SHG_Claudio

A few shots from the summer time.

boost ben

liking the photo tag

gramkrackers

Awesome car man! I like what you guys represent at SHG

J_Bones

can't wait to see your car with your ctr bumpers and advan rg's. Are you keeping them gold?

SHG_EasyE

Thanks man!

Me too! Im so happy that the car will be coming together the way it is for this season. I was very lucky to come up on some nice deals that made the impossible, possible! Ill be keeping the RG's gold for sure, at least one will get refinished, its got some pretty bad blemishes in the paint. Two others have some flaws and Im not sure yet whether Ill touch them up or have them redone. It really depends on my finances over the next few months

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Got a pretty badass update for you guys, even though its seemed like nothing has been going on Ive been very busy setting things in motion and finally some parts have been arriving

First up, as I had mentioned before Im making the switch from Buddy Club shocks to Fortune Auto. Although Buddy Club is our racing sponsor, and it sucks to not use their product their shocks were just no longer fitting the bill for what I need. With wider, stickier tires going on the car this year I will be going up in spring rate, and with the Buddy Club EVO's already a bit strung out with stiffer rates than stock they just werent up to the task. Also the lack of rebuild and valving profile changes were a big part of the decision.

Both sets we ordered (one for the Civic and another for the DC5 race car) are Version 5 510's with radial bearing upper perches (which is now standard on 510's) and the set for my Civic was ordered with the adjuster extenders so adjustments can be made without removing interior panels. What was great about the whole deal was that we ordered them through THMotorsports, who was running a deal on the version 4's at the time, since the 5's were just about to be released. Turns out some of the version 4 parts were out of stock when they went to build the shocks so we were upgraded to the new version 5 shim stacks, pistons, and seals for no extra charge

After countless hours of research and learning the nitty gritty on the dynamics of shock absorbers, their characteristics, what to look for and where to start ob valving profiles I decided the FA 510's were an excellent, cost effective choice. On paper, on the dyno, and on the workbench they seem to be pretty high quality, and well thought out. The generic "parts bin" construction common with inexpensive coilovers is not apparent here. Instead, I notice well built, sturdy strut mounts with a powdercoat finish, precisely machined perches, aluminum shock bodies, and top hat mounting assemblies. The top caps of the shocks look to be a sturdy design, again unlike your typical taiwanese shock and more along the lines of a Koni 2182 or JRi shock (both of which I have hands on experience with). Another pretty great feature that I wasnt even aware of until unpacking the shocks was that they include two different size lower mounts for the rear shocks, giving huge flexibility in both ride height range and spring length. Ill be using the short mounts on both cars since with the high spring rates, there is very little droop so the shock needs to be relatively short.

The set for my EP3 was valved for 750lbs front, 1100 lbs rear. Up a bit from last seasons setup to compensate for the stickier tires as well as a desire for a little less roll. Left to right shock performance is spot on, which is another sign of a well built shock. What's also great is that depending how I like the performance of the current profiles, I can request ANY valving setup from force, knee position, to % of critical damping in low and high speed ranges, etc. For now though I just got their standard valving for my specified rates.

The only drawbacks Ive seen so far for my specific application is that the perches and top mounts are all sized for metric springs (60mm) so in order to use my assortment of Eibach 2.5" springs I need to run a adapter to take up the slack and keep the springs centered on the perch. Otherwise, its obviously not a problem as swift and hyperco both offer metric spring sizes. Any other drawbacks will obviously not show themselves until the shocks are installed and put to use, but I have high hopes

Onto the photos....













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Dis assembling the shocks to prepare for new springs, spring adapters, and top hats...



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They come with an excellent top hat setup out back for street cars, including an oem top hat, rubber isolator, and machined aluminum spring seat. This makes for a nice quiet operation out back as opposed to a spherical top hat which will inevitably produce clunks and clicks after some miles.



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And here they are back in their box awaiting new components



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Now onto the other project Ive been working on, the brakes.

I decided that after 3 years of abuse the finish on the Stoptechs was in need of some help. Since I used VHT ceramic paint to save some money the first time around, the high heat and caked brake dust left the calipers a bit stained. To most they still looked great, but Ive got a problem lol so out they came to get a fresh powdercoat. After the first color was a total flop, phil re-did them for me free of charge in a color that was more of what I was shooting for. Hes been really great through everything and cant thank him enough!

After getting them back from powder with the second color done, I was happy with the results so SHG_Mike and I got to creating stencils for new logos. Ive always been in love with the Brembo Pro race calipers so I was looking for something similar to that. We used the brembo font and have the logo a slight radius. Im stoked with the results, and cant wait to see them peeking out from behind the RG's. I also had him do the upper control arm mounts for both the Civic and the DC5 in the same color. The color you see on those parts is what it looks like in flourescent light, and the calipers are shown in natural sunlight...

boost ben

I've been looking long and hard at the 510's for my Civic track car. I'm glad you like the look and quality thus far. What did you think of the stock springs? Taiwan specials or better? I know they have the Swift spring upgrade option but I'd like to add some more rates to the pile I have available.

SHG_EasyE

The springs are indeed Taiwan specials. Although I personally see no problem with them (especially in an amateur track/racing setting) they only offer their FA brand springs up to 16k. The springs I had them shipped with are 12/16, I requested those simply so I could put them on my old Buddy Clubs to sell them. That way I can hang onto my eibach springs.

I run eibach ERS springs simply because of the low cost, consistent performance and quality finish. Hyperco is also a good low-cost option. If you do end up getting FA's I would suggest to have them valved for watever rates you plan to run, and have them shipped with the stockie springs. Then pick up a set of new or used Hyperco's in 60mm for a fraction of the cost of the swift upgrade if you want to run stiffer than 16k.

