best coil overs??

[Andy F]

Hi folks
Never got into the coilover thing, at the mo i have billys and 30mm lowering springs, which set up is best for your buck??
Don't want them too hard
Cheers
me

[Lauren]

I wouldn't bother for the road its really not worth the expense and complication if they need rebuilding.

Coil overs are for race use really with their key advantage being adjustability which you just aren't going to make worthwhile use of on the road.

Stick with aftermarket springs and dampers using the stock struts.

[jonno]

Andy,

Drive the thing on track at Elvington first - see how you get on. If your going to be doing 1/4m stuff then I would suspect that the stock suspension will be fine. I know there are some gains by running softer rear suspension for better launches and less wheelspin but I think you might need more than some softer rear suspension to stop you car wheelspinning on the line!.

If your going to do more track days its really important to get some suspension that you are happy with, try and blag some passenger rides with other people and see which one you like the feel of best. Coilovers range from out and out race stuff which has a billion different adjusters (most of which nobody knows what to do with!) and needs rebuilding everytime you go to the shops and back, all the way down to show stuff that just lowers the car 2 feet.

Personally If I "upgrade" it will probably be to Ohlins or Cusco, not sure which particular type though As it stands I am really impressed with the Koni/Eibach/Revision 1 strut setup I have got at the minute, so much so that I doubt I will change them unless something breaks.

PS. Called Pete at Thor and left a message about running mine with the new CC core on Saturday after yours. He hasnt replied yet. I think I may have made a mistake with the new CC core, i was testing 1.5 bar against 1.9 bar - when i did 1.2 against 1.5 there was a difference, from 90 to 120 (not on the road, ahem!) in 5th i got 5 seconds at 1.2 bar and 3 seconds at 1.5 bar which is a nice improvement.

[MR2Mania]

Andy, I (like yourself) have only really tried the yellow Bilsteins, and I've still got them with stock springs! However, for the power I'll be running, something needs to be done to tighten up the chassis, so I have been doing a fair bit of research into what is available for the MR2 in terms of coilover setups, and indeed what is needed for the MR2.

I've had my car corner weighed, so I've got a good idea of the weight balance of each corner, and have already started using this info to arrange weight around the car to get a better balance. But the other good thing that has come from these corner weights is that I now have more info in helping me select the right spring rates to use in a coilover setup.

The only struts that I've come across that will fit without need of spacers are the Tein ones, or so they promise, but what concerns me about Teins is that I've never heard of anyone that has such a setup who hasn't had to have them rebuilt within a couple of years. This could well be done to the fact that the strut bodies they use are smaller in diameter than others, hence why they give the better clearance, but since the Macpherson strut is a load bearing component, it's easy to see that a more robust strut case and rod would be desirable.

Another thing I noted about the Tein struts is that the standard spring rates that they come with are 400 front and 800 rear, which I think is too much for the rear. However, you could always buy individual spring sets that will suit your individual needs.

There are a couple of people that are currently waiting for their Jap Spec Ohlins to arrive and then they'll be sent off to be "revalved" by a UK company, and tweaked to suit the owners' needs. I can't wait to see the results, as I personally think this is one of the best options to get a good setup. We'll just have to wait and see...

[MR2Mania]

Incidentally, the main reason that I'm thinking of going to coilovers is for more control over damping and springing. The spring rates available for coilover setups tend me quite a bit stiffer than the standard springs, but then they also have adjustable damping. Therefore, you've actually got more control over the setup rather than just getting x springs with y dampers.

I drove an MR2 a while back which had a new Tein setup on (don't know which model of Tein though) and it quite honestly felt a lot more supple and compliant than my car with the yellow Billies on. These Teins had the dampers turned down quite a bit, apparently, and even though the spring rates were higher than mine, there was much better body control with the Tein setup than mine - AND I'd have the option of having a different setup for track day use.

It's a very interesting topic, though.

[Andy F]

Hi Neil
Defo doing the Elvington day (need new tyres anyway) so will blag some rides, how many are going?

Good news about you CC, will be nice if you can get on after me

[Andy F]

[quote="MR2Mania"]Incidentally, the main reason that I'm thinking of going to coilovers is for more control over damping and springing. The spring rates available for coilover setups tend me quite a bit stiffer than the standard springs, but then they also have adjustable damping. Therefore, you've actually got more control over the setup rather than just getting x springs with y dampers.

I drove an MR2 a while back which had a new Tein setup on (don't know which model of Tein though) and it quite honestly felt a lot more supple and compliant than my car with the yellow Billies on. These Teins had the dampers turned down quite a bit, apparently, and even though the spring rates were higher than mine, there was much better body control with the Tein setup than mine - AND I'd have the option of having a different setup for track day use.


Thats what started me thinking, read somewere that the ride can be "nicer" than billies and as you say you have options for track days ect
BTW
Have you had a play with your LM1 yet??

