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Old 05-23-2003, 02:33 AM   #1
ScreaminFast
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Default Just installed JIC FLT-A2's......holy shiz!!

All I can say is WOW. The car handles like that's its job....its absolutely nuts. Its low as hell too, with my 225 kumho's on stock wheels it fits nicely....but when I slapped my 18s on there, its seriously close, and I hope I don't rub. I also put camber bolts in the rear when I installed them, and I'm going for an alignment tomorrow morning. w00t.....I definitley recommend these to any performance enthusiast!



sf
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Old 05-23-2003, 04:29 AM   #2
XT6Wagon
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you can and should raise the car some by loosening the spring perch till the spring free floats (while on jack stands and the tire off). The loosen the lower jam nut and use the spring perch locked together to turn the whole threaded collar.
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Old 05-23-2003, 09:08 AM   #3
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yea, if i have any issues in the back, i'm going to rais it up another 1/2" or so.....Also I wasn't sure about the spring preload, so after the springs settled and what not, I tightened them hand tight (like until I couldn't turn it with my hand at all, so pretty tight), and then went a 1/4 turn past that.....is that too much?


Thanks!
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Old 05-23-2003, 09:26 AM   #4
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yes too tight. also remember to never adjust spring load unless the whole front end or whole back end are up in the air, otherwise the sway bars will mess you up. you want those springs almost loose in there.
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Old 05-23-2003, 09:49 AM   #5
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wow.....should i loosen that before I get an alignment? or will I be ok to do that after because I don't have time to do it now before it....
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Old 05-23-2003, 10:01 AM   #6
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If you don't have time then cancel the alignment and reschedule for tomorrow or something. Driving around until next week even will not be a big deal. Only if you have a track event or auto-x this weekend should you really need the alignment this second.
Properly adjust everything (ride height as well) and then get it aligned.
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Old 05-23-2003, 10:18 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally posted by jonmacs22
If you don't have time then cancel the alignment and reschedule for tomorrow or something. Driving around until next week even will not be a big deal. Only if you have a track event or auto-x this weekend should you really need the alignment this second.
Properly adjust everything (ride height as well) and then get it aligned.

i'm gonna head over there, and see if they'll give me like a week for a second alignment, incase i have to adjust the ride height again.....theoretically adjusting the perches should affect the camber or toe at all....
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Old 05-23-2003, 11:06 AM   #8
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just got back from the alignment place....they are going to adjust the ride height in the rear for me, and reaload the springs....w00t
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Old 05-23-2003, 11:30 AM   #9
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Just remember, adjusting the spring preload with the perches will affect ride height just like the height locking rings will.

Ed
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Old 05-23-2003, 04:34 PM   #10
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wow, those guys were awesome....they said that they setup the camber, and adjusted the ride height for me....they also fixed my exhaust leak, and rattle.....woohoo
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Old 05-23-2003, 06:39 PM   #11
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Wow nice alignment place, don't think theres any place around Indy that will go that far out of its way. Read: no real performance alignment shops. Asking for custom alignment numbers is the best i can do, but corner weighting is a different matter.

btw a couple things to add if you are going to readjust these things yourself. I'm not sure how long you've had your coilovers on, but true its important to get an alignment right after installing them cause its a fact the alignment specs will be way out of whack. But plan on getting it realigned again for this reason: As you drive on the new springs/struts, the struts assemblies and springs will break in, change their behavoir and road responses, making you recheck you spring loads and readjusting those rings. Plus the springs may settle a little and sink almost a good 3/4 inch in height after a month with no adjustments.

Both these factors will make you recheck your spring loads to make sure they aren't too loose or too tight as well as readjusting your coilover sleeve/ride height ring if the car sinks lower than what you want.

While its true that the JICs are designed so you can adjust ride hieght using the coilover sleeves, independantly from the spring loads, bear in mind that messing with the spring load perch rings will affect the ride height as well, since its going to change the length of piston shaft travel when the car is fully settled on the ground.

Something i've found out is:

1. adjust coilover height with the wheels off, this is a no-brainer since its almost impossible to do otherwise. To adjust the hieght i unlock the coilover sleeve ring and crank on the locked combo of the spring perch/locking ring. Turning on this wont make the spring perch slide on the coils and turns the whole assembly, adjusting the height.