Ive heard things like the swifts ride better on the street, but never from a reliable source. Its all hear-say, and the fact that theyre nearly twice as much is a significant difference especially when youre planning on having an assortment of springs on the shelf for tuning.

SHG_James

I'm using Swift's, so once I get my *** up there, we can do some testing!

Hasbro

Pleased to hear about your foray with Fortune Auto. I have spoken to them and it sounded like a good way to go but there wasn't much history. Hope they work out.

Edit; back again, lol. I'm so psyched you're playing with the Fortune Autos!

Feeder question; I see you're going with even springs front and rear, taking the motion ratios into account. Why these rates as compared to the traditional "twice, or more, the lbs. in the rear as the front".

SHG_EasyE

Me too! Only time will tell but if they do perform well and hold up man will this be a game changer...

From my experience ( mind you I've never run with a square tire setup) I've never ran an even let alone rear biased spring on this car. My ratio is -.38 rear bias, so I'm still front biased in spring rate. The car handles beautifully and is actually still on the loose side with 0 rear toe. Have you seen my in car vid from NJMP? That was with the -.38 rear bias, rear bar on mid, 0 toe rear and 1/32 out each wheel up front. I think you'll agree nothing crazy. I don't understand why people have to use such a huge spring out back to get them to handle. Maybe the staggered tires really make THAT big of a difference? Or maybe they're caster/kpi/ steering angle is so F'd up in the front that they just have a lack of front grip? I just don't know

boost ben

Great info.

The coilovers we run on our GT touring FD RX-7 have the same (roughly) sized springs I run on my civic. We mainly use the Eibach ERS as well due to the cost. We have been getting more Hyperco springs lately and they seem to be great.

I have to re corner balance my car this year and also recheck my un-sprung weight. I'm going to be going one step further and checking the true motion ratios and hopefully get them valved accordingly. Something we've been playing with on our touring car is softer springs. We found going off pure driver input the car ends up being far to stiff and the suspension isn't 'working' properly.

The never ending quest continues......

SHG_EasyE

Yeah man, far too many cars suffer from being over spring and or over damped. My mindset is start of soft and work your way up. As long as you're not losing too much camber due to roll on a strut car, or bottoming your shocks or wheels in the wheel wells soften it up until you start getting slower. A stiff nervous car may feel fast but a smooth relaxed car is fast.

egvera89

what would you consider a good spring rate for a FF for road racing? And any sites you recommend to learn a few things about spring rates, dampening, etc.

Hasbro

Agreed on the softer spring approach. I'm moving from 336/515 to 400/600 (max for stock Konis), then on to a different coilover. EP weighs 2,3xx lbs.

tallblondkid

amazing build... in to watch the continuation.

Hasbro

Question about the springs. At 750f/1100r will the 510s be able to be made fairly streetable for those times when a street ride is needed, such as a date or driving my brother to the doctor? The Koni Yellows, although more lightly sprung, aren't so great on the street with the single adjust.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Eh? My Koni Sport yellow shocks are 12 years old with 225,000 miles on them. Perfectly streetable. Or are you referring to when you have quite stiff springs on them?

SHG_EasyE

I can't say for sure but the dynos show the shocks have very forgiving valving in soft settings. You see the rebound curve has an "S" shape which makes for a more compliant ride, and develops a more aggressive knee as you raise the rebound damping. These are very similar characteristics to Ohlins DFV which is a notoriously fabulous dual purpose damper. Granted a stiffer spring requires a stiffer shock, so regardless of valving profiles stiff springs and dampers will ride stiffer than a softer counterpart.

510




DFV




The OTS koni yellows are known for being very softly valved, and are much more a street shock than a high performance racing shock. More times than not they are under damped and in turn are very comfortable on the street. With over 200k on yours (without service?) I would suggest a rebuild lol.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Why? They still seem to be controlling my OEM ITR springs just fine.

J_Bones

glad you're keeping them gold. I had gold gram lights on satin silver with ctr bumeprs and looked great, but after a while I didn't like all the attention and opted for silver wheels. Good luck with the build and looking forward to the end product, if there's even an end product. Quality parts, quality engineering, and great taste!

pstoner

good lord you're attention to detail is mind blowing! you guys know what's up!

dirtymethod

Those FA. 510s look awesome. Can't wait to see the new set up soon!

SHG_EasyE

Yeah, Im really stoked about it... Ive also always been a huge fan of gold on silver I doubt there will ever be a true end result. Id like to think Ill always be tinkering with the car for a long long time


Thanks guys!


Heres an update for you guys...

So a little venture I went on recently was to get my rotor hats anodized since Ive always wanted a brighter color for them instead of the black that stoptech uses... When I found a company they were able to include all 8 lower mounts for the 510's in the same batch cost that I would have paid for just the hats themselves.

Im so happy with the results and Is another one of those little touches on the car that im super proud of





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I also got the spring seat adapters made for the front struts (60mm to 2.5" spring diameter) to use the 750lb springs I have, as well as the stainless shoulder bushings for the top hat bearing.



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Installed on the upper bearing perch



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Now all I need is some components for the top hats to be plated and the struts will be complete





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I figured out a good upper mounting orientation for the rear shocks after a bit of fiddling as well. Since the upper aluminum spring seat is a 60mm diameter, and Im running 2.25" springs, I couldnt use the original seat. I ended up flipping it upside down, so the lip would center in the rubber ring, then picked up some machined 2.25" seat adapters (lip on top and bottom) which centered nicely in the original seats and also center the spring itself. This way the top of the spring is still captured.

Hasbro

Woo hoo!

SHG_James

Do I spy my shoulder nuts pictured there aswell? Looking good man, can't wait for my 510's to come in!