slevy951

Ok, they're ready. For all that have been waiting, here's the story.......

Web page..... <a href="http://www.klaindustries.net/rearcoil/rearcoil.htm" target="_blank">Rear Coil-overs</a>

I'm going to take pre-orders for this one. I want to be sure there is enough stock available. For the next 2 weeks, ending July 23rd, I will accept pre-orders for the pair. I will require a $100 deposit. But, the price will be pre-order special at $489.95(deposit will apply to final price, of course). At the end of the pre-order period, I'll settle up with eveyone upon shipping. Oh, also, non-standard spring rates will be free during pre-order(standard spring will be 100lb). I can get 140, 180, 220, 300, 350, 450, 550.

Any questions, give me an email(preferred) or call us.

wjk_glynn

Hi Scott,

Always great to see another supplier for suspension components.

Quick question, which front strut would you recommend being paired with this coilover?

Karl.

GaryK

How much will these raise the rear of the car, with say the standard 100lb spring?

RajDatta

Scott, please put me in for a pair. I want to keep similar rates to standard M030, can you tell me what spring rates I will need for that.
My problem is that when I run my 968 M030 rear shocks with helper springs, the weight is completely taken off the torsion bars and hence the car raises its height and looks like an SUV. I am trying to fix that by using coilovers.
Let me know where to pay and how much.
Raj

adrial

Raj, why not reindex the torsion bars?

I think coilovers will be more of a handicap than an ideal solution IMO.

Scott...Lookin good! Pricewise..that is

Dan Gallagher

why not remove the torsion bars?

slevy951

Hey guys,

Something I forgot to mention last night. Our thinking, in designing this, was to have it as a helper application so you wouldn't have to pay your wrench 1 million dollars to change out the torsion bars. Just add these, you get your rear support back with a really nice shock.

slevy951

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Karl Glynn:
<strong>Hi Scott,

Always great to see another supplier for suspension components.

Quick question, which front strut would you recommend being paired with this coilover?

Karl.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">They'll match with the koni yellows.

slevy951

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by GaryK:
<strong>How much will these raise the rear of the car, with say the standard 100lb spring?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Shouldn't raise it at all. There is a bit of adjustment in the height with the upper perch.

Ken From KLA Industries

The shocks are aluminum bodied and are fully re-valveable and re-buildable. The rebuild kits are priced very competitive. The manufacturer of the shock is QA1 Motorsports. KLA Industries had badged these shocks because QA1 does not sell these shocks in a bolt on application. Due to our buying power we are able to offer this package at less than a person can buy standard shocks of this type from the Manufacturer. We have also engineered the mounting system.

We have spent almost a year looking at different shocks to find the best for the $. These shocks are 12 point adjustable with both the compression and rebound being adjusted from one point. They go from waterbed soft to solid steel rod hard. We spent a lot of time working with the technical department to get this shock set up for both the performance and weight of the 944. I have had a set on my 944s2 and love them.

These shocks were originally designed for sports car racing. They have a great track record for durability and longevity. These shock types have been successful of cars as heavy as 3800 lbs is a full race prep application. The shocks we are selling were set for the Porsche application.

This shock IS NOT for the person who wants to put them on select a soft setting and only drive in 5:00 traffic to and from work. This type of driving will not utilize the shocks adjustability. For this application I would recommend a different shock. This shock is for a person who wants to be able to make very accurate and quick adjustments to help make a car handle like it is on a rail. The advantage of this shock is its adjustability without having to take it off. The adjustment literally takes a few minutes to make. The adjuster is at the top of the shock and easily accessed by reaching under the car and turning the shock harder or softer with the car on a jack. I like the thought of making quick adjustments so at a DE I can make several shock changes during a 15 minute driving session and still spend most of my time on the track. During a session the thing that takes the longest on the adjustment is getting the car on the jack. The same holds true for a Sunday afternoon autocross. Drive the car to the site with you street setting, reach under and stiffen the shock for the runs. Between each run you can change one or both of the settings to improve you times. At the end of the day reach under to adjust and drive home with the street setting again. Try that with other adjustable shocks. If you are like me, the last thing I want to do after a DE or autocross is to start taking my car apart so I can drive it home.

