403 LS2 FD - LS7 Build for 2020!

[scuter83]

I had surging on throttle lift when coming to a stop where the enging would die with my cam.  I run an E40 on MAF only and it was fixed with an airflow table per gear that I would have to look up.  I basically set the value low I think, idled the car from cold to warm and put those actual airflow values in and it has been fine ever since.

[MPbdy]

Nice. Yeah I have a maf cal that's pretty ok. Runs and drives fine. I'm working on a speed density cal for it. It idles nice, but it's not catching the rpm as the engine comes down right now. I'm not surprised though I've barely worked on the cal.

[largeorangefont]

I have some scales if you wanna corner balance it yourself...

Congrats on getting it running again!

[MPbdy]

Thanks for the offer. I've got a racing buddy down in Gardena with a set too. How much does alignment move with ride height changes?

[largeorangefont]

You will want to set your ride height at a minimum, before alignment. The alignment settings will not change a ton (assuming no bump steer) but they will not be the same if you adjust the ride height after.

If you have put sway bars back on, do not bother corner balancing unless you have adjustable endlinks or can confirm that the bars are not preloaded with the endlinks you have.

Also did you check preload and overall shock lengths when you installed your new suspension?

[MPbdy]

I just tossed them on the car. The ohlins I have use helper springs for preload instead of preloading the spring that hold the car up.

Was there something I should have looked at before I installed them? 

The sway bars seem to be pretty free with the oem endlinks. Front and rear use rod end style end links. I can unhook them on one  side before I scale it.

[largeorangefont]

Well unhooking the endlinks befor you scale is critical. You need to make sure the endlink bolt goes back in with no resistance with the car sitting on the ground or alignment rack. If there is resistance, you need to adjust the endlinks until there is no resistance.

Those helper springs are just there so you can run shorter springs and they don't fall loose under droop. But use those Ohlins look like you set preload and height with the same perch adjustment.

[MPbdy]

I agree with you on the adjustment, and that makes sense about the endlinks. With the helper spring, so long as there is always contact even in full droop, doesn't that make preload inconsequential no matter the perch height? I am scratching my head a little bit on how the ride height adjustment works with the helper spring, but I'm sure it'll make sense when I start wrenching on it.

I'm going to start by just leveling out the ride height and seeing how the car drives. The front ride height seems to be similar to what it used to be. The rear will drop some which will gain some camber, but toe should stay where it was at.

I don't want to try and move heaven and earth by the weekend lol. It's going to be enough work just to tune the thing.

[largeorangefont]

The helper spring is just a spacer, that is it, it does nothing to change preload. Its only purpose in life is to keep the spring from falling off the spring perch when the car is in droop. It is in coil bind as soon as there is 100 lbs or so on the tire. You could easily remove the helper spring, but by the look of your picture a couple pages back, you would need to run longer springs to do so.

When you scale the car you will still adjust the preloads to even the cross weights.

The helper spring allows you to run some standard size spring front and back. This makes tuning the suspension a bit less costly because you only need springs in one free length. Loosen the jam nuts on the lower perch and give the lower perches a couple turns and see where you are at.

[Exidous]

Exidous did you break the stock diff? I rebuilt mine with a turbo 2 diff.

And yea backfires are super fun lol. These have some authority now with no cats in the way.

My FD stock diff grenaded. Was pretty spectacular. No damage to the car aside from the diff. Lot's of oil on the ground. I'm sure the T2 diff will hold much better.

[MPbdy]

MMmmmm yes.  This was incredibly simple.

[largeorangefont]

Eggcellent.

I am jealous of the Fontana/Eastvale garages.

[paul_3rdgen]

Much better! 

[MPbdy]

So the Ohlins are pretty nice so far.  I have them adjusted nicely for about 90% of the bumps I've hit.  The other 10% launch the car off the ground and break your back.  I guess I need to soften it a bit more?  I drove the car about 100 miles tonight.  Took it down to Brea and had some fun at sea level...2nd gear at 4000 gets your attention.  The car sounds so nasty with the cats gutted too. It's a blast.  So so happy to have the car back.  It just makes life better.

The car feels a lot more stable than with the Tokicos.  Skittish was an understatement.  I felt uncomfortable at times trying to drive hard through some corners with bumps that I think a civic would have handled fine at the same speeds.  I think swapping the sway bars back to stock is a huge contributor there. 

I started midrange out of 32 clicks on the dampers.  Softened it 6 more clicks.  Then gave it 2 back in the front to stop it from porpoising.  I don't mind it being stiff, but the car can't come off the ground over the bigger bumps.  It's just not going to work.  Foot slams on and off the gas...it's just out of control.

Overall moving in the right direction though.

[MPbdy]

I can make fireballs too   I need to go out at night.