theedge

Ive been surfing for suspension upgrade info for a week now (very slow at work, lots of chairwarming ). Im still undecided, which is fine since I cant afford to buy right now. So far im torn between Ledas, Escort Cups, and maybe Konis. Im thinking of going with coilovers all around right off the bat. Ive been planning on replacing all the bushings and such in the rear, including going with Elephant Racing's polybronze ones.

This wont be primarily a track car, more of an everything car. I dont mind a stiff ride, it wont be daily driven much except for maybe in the summers. For my uses, im not sure if the 24 way adj Ledas will be a huge asset which is why the Escort Cups are pretty much #1 on my list.

Does anyone here have Kit #1 of the Escort Cups from Lindsey Racing? The street/track ones? My MAIN question is, how have you found the softer valved fronts on roughish roads? Im thinking of spring rates of say 300/500 or 350/550ish. Will those spring rates on the softer valved Escorts give me trouble with the car getting unsettled on rougher roads? This is what I havent really found out in my searches, and its my #1 concern and why I dont want to go with the stiffer valving. Im hoping that the softer ones wont be a problem. I dont want to miss out on things like fast paces drives up mountain roads because the suspension is too stiff

autox951

I have the escort kit from lindsey racing, with the softer valveing. The only thing I would change is I went with 400lbs springs up front and 300 in the rear. Too hard, even for autocrossing. I would recomend 300 up front 200 rear. Also you'll have to have the rear torsion bars backed off one tooth.

theedge

Hows your car on roughish roads? Is it too skittish to drive fast, or no problems?

Id probably get rid of the TBars for my car

autox951

It goes where ever you point it, just jams your kidneys on less than good roads. Freeway is smooth, but you know every time you touch a seam or crack in the road. Wife won't ride with me in the 951 anymore since her starbucks jumpped out on her lap after running over a mild bump in road. But I fully blame this on the spring rate not the shocks.

Porschefile

If you're not going to use it much on the street, I'd suggest ~400# or higher front springs and either 30mm T-bars in the rear or 375# rear springs with the stock t-bars (126#). This equates to ~360# front wheel rate and ~335# rear wheel rate, which is basically what the turbo cup cars ran, I believe. Rates are really going to depend on how you want to track the car. I just installed 400# springs on my Konis. It's sooooo much more stable now. Though for heavy street use, a 300-350# front setup might be a little better, as my car seems a little too bouncy sometimes.

hammerwerfer

I'd blame it on the wife.

MPD47

I cannot see justifying the cost of set of coil-overs for such a small change.

Jon Schepps

The softer valved version are designed for springs in the 300-400# range, the higher valved units are designed for around 600# springs. These Bilstein "Cup" packages go under the names Escort Series and Firehawk Series, but I can never remember which is which.
I'm using the higher-valved versions with 600# springs. I would not recommend this for a street car. If you drive it on the street anything more than to and from the track, I'd suggest the softer versions with 350# spring rates max.

ehall

the lower valved versions are the firhawks. BTW e-dhox has the best prices on Bilsteins, by far, but you need to know exactly what you want before you order. I'm running 350# fr and 55 rear w/o t-bars. Mine are valved as the Escort Cup version.
BTW the Firehawk version comes with a bilstein rear shock rather than a rear coil over.

lart951

This is what I have in my car, I bough them off ebay but I don't know if they are escort series.

ehall

Those appear to be Cups, but it depends on the valving.

lart951

Ehall, they came with hypercoil springs 550 front 450 rear they are very hard.

ehall

That doesn't tell anything about valving, BUT, you would think they are valved as Cups.

For the record Bilstein Escort Cup struts and rear shocks (coils overs) were valved: 600/190, and 565/218.

The Firehawks were valved: 380/150 front struts, and 400/200 rear shocks (NOT coil overs)

Bilstein will custom valve ANY of their coil overs for a reasonable fee ( about 125.00) so it's impossible to know unless you order them new.

For example special tool runs cups with custom valve settings, and has his set for some intentional understeer. That's why it's SUPER important to decide, before ordering, what you want your car to do, before paying your money.
lart, yours could be a good pick up for someone like Juan, who is lost in sp[ace about his actual settings.

lart951

I am thinking about selling the bilsteins and keeping the ledas for my car. What do you think?

special tool

Yup - I would strongly suggest that anyone using Vitesse turbo/management set their car up with some understeer. Let the car keep an eye on you if you use street tires - you're going into the guardrail if you don't.....someday.