We have tested these on several types of 944’s including an S2 and a 951. With both the 100# and 140# springs we did not have to re-index the torsion bars and the ride height did not change.

I hope this gives you a better idea as to what we are trying to achieve with this package.

fast951

The shocks look good, and the price is very attractive. I have few questions, hope you can clarify. I'm sure others will be interested in the answers as well.

1) Would you use these shocks on cars without the Torsion Bars? Looking at the picture, it appears that you are using a long bolt for the lower shock mounting point. Other shocks use an adapter bolt "Racers Edge" or the shock itself improvises for this "Bilsteins"

2) Obviously, the shock's valving will have to be different to accomodate ranges of spring rates. Can these shocks be revalved to handle 600-1000# springs? If so, can they be ordered as such?

3) I assume they are oil filled vs gas filled?

4) Do you plan on offering, from the same manufacturer, front struts. On race cars, it might better to use the same type of shock with similar characteristics.

Thank you for your time.
John

TonyG

At the end of the day reach under to adjust and drive home with the street setting again. Try that with other adjustable shocks. If you are like me, the last thing I want to do after a DE or autocross is to start taking my car apart so I can drive it home

Uh... no you cannot.

You have to jack the car up and reach way the heck up there using some needle nose pliers.

Very difficult to get to adjuster(even with the rear end jacked up).

These shocks are 12 point adjustable with both the compression and rebound being adjusted from one point.

This is true. But the reality is that your total usable adjustment range is less than 1/2 of the **** rotation somewhere in the middle of the adjustment range. I think this is maybe 2 clicks max.

The rest of the adjustment range is useless.

Also, these shocks do not fit properly into the stock upper shock mounts without you having to take a grinder to the upper shock mounts.

The shock body hits the side of the shock mounts on both sides if you don't provide additional clearancing to the upper shock mount.

Ken From KLA Industries

Tony,

I’m going to post much of the same reply I posted last week about our shocks. When we posted about the non-coilover you gave your driving impressions of QA1 shocks. I hope this reply will help explain some of your issues. Who did you purchase your shocks from?

I am very impressed with your observations about the stock QA1 shocks. These were the same driving impressions we had when we started this process of developing both coil over and non-coil-over shocks.

I would like to make some guesses about your set-up and please correct me if I am wrong.
I would guess that you were running a shock that is set up for coil-over springs.
I would guess that you had bearings in the loop instead of rubber bushings.
I would guess that you are running a spring that is maybe a 140# 9” or higher that is a non-progressive rate.
I would guess that this shock is a standard off the shelf shock set up for sprint cars.
I would guess that an aftermarket group makes the mounting bushing.
Finally I would guess that you have either raced cars or have a large amount of seat time in your 944 to be able to pick up on the issues you have brought to light.

I would like to discuss each of your issues.

“They are way to stiff over the small stuff, and way to soft over the big stuff.”

This is an outstanding observation that most people would not be able to nail down. We found that with stock shocks the valving was set up for the wrong weight car. It was also set up for a race application where stiff over the small stuff is not a big issue. For a street application though it is a big deal. You will feel the small stuff in the seat of your pants and the car still won’t handle.

What we did to reduce this is to work with the technical group at the manufacturer to make sure we were ordering the proper shock for our application. We looked at the cars weight, the performance, and the set-up with most people still using their torsion bars in addition to the coil-over shocks. We came up with several things we do to reduce the “hard over small stuff” problems.

First we purchase shocks that are valved for aggressive street driving instead of sprint car applications. This will reduce the stiff over small stuff problems.

Second we do not run bearings in the loop, we install rubber bushings. The bushings will absorb the initial shock of the small bumps so the shock is not transmitted into the car chassis and to the seat of the driver. This made a big difference for guys like me who want to have a performing car but still want a comfortable ride.

Third we changed the springs length and # rate. This took several tries to get it right but we have found that the harder the spring the more you will feel the small stuff. Spring length also has an effect on the feel.

”Further, what really sucks, is that although they have a large range of adjustment, the reality is that the usable range of adjustment is less than 1/2 turn. The rest of the adjustment is useless.”

