rsa

Before:



Voila, after:





Some assorted auto erotica

John Boggiano

Looks a whole lot better now it's not stuck way up in the air anymore!

Is that midnight blue?

rsa

John,

I know. No more Paris-Dakkar for me! Got to be more careful going up and down driveways now, alas I'll be fixing my front 'smile' more often!!!

Yeah, it's midnight blue. Takes on a purply hue in certain light.

joey bagadonuts

Ooh yeah! Much better! So did you go with Sol's lowering collars?



How about alignment specs? Factory? Have you signed up for the PCA novice track day, yet? C'mon, it's four 20 minute sessions--not Le Mans.

Thanks for the update. Hey, did you ever get that 02 sensor off?

rsa

Joey,

Thanks for the lowering perches tip! Really did the trick, don't you think? Sol did an excellent job. I ended up keeping my stock M030 suspension set-up, but had the front shocks shortened by a specialty shop that Sol subs out to in Racine, Wisc.

The car was, of course, corner-balanced, aligned, etc. without any real change in toe or rake as I still use the car for street.

Is the PCA event you are referring to the autocross school in April? I am giving it serious consideration as long as I am available that weekend. If not, which novice track day do you mean?

As far as the O2 sensor, I ended up having Sol remove the bypass with the sensor still in it and had to replace with a new sensor. I Passed smog yesterday!!!!! Yeah. I will probably just leave the cat in place as it still has an aggressive sound with the secondary muff bypassed and I don't think I'll notice the 1-2 hp loss.

Joey, thanks again for the suggestion of the lowering colars. You've got to see it in person!

jonesey

rsa...I am going through the process right now. Your car looks fantastic...I love the color!

joey bagadonuts

You're welcome! It looks great and you can rest assured the folks at Perfect Power did it right (unforutnately, it's never a joy for the wallet ).

As for the track day, I'm referring to the 5/12 Blackhawk Novice DE (Drivers Ed). Blackhawk is a 2 mile road course a little past Rockford and the event is dedicated to first timers. I think you can run a couple DE's without seriously affecting resale ... it's not like you're converting your car into a "dedicated" track car with roll cage and all that other hardcore gear.

It's just amazing what these cars can do at speed. Also, you'll see the "serious" hardware driven by some of the instructors and have the opportunity to ride with them--don't eat too much at lunch. All you need is a helmet. Info is in the Scene.

rsa

Hey Joey,
Are you going?

Jonesy, Are doing the lowering collars?

fore!

RSA,

Looks cool. So what's in there? PSS9?? H&R's??? How did you do it?

M

joey bagadonuts

No, not the Novice Day. It's only for newbies and instructors and I haven't been tagged to instruct just yet. It's a total blast and, yes, very addictive.

darth

RSA

I'm also interested in knowing how you lowered it? Sounds like it was done with lowering collars? How do you find the ride on the street/highway?

Bill
90C2

rsa

Fore!, I wanted to keep my stock springs and shocks as the car only has 20K miles and I did not want to alter it too much from OEM M030. I did have to shorten the front shocks, however.

Darth, To me the beauty of the set-up is that it is adjustable. The lowering collars replace the stock perches and allow significantly more leeway to lower the car. In my case it was lowered over 2 inches, front and rear.

As far as street/highway ride, there is really no difference as the spring rates/stiffness does not change. The setup should, however, allow for better stability at speed due to reduced lift as the car is now lower to the ground. I can comfirm this as the car feels less jittery at speed.

darth

RSA

Correct me if I'm wrong - collars (i.e. which are pictured above and in this case manufactured by a company called Sol) and perches are the same? I have currently on my stock 90C2 an adjustment collar/perch which looks similar and it appears there is 8 threads (I counted them) left at the bottom of each. If I use a spanner and adjust the collar to the bottom it will lower the car - what is the difference between mine and Sol apart from the shorten shock absorber. I suspect more threads were cut into the top of the shock absorber shaft in order to achieve a shorter shock absorber. If you adjust 2 inches up or down is ther a need to have an alignment?

Bill
90C2

fore!

RSA,

thanks for the info - this provides another option for improving the car. I've got a RSA too and just looking at suspension improvement - I'm assembling the parts/tools to install H&R and HD Bilstiens. I like my M030 suspension (although it's got more miles on than yours) and the option of keeping it is attractive. How much did the hardware cost for this mod - perches, machining, etc?

Fore!

rsa

Darth,

Sol is actually the specialist who sold me the lowering collars and who's shop performed the swap, corner-balance, alignment, etc.

Here's his web site:
http://perfectpowerinc.com
Free plug Sol
The collars are listed under suspension sales

It sounds like your car has non-stock collars as evidenced by the number of threads which can allow lowering of ride height. The stock ones he showed me looked much shorter than the picture Joey pasted. As far as the front shock, the top shaft was actually cut to shorten it. The top mount was then remachined into the shortened shaft so it looks stock.

Yes, any adjustment up or down will require realignment, balancing etc.