[Andy F]

I have also been thinking about getting the hub?? (the big cast bit where the bearings are pressed in to and the shocks mount to) cast in alloy, the same as i did with my alternator bracket, i think weight saving here will make the car feel much lighter........any thoughts??

[jonno]

Strength will be an issue, cast aluminium isnt very strong and that part is subject to some serious stress!.

Neil.

[MR2Mania]

Strength will be an issue, cast aluminium isnt very strong and that part is subject to some serious stress!.

Neil.

Ditto what Neil said. That's why some top end manufacturers (eg AMG, M-Power, etc) have cast ally hubs replaced with iron/steel ones for their top end models.

I was thinking along the same lines as you, Andy (although I was thinking of taking something already made from the Kitcar industry and adapting that), but when someone presented me with the facts about how much stress the hubs are subjected to by all forces, and I realised it probably wasn't such a good idea. Having said that, there are several cars out there with big power that run alloy hubs (eg Evos).

[MR2Mania]

BTW
Have you had a play with your LM1 yet??

Yeah, have made a semi-permanent install, and have it hooked it in to the MoTeC so that I can display lambda directly in the ECU software, and can datalog lambda at all times. Did a bit of tuning too, but really need to have someone else drive the car whilst I play with the mapping more. Also, I need to get the new fuel pump and swirl pot fitted, as well as the CC, so that I can start getting the best out of my engine... at last!

[Chris \'aka rustboy\' Amm]

andy i have some TEIN HR's for sale if you do go coil overs

i myself decided for road use it was a bit OTT plus the roads round my way and pretty rough as well so stiffer would be hell for me!

[Andy F]

Out of interest Chris how much ya wanting?

[Andy F]

H i Dino
I have wired it to the Tec3, the monitor screen now has wide band were the ego used to be.
I thought the strength would be the problem, would be nice to loose weight some where on the suspension, im sure i can tell a difference with my discs and callipers, they are so much lighter than the stock items, have you noticed anything Neil?

[Chris \'aka rustboy\' Amm]

Out of interest Chris how much ya wanting?

sent you a pm

[MR2Mania]

H i Dino
I have wired it to the Tec3, the monitor screen now has wide band were the ego used to be.

So you've lost your Ego??? xxxx!! At least you've still got your Mojo though, heh?

Seriously though, how have you found your fueling, now that you can monitor it? Have you done any tweaking now that you've got lambda readings? Have you calibrated the output such that it will produce the same reading in the ECU as it will on the LM1's display?

I thought the strength would be the problem, would be nice to loose weight some where on the suspension, im sure i can tell a difference with my discs and callipers, they are so much lighter than the stock items, have you noticed anything Neil?

You're dead right that the unsprung weight of the MR2 is quite high, and could do with some weight saving, but it's not easy. You've probably done as best as you can for reasonable money, as I think the biggest weight saving is gonna be having discs with ally bell centres, and then the next weight saving is having lighter calipers. The next move is to have lighter wheels, but you're unlikely to save *much* weight here.

[Lauren]

There are a couple of people that are currently waiting for their Jap Spec Ohlins to arrive and then they'll be sent off to be "revalved" by a UK company, and tweaked to suit the owners' needs. I can't wait to see the results, as I personally think this is one of the best options to get a good setup. We'll just have to wait and see...

Jap spec Ohlins are not like the ones you buy in Europe and are not built to the same quality as they are made under licence in Japland. I'd avoid these tbh.

[MR2Mania]

Jap spec Ohlins are not like the ones you buy in Europe and are not built to the same quality as they are made under licence in Japland. I'd avoid these tbh.

I know what you're saying, Lauren, and the Jap Ohlins are more set up for drifting, etc, which is why they need revalving.

But regarding the quality, so are the stock Bilsteins made by Toyota under license, and the quality seems good on those (they last 70k miles or more!). Also, if the quality was THAT bad, the Ohlin agents over here wouldn't be recommending we source the Jap Ohlins for them to revalve and set up as we wish if the quality wasn't sufficient. How many Jap Ohlins have you heard that need rebuilding compared to Tein?

I think I'm inclined to trust the UK company that I've been speaking to about this. The added bonus is that you can hire one of their engineers to come out to a trackday with you and fine tune the setup to suit your requirements!

[MR2Mania]

Incidentally, you can't get European spec Ohlins for the MR2, otherwise the UK agents would be suggesting they supply the whole lot.

I've enquired both to Ohlin HQ AND Ohlin agents, and they've all said the same.

[Lauren]

Incidentally, you can't get European spec Ohlins for the MR2, otherwise the UK agents would be suggesting they supply the whole lot.

I've enquired both to Ohlin HQ AND Ohlin agents, and they've all said the same.

But they are not to the high standard of european spec ones, thats the problem, which is partly why they are so cheap on ebay etc. Why not go for Leda if you want better quality engineering (ie British)? They'll even make them to spec for you.