is hugely reduced, grip is hugely increased, feedback is increased, the car feels a lot more planted. I think this is a combination of the more aggressive geo settings whereby the extra camber and toe help the stability both in a straight line and... not
Taking a corner at a certain speed before would have resulted in the car feeling as if it's on the limits of adhesion, whereas now I can attack the same corner at the same if not higher speeds and it feels a great deal more stable. Understeer seems to be all but eliminated which goes a long way towards this. Roundabouts work in much the same way. The more 'balanced' geo settings are a world ahead of the "safe" understeery factory defaults. The icing on the cake also seems that even though I was caught in the ****ing rain on the way home, I felt no less confident, although obviously I wasn't throwing it around with quite the same vigour Obviously the decent tyres go a long way towards this.
So that's my verdict. Worth the wait? Yes! Am I happy? Absolutely
Edit: Before and after WIM alignment sheet if anyone's interested: HERE
Took the opportunity to take some decent photos too, I think it looks 10x better now it's lowered (rideheight is 330mm rear 320mm front) :
I then took it for a nice long drive today and, well, what can I say. The combination of new suspension and having the geo done has totally, utterly transformed the car. It's so much sharper, more direct, each tiny bit of steering input is dealt with in such a crisp fashion, it changes direction beautifully. Body roll is hugely reduced, grip is hugely increased, feedback is increased, the car feels a lot more planted. I think this is a combination of the more aggressive geo settings whereby the extra camber and toe help the stability both in a straight line and... not
Taking a corner at a certain speed before would have resulted in the car feeling as if it's on the limits of adhesion, whereas now I can attack the same corner at the same if not higher speeds and it feels a great deal more stable. Understeer seems to be all but eliminated which goes a long way towards this. Roundabouts work in much the same way. The more 'balanced' geo settings are a world ahead of the "safe" understeery factory defaults. The icing on the cake also seems that even though I was caught in the ****ing rain on the way home, I felt no less confident, although obviously I wasn't throwing it around with quite the same vigour
Obviously the decent tyres go a long way towards this. So that's my verdict. Worth the wait? Yes! Am I happy? Absolutely
Edit: Before and after WIM alignment sheet if anyone's interested: HERE
Took the opportunity to take some decent photos too, I think it looks 10x better now it's lowered (rideheight is 330mm rear 320mm front) :
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