Just installed my buddy club n+ dampners and now all the things i didnt think of before the install to ask come rolling out so heres the list....
#1 Ideas on how/where to mount the brake line
#2 Interested to know if the strut height adjustment should be used more exclusively than the spring height adjustment to get the ride height just right ie making the strut as long as possible while adjusting mostly from the lower fork
#3 Im curous to see what adjustment on the strut (clicks) you guys run street/strip front and rear?

 

1:the brake line can be zip tied up close to the housing but leave slack for movment and ensure it is clear of anything.
2:pre-load the spring and adjust from the lower collar to desired height.
3:start soft and work your way up, i personally run a few clicks softer up front

 

^^ what he said.

when i adjusted mine... i took all of my stock suspension off, measured it, then worked backwards with how low i wanted to go

 

1)i am surprise they don't have a bracket included for you. rubber hose and zip tie works otherwise

2)depends on sh0tload of stuff, if you have to ask: go get it set up professionally. you might as well get it set up at race shop while you wait for corner balance and alignment.

there's no universal answer to it, anything giving you info without knowing the spring rate, car weight and your driving style is not really offering anything.

use your car weight to calculate how much travel you have left after the car is on the ground(static), since your car is very close to fifthy fifthy, just divided the total weight by four(each corner). how much to preload will have to depends on the drop, the amount of stroke you have left and obiviously you don't want to ride bumpstop AT all at all cost.(again, depends on the length of damper, the top hat design and how long is the bumpstop)

sounds too much to handle? get it done professionally. there's tons of people out there throwing money at expensive coilover and have NO clue how to set it up half decent.

just to confuse you more, for my coilover i have to preload it around 1.25 inch around
street(one inch drop, about 12kg/mm) but again i am old school and hated to drive a slammed car(often paired with non functional suspension)

3)it really depends on the spring rate on the damper(front vs neutral vs rear biased) and how aggreesive the adjustment is. there's adjustable damper that does little to top end damper curve, there's damper that have a progressive curve, etc.

do take notice that AP1 has a rear biased suspension Vs the ap2 and CR, most aftermarket C/O are neutral or front biased as far as i know.(sorry, i dont have BC)
also check the sway bar size and have the roll stiffiness adjusted accordingly.

on my neutral biase C/O i run a tad softer in the back on the street, little less tail happy and less pogo stick effect over freeway bumps.

 

little more about preload: people thinks preloading the spring will make the ride harse and unbearable on the street, the answer is yes and no. if you over do it, the ride will be very very stiff, your suspension actually get less contact/traction.

if you have no/too little(depend on CO and drop and all the boring sh9t i mentioned before) you'll hit bumpstop and the spring rate will go to infinite stiff, and it tense to happen in the middle of the corner during track day and you'll probably crash into something.(well you get the idea)

seriously spent a little time researching it, it's okay to have it dial in by a pro, just because you can turn a wrench doesn't mean you have the knowledge to do it properly(not "diss" anyone of course)

edit: throw in a scenario for you

let's say you are putting two set of coilover on the same car(2800lb S2k)

assuming the "S2k" is 50 50 weight Dis, that's sums up to 700 lb per corner.

a) installation A: street coilover

this is a typical "street" coilover: softer spring, lets just say it's 400 lb per inch

on the jack stand without preload the suspenion have 4 inch of strok between bumpstop and tophat,
once you lower the car on the ground you lose almost 2inch of stroke already, you only have 2 inch
left of whatever craps you try to drive thru.

Results: riding bumpstop on hardcorner, or hitting bumps.

b)installation B: Track coilover

this track version of the coilover has teh same external dimension as the previous C/O you installed
but the damper is valved to match the spring, which is pretty stiff at 1000lb/in

you do the samething on the install job: without preload and somehow it never ride on bumpstop and actually works

surprise? hardly, the 1000lb/inch spring doesn't move as much as the 400lb spring given the same load and to answer your
question, the amount will depends on the 1)spring rate, 2)the driving style, 3)the external dimension(think: stroke)

it varies from one to another, for example racing C/O often has a shorten body and extended tophat(FCM miata), which allows the
user to set the car really low and actually have more than enough suspension travel. there's even multiple compound of bumpstop,
think of it as a progression spring if you will.

 

do not just ziptie the line to the metal body with a nylon strap, go get a new piece of fuel hose off autozone(five buck) cut off an inch or two, wrap it around the brake line and zip tie instead. Dot fuel line are reinforced and last much longer than regular grade vaccum single "ply" hose

friction overtime will wear out the brake line material, esp when you have a rubber vs metal surface. They also sell something similar at race shop if you perfer something "nicer"

 

Hahahahahha didn't wanna get into all that with the OP but good points for others reading!!

 

good info thanx ima7head

 

i know what you saying, it's one of those thing: if you have to ask, might as well get it done by someone else

 

I agree. Very good info.

 

did the same w/ my n+....no issues at all after 2000 miles

 

Thanks for explaining all that its not too hard to understand at all. my question was aimed towards the strut length will the strut perform better at a longer length (including enough room for sag) or will it perform better at a mid height or does it not matter at all i want to make sure i am adjusting the full assembly from the right end to ensure the best performance on the dampening side. the spring side i understand well thanks again for the input

 

with the softtop in vs. hard top to get to the upper adjustment on the dampner on the drivers side rear (usdm) the trunk interior must be removed and im wondering if anyone has pics of the trunk interior trimmed to accomodate quick adjustment or is it a "set and forget it" kind of deal

 

i hate to answer your question with another question but that will too, depends on how much preload you have. at full droop if you have right amount of preload you can get away with less damper travel in theory, how much and what's the sweet spot of the damper will varies. Most aftermarket damper/ CO has shorten damper strut already(knowing most of the tuner will drop the car some what)

 

hardtop, softtop doesn't make a difference unless you took out the softtop tray.

you can pull the spare well cover and the left piece you swing around. My C/O has a good size **** with clicking turns but it could get pain in the butt if you need to stick in a needle to turn number of degree(aka koni stlyle)