KW Clubsport Damper Rebuild

[Powered by Ford]

Fantastic Matt, thank you!

Actually I believe you are right. Its been two seasons since I put the Clubsports in my car but I want to say I remember seeing those numbers on there and we assumed it was a part number.

You are welcome Jason. Are you thinking about changing the rates in your setup?

 

[WILECYOT]

Interesting.... very interesting.

 

[JAJ]

I put a set of JRZ's in about two months ago, and I went with the Boss302S spring rates - 600# fronts and 300# rears. I got the rates by looking at a Boss302S in the paddock at a track day. The rears are a coil-over setup, by the way. The regular on-axle spring perches are empty.

 

[Department Of Boost]

I put a set of JRZ's in about two months ago, and I went with the Boss302S spring rates - 600# fronts and 300# rears. I got the rates by looking at a Boss302S in the paddock at a track day. The rears are a coil-over setup, by the way. The regular on-axle spring perches are empty.

Are you driving it on the street?

 

[csamsh]

I put a set of JRZ's in about two months ago, and I went with the Boss302S spring rates - 600# fronts and 300# rears. I got the rates by looking at a Boss302S in the paddock at a track day. The rears are a coil-over setup, by the way. The regular on-axle spring perches are empty.

Really!? That's surprising...I wonder if there's some additional reinforcement in the shock mounts.

 

[jayel579]

You are welcome Jason. Are you thinking about changing the rates in your setup?

Yes I am but that was based off of what I thought I had in the car. Now I have to rethink what I want to do. I kept a log book on my car, unfortunately it has bad data in it. Basically 2 seasons of development and data thrown out the window, I will have to start from scratch now. Though I am thinking I want to go with rates similar with what you are going with. 325-350 lb/in fronts, 290-300 lb/in rears. Somewhere in those ranges.

 

[zquez]

I think 350 is probably too soft for the front even for a dual purpose car. I would start in the 400s. I DD on 450s and while it isn't luxurious, its not all that bad. I have yet for anyone to tell me my car rides stiff. I noticed when I stepped up to coilovers from BMR springs but I drive it everyday and push it everyday too.

If anything, I would pick a rear rate that is at home on either the street or track, and its easy enough to swap front springs if it really bothers you to run high rates on the street.

 

[Powered by Ford]

Yes I am but that was based off of what I thought I had in the car. Now I have to rethink what I want to do. I kept a log book on my car, unfortunately it has bad data in it. Basically 2 seasons of development and data thrown out the window, I will have to start from scratch now. Though I am thinking I want to go with rates similar with what you are going with. 325-350 lb/in fronts, 290-300 lb/in rears. Somewhere in those ranges.

Too bad about your development and data, atleast you know now. Coilover springs are cheap, makes the tuning process a little better.

I think 350 is probably too soft for the front even for a dual purpose car. I would start in the 400s. I DD on 450s and while it isn't luxurious, its not all that bad. I have yet for anyone to tell me my car rides stiff. I noticed when I stepped up to coilovers from BMR springs but I drive it everyday and push it everyday too.

If anything, I would pick a rear rate that is at home on either the street or track, and its easy enough to swap front springs if it really bothers you to run high rates on the street.

Well I need to drive it first and see what I would prefer. Street and track time will determine what rate I should run. Gmitch and I estimated the rates based upon what he and 908ssp are running. Coil over springs are not very expensive so if I do want to change I can and fairly easily.

 

[Powered by Ford]

OK now back to assembling the dampers.

I had all of the aluminum components of the camber plates anodized bright gold.


0014 Gold Anodized Camber Plates by matthewatitus, on Flickr


0015 Gold Anodizing by matthewatitus, on Flickr

This next picture shows the upper part of the turning bearing house. Next to it is bearing. I took apart the ball bearing and packed it with Ohlins grease.


