Short Stroke Struts?! Im beached As?!

[Smokey228]

Quick question about short stroke struts...

I got some sw20 rear inserts for my ra23 and am putting them in now...

I gotta space them by 40mm or so, and i knew that, but should i space it from the top or should i space it from the bottom??

If i space it from the top, and force the strut to sit towards the bottom of the tube, then the springs are more likely to sit captive, and the shock is alot less likely to bottom out. I see no downside to this as the weight is on the base of the tube, and the spacer only takes minor weight when expanding after being compacted...

I also assumed i could cut up a nylon chopping board and use that as a spacer...

If i space it from the bottom, i assume i'd have to space it with a steel place? I.e. 10 4mm washers stacked ontop of each other?

Cheers,
Jase

[oldcorollas]

from your ride height, you want maybe 60% bump and 40% rebound.

so.. work out how long shocks travel is, work out 60% of that, and then at ride height, that much should be sticking out...
use steel tube? for top or bottom... chopping board could easily squish

[twentyEight]

from your ride height, you want maybe 60% bump and 40% rebound.

so.. work out how long shocks travel is, work out 60% of that, and then at ride height, that much should be sticking out...
use steel tube? for top or bottom... chopping board could easily squish

Completely agreed, but go with an alloy spacer if you can...

[oldcorollas]

why alloy?

[brett_celicacoupe]

i put tokico 5ways in the ra60 struts.

i cut the tube accordingly with plumber's pipecutters to remove the difference in length.

by spacing in the bottom you are essentially removing potential travel of the shock

i used a decent sized pipe cutter. works well as it cuts it perfectly square and leaves a slight bevel on the end for welding



rewelded with my trusty stick

want a chip bro?

[twentyEight]

why alloy?

Because an alloy spacer (ie. solid spacer) would be as light as hollow steel tube, but would support higher loads in my opinion...

[brett_celicacoupe]

washers will be just as good and you can keep adding them until you get the right height.


your worried about weight for a 100gram part? haha

[TurboRA28]

I put 20mm spacers in the bottom of mine and cut the rest of the tube down and welded back together. I think thats my picture the last one there?

[brett_celicacoupe]

you wish you could weld pipe that well with a stick welder

its mine buddy

i removed the entire amount - no spacers at all

[twentyEight]

washers will be just as good and you can keep adding them until you get the right height.


your worried about weight for a 100gram part? haha

The last time I saw SW20 shocks put in RT132 struts, it took a 55mm spacer on the bottom to bring it into the 60% bump - 40% rebound range...

Take into account that a 2 1/4" OD (15/16" ID) mild steel 5mm washer weighs ~60gms, that's 660gm per strut just for the bottom spacer...

Or, the volume of 55mm x 35mm cylinder is 211750 cubic mm which is ~920gms (even after the removal of a ~30% centre piece of a washer leaves ~644gms) of steel vs ~330gms alloy...

Fuck using that many steel washers at the cost of over half a kg per strut!

Edit: Of course, these is just my line of thinking, which is not everyone's...

i removed the entire amount - no spacers at all

This is definitely the best approach IMO...

[TurboRA28]

Sorry my mistake.. This was mine..

[TurboRA28]

I've been using nylon spacers lately in friends struts. so far working well. cheap, easy to shape and if its the stronger nylon been no distortion of shrinkage yet. plus very light.

[oldcorollas]

or you could just use 4mm thick steel tube...


55mm height, 35mm diameter

5.5*Pi*(3.5/2)^2 = 52.9cm^3 (i think ya forgot to use radius )
for steel = 423 grams
for alloy = 142grams for alloy

using a 4mm wall thickness steel tube
5.5*Pi*[(3.5/2)^2-(2.7/2)^2]= 21.4cm^3
weight = 171 grams

not much diffrence between (mayeb not cheap) 35mm alloy bar and cheap 4mm wall thickness steel tubing.....

[brett_celicacoupe]

[oldcorollas]

umm, ok.. there is a big difference between saying 0.66kg and 0.92kg per strut...

when the reality is more like 140-170grams....

but if you don't mind people making claims with silly numbers... fine

ps, i thought part of the whole point of toymods was to be accurate, and put a stop to intahnet myths and half truths???

[Smokey228]

I figured that there wouldnt be much distortion using a spacer above the insert as the base would be taking constant weight, and above that would just be taking the rebound..?

Regardless of how i space the tube, the springs will not be captive. So with the insert at its lowest reach, the spring is still going to be free. I wonder if its cause i have lowered the car too much, or if i have the wrong inserts?

I cant shorten the tube, as i cant cut or weld... Plus i dont want to spend to long without a car

And i will probably use washers at the base now, as i got the shits trying several other approaches last night... But to ensure things dont go smoothly and i get away with an easy task, the locking bolt thingy, well either the one they sent me, which fits the strut perfect has the wrong thread, or the one i have wth the correct thread, doesnt fit the top of the insert properly... So i can either have a well secured insert that will rattle like a mofo... Or i can have a cross threaded tube...? Will probably be in the WPMO thread soon

I need to get wet asap!

Cheers,
Jase

[sillycar chick]

Jase dunno how helpful these would be for you:

http://www.technotoytuning.com/productdetail.php?p=110

I was going to look into these for when I build the coilovers for the 28 (future) track car. It doesnt specify what length they are though and I dont know what gland nut thread the AE86 has compared to the strut tubes you're using, but they machine them up themselves so maybe you could even get a thread to suit your tube?

[twentyEight]

Regardless of how i space the tube, the springs will not be captive. So with the insert at its lowest reach, the spring is still going to be free. I wonder if its cause i have lowered the car too much, or if i have the wrong inserts?

Why not run Tender Springs? (ie. The second light spring used to keep the main spring captive)

[Smokey228]

Yeh, i was thinking about running something like that, but dont know where one could get something like that..?

Cheers,
Jase

Silly, that'd be pretty much perfect, but wont get here in time

Cheers,
Jase

[TurboRA28]

I got tender springs from Noltec. Cost a fortune.
King springs do them for cheaper I believe.

In the ae86 I just ran spacers under the shocks with nothing cut out. Limited suspension travel a lot.

In a mates T18 we welded the original spring purch back on so didn't have to pay for coilover hardware. That worked well too.