I also agree on this issue however, when we got the proper valving and the proper spring set up we found that settings a low as 3 and as high an 8 were usable on the street. When you get into an autocross or DE settings as high as 10 are usable. The lower settings are usable only if you are using the proper spring. Otherwise the car is way too bouncy. The same hold true for the higher settings. The wrong spring will make the higher settings almost knock you teeth out. With the proper spring you will have a larger selection of settings to use.

These are very poor calibrated shocks for the 944.

I fully agree that shocks that are direct off the shelf valved for sprint cars are not appropriate for the 944. That is why we spent so much time with the technical group to make sure we were purchasing the proper shock. A poor valved shock cannot be fixed no-matter what spring or setting you use.

One more thing. These shocks will not clear the upper shock mount. meaning that the shock body will hit the shock mount on the side resulting in a dented up shock.

W also found this on one of the 3 test cars we put shocks on. We have eliminated this by making adjustments to the steel inserts in our bushings. I would guess that you will have trouble getting stock shock to fit the upper mount now. It looks like your spacer was too short and when you tighten the bolt it pulls the upper mount together. That is what caused the rub on our test car. We had to redesign the upper bushings to keep this from happening and the problem went away.

The adjusters on the coil over are at the top and do require jacking the car up to adjust. With our non-coilover they are at the bottom and do not require jacking the car up. On the Coilover the adjusting **** is at the rear of the shock at the upper mount. It takes jacking the car up and reaching to the upper point to turn the ****. I have not found that I needed a pair of pliers but that might be the case on your shocks.

I don’t want anyone to get the impression that the coilover shocks are as easy to adjust as the non-coil over however, you do not have to take the shocks loose to adjust.

Anyway to try and wrap this book up I do want to say again that I am very impressed that you picked up on these issues with the shocks because most drivers would know that it didn’t feel right but not be able to put their finger on precisely what was wrong. You hit every issue we found with stock racing shock right on the head. That is why we spent so much time working the shock selection and spring design instead of buying stock shocks and making them fit the car.

I hope this helps address you issues and please feel free to e-mail me to see if we can help you set your shocks up for your car.

Ken

TonyG

Ken

It looks like you've actually run the shocks! :-)

They can be good shocks, but the valving has got to be setup correctly. If you can get the correct shock valving, then I'll send off a pair to you! (I've got 2 pairs).

Also I'm running the same poly bushings top and bottom.

And... in addition to the upper spacer, there are also 3 washers that are inserted. It's an extremely tight fit with the 3 washers. I highly doubt that the shock mount was being pulled in from tightening enough to cuase hitting on both sides of the shock. And since it was hitting on BOTH sides of the shock, I fail to see how moving the shock inbound or outbound (via spacers)would cause it to clear both sides (since both sides hit).

The solution? A grinder. They clear now!

One last comment: I think these shocks are a little on the short side for a street application. They could use to be a good inch longer (with respect to shock travel) when using them on the street with 350lbs - 450lbs spring rates. It's pretty easy to get them to go to full extension over large dips (using an adjustment that works on both the street/track again... with 375lbs rear springs).

I've tried 450lbs rear springs with these shocks (on the street/track) and they were just a joke with the valving as-is for street use.

So in conclusion, I'm not thrilled with this setup for the street for many reasons. Most of these reasons could be somewhat resolved and the correct valving would be a huge step in the right direction.

Ken From KLA Industries

Tony

I had the shock initially hit on one shock and it hit only on one side. We adjusted the bushing and the problem went away. We have had the shocks on several other cars without a problem.

Can you give me the full set-up you are wanting to run and I will see what valving is available for that set up. We have set our shocks for 100# and 140# springs and to keep the torsions.

our shock has a stroke that is longer than the factory by almost an inch so with the lighter springs we have not had a stroke problem.

I fully agree that the internal valving is the most important part of the set-up. I have not tried to set these up for 450# springs as this will take a valving change. If you don't change the valving then the car will ride like a truck and the rearend will likely not stay put in a corner. Like I said, e-mail me the full set-up you are running and I'll see what we can get going.

Ken