0016 Bearing and Housing by matthewatitus, on Flickr

In order to have a properly articulating camber plate a rose joint or spherical bearing should be used. When using a freely articulating top mount (camber plate) the upper seat will move and attempt to be as parallel as possible to the lower spring seat. The rose joints slide into the housings and a snap ring is used as retention.


0018 Rose Joint by matthewatitus, on Flickr

I had the springs, steel components of the camber plates, and spring collars all powdercoated "race red"


0017 Powdercoated Springs and Steel Components by matthewatitus, on Flickr

I picked up an extra set of lower spring seats and had them painted gold to match the rest of the suspension. You can see on the right the seats that came with my clubsports. The lower seats are polymer with an impregnated steel seat. I spoke to KW to see if they made an all aluminum lower seat, however they do not. They believe that their polymer has better NVH. I can't argue with them, but I would have preferred an aluminum lower seat.


0019 Comparison of Front Lower Spring Seat by matthewatitus, on Flickr

All of the damper components are ready to be assembled. Please note that all of the damper shafts have been Titanium Nitride coated.


0020 Dampers Ready for Assembly by matthewatitus, on Flickr


0021 Ti-N Front Damper Rods by matthewatitus, on Flickr


0022 Ti-N Rear Damper Rods by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Struts

Assembly of the inner shaft to the outer Ti-N shaft

0023 Front Damper Rod Assembly by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Components laid out ready to be installed in the twin tube damper

0024 Front Damper Rod Components by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Strut assembled

0025 Strut Assembled by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Rear Dampers

Rear damper rods before assembly

0026 Rear Damper Pre-Assembly by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Rear damper rod assembly

0027 Rear Damper Shaft Assembly by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Rear damper components ready for assembly into the twin tube housing

0028 Rear Damper Componets by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Twin tube unassembled

0029 Rear Damper Twin Tube Inner Tube Install by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Sadly the picture of the assembled rear shock is undesirable, so I will not post it.

Finalized Assemblies and Modules

After a few hours of work today Gmitch and I completed the dampers. We did "hand dyno" tests to verify that the adjusters were working and did properly change the rebound and compression.

The whole project turned out very well and the gold and red look amazing together. The nerds that we are we put together a little photo shoot of the assemblies.


0030 KW Completed Modules by matthewatitus, on Flickr


0031 KW Complete Modules by matthewatitus, on Flickr

Tomorrow we will be putting them on the vehicle and hopefully getting some time to start dialing in the damping. I will report back the results.

Lastly, I wanted to show a picture of gmitch's suspension work bench. This work bench's sole purpose is for suspension work. There are drawers filled with specialized clamps and tools. And yes it even has a drain in the center for emptying the damper oil.


0033 Gmitch Suspenion Table by matthewatitus, on Flickr

 

[JAJ]

Are you driving it on the street?

Yes. It's bumpy as hell, in case that was your next question.

Really!? That's surprising...I wonder if there's some additional reinforcement in the shock mounts.

Nope. Just big stainless steel plates where the crew chief for a Porsche team that finished second in class this year at the 24 hours of Daytona figured it needed beefing up.

 

[foolio2k4]

dude...thats FREAKING AWESOME.

Came out great!

Cant wait to hear your feedback on them.

 

[Department Of Boost]

I think 350 is probably too soft for the front even for a dual purpose car. I would start in the 400s. I DD on 450s and while it isn't luxurious, its not all that bad. I have yet for anyone to tell me my car rides stiff. I noticed when I stepped up to coilovers from BMR springs but I drive it everyday and push it everyday too.

If anything, I would pick a rear rate that is at home on either the street or track, and its easy enough to swap front springs if it really bothers you to run high rates on the street.

Looks like we have a dual purpose thread going on here. I’ll help out by making it worse.

Spring rates are always going to be a compromise when you are trying to do two completely different things with the car (street/track). And a lot of it will come down to personal preference. I suggested Matt run 350’s on the front based off of my last track day I ran with those. Yes, I wanted more rate at the track (and I have more rate now), but it wasn’t “bad” and I was running as fast, or faster, than anyone there. Could I have gone faster with more rate? Probably. Was the car crashing through the travel and becoming a handful? Not even close. And I like the 350’s on the street. I’ve driven my blue car with them and 908SSP’s car has 350’s also. Both have pretty good street manners. And both cars are 99% street use.

I went up to 425 on the front (there was a set to try laying around) and they are about as aggressive as I would like to go for a street car. Especially on Michigan roads. If I was running at the track more than a few times a year and had an extra set of rims with slicks I would consider more rate. It’s a “right tool for the job” thing combined with a personal preference thing. Once in the “good rate range” there are no wrong answers.

 

[5.0_SD]

Powered by Ford and gmitch...simply brilliant...awesome! Thank you for your thoroughness in your descriptions of this entire process. I stand and applaud the two of you...job well done sirs!

 

[csamsh]

Nope. Just big stainless steel plates where the crew chief for a Porsche team that finished second in class this year at the 24 hours of Daytona figured it needed beefing up.

AH...I figured they'd have to do something.

 

[sheizasosay]

Now look what you did.....you're gonna have everybody and their bro asking "will u pimp my dampers". They look awesome!

 

[jayel579]

I think 350 is probably too soft for the front even for a dual purpose car. I would start in the 400s. I DD on 450s and while it isn't luxurious, its not all that bad. I have yet for anyone to tell me my car rides stiff. I noticed when I stepped up to coilovers from BMR springs but I drive it everyday and push it everyday too.

If anything, I would pick a rear rate that is at home on either the street or track, and its easy enough to swap front springs if it really bothers you to run high rates on the street.

I think you might be right. It is all preference. Suspension is an orchestrated balance of springs, sway bars, shocks and tires. There is no prefect setup; just some of my thoughts and can adjust as I go forward. I am still in the data gathering stage before I decide.

Looks like we have a dual purpose thread going on here. I’ll help out by making it worse.

Thanks Jason!! Really the only street driving my car sees is to and from events, a truck and trailer is on the radar but that will be next season.

Too bad about your development and data, atleast you know now. Coilover springs are cheap, makes the tuning process a little better.

Agreed, I am not too upset given springs are cheap I am just more disappointed in myself for not verifying the information I was told. I fell for that whole don't assume principle! I am thinking I go to a 2.5" ID spring though given the wider range of spring options between vendors. Did you do this as well?

And great work on these, they came out beautiful! I will be interested to hear about how they perform once you get out on track

 

[Department Of Boost]

I may be spoiling this for Matt a little……but, he’ll live.

We got the dampers on Saturday, along with about a thousand other things. Took the car for a quick test drive. It’s GREAT! The funny thing is that now that we have a few cars in the “fleet” set up with coilovers and aggressive springs my idea of what is “normal” is completely different. Matt’s car feels normal too me now. How it should feel. My 2012 GT Brembo car feels like a floppy mess by comparison.

Hopefully we get to a track day soon.

 

[jayel579]

I may be spoiling this for Matt a little……but, he’ll live.

Hopefully we get to a track day soon.

nice, what "home" track do you guys use?

 

[Department Of Boost]

nice, what "home" track do you guys use?

We are spolied.

Waterford Hills is 45min away

Grattan is 2hrs away

Gingerman is 2.5hrs away

Mid Ohio is 2.5hrs away

Nelsons Ledges is 3hrs away

Autobahn is 3.25hrs away

Beaver run is 3.25hrs away

Putnum Park is 4.5hrs away

Gingerman is the easiest to get on the track though. It’s cheap to rent, there are a lot of track days there and they have evening track days during the week.

 

[jayel579]

Damn, yeah you guys are. Closest for me is NJMSP, Thunderbolt and Lightning which is about 3 hours. The Glen or Summit Point are about 5, Monticello (membership only) and Lime Rock (noise) are closer but very hard to get on them. N track is cheap in the north east. From there, a VIR or Mid-Oh run would be about 9 hours.