2. adjust spring load with the wheels ON. You should have enough room in the wheel weel when the car is jacked up so the wheels are hanging in the air. The reason to do this is WITHOUT the added weight of the tires dragging the strut/piston down to the ground, you could think you have the springs set snug in the perch, but when you add the wheel back on, the added weight will pull the strut down further, resulting in a lot of free play in the spring, and totally messing up your ride height guess as well when you lower the car back to the ground.

Sorry for the lengthy post, just my collected thoughts after 3 1 hr sessions of messing with my JICs.

Ed
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Old 05-23-2003, 09:08 PM   #12
ScreaminFast
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Default oh well...

Anyways, so here is the story now.....


I go there to pick up my car, and we walk down to look at it, and we start talking about the camber. He set the camber at all of the factory settings, so my camber is: -0.4LF, -0.5RF, -1.2LR, -1.5RR. He said that he zeroed it out when my camber plates were at 0, moved it until the camber was -0.5, and tightend them. I asked how people can run like -1.25 on the street, and then -4 at the autoX. He said that they would be running way too much toe out. Truth? AND he forgot to center my steering wheel.....grrr. Ok so I was angry about this, but he insisted that is how he does it for even is track car....I was still upset. He offered to redo it for free, so I was happy once again. Then we got on to the ride height adjustment, and he said he used the spring perch adjustment to raise the car 1" in the rear, and 1/4" in the front. Even though it raised the car, he probably put a lot of preload on them, right? Thus, again, I was upset. He did fix my JIC exhaust hangers, which was nice of him.


So, here's the new plan then. I'm going to run on them like they are now. I'm ordering STi lateral links and trailing arms. Once those are installed they will affect the alignment, and i'd need to get it done again. I'm going to contact him and say, here's the deal, how about you align it for me in a month. That way the springs and strut assemblies have time to settle, and I'll have the STi pink bits installed, and I'll fix the ride height as per your instructions, Ed.

The alignment settings I had wanted were: -1.0F, and -0.75F, and 0 toe all around, but I had wanted to be able to just turn it up for the autoX's. I dunno what to do....::sigh::


Thanks for any help!


sf
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Old 05-24-2003, 01:36 AM   #13
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ARG, just noticed that the passenger side camber plate is not adjusted right.....and that when i push the clutch in, i'm getting a clunking noise....kinda heard, and felt in the pedals.....any ideas? I think it might be that i need to fix the preload, and tighten everything down...
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Old 05-24-2003, 11:43 AM   #14
jonmacs22
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My only recommendation is to do as much of this yourself as possible. Take it to the slignment shop with only alignment needed by them and make them adjust the car as if it were a normal vehicle.
A note about using your camber plates: when you move them it will affect toe, creating toe out. So you need to be aware that you cannot just more those plates at will without affecting other components.

Jon
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Old 05-24-2003, 12:19 PM   #15
ScreaminFast
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that said, what is the actual advantage of the plates?


i'm gonna go to my shop and try to fix as much as i can...i guess
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Old 05-24-2003, 06:17 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally posted by ScreaminFast
that said, what is the actual advantage of the plates?


i'm gonna go to my shop and try to fix as much as i can...i guess
Adjusting stock camber beyond what stock camber bolts/equipment will allow. Like what was previously said, when you mess with camber, toe gets altered as well.

Ed
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Old 05-24-2003, 07:12 PM   #17
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I'm headin over to my shop now to fix everything....arg...thanks for all teh help.....it sounds like something is hitting the rims or something in the front....i hope i didn't snap a halfshaft or something.....

I hope everything works out....
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Old 05-24-2003, 09:38 PM   #18
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Here's my alignment experience with the JICs...

First off, its imperitive to have a good shop do it, one that will get exact numbers you specify, not a range. The shop I took it to was glad to help me in that regard. I even got to watch and talk with the guy the whole time.

Here are the results I got:

Camber Plates at 0:
Camber: -1.50
Toe: 0"
Caster: 3.5

Camber Plates at Max inboard setting:
Camber: -3.1
Toe: 1/8" out
Caster: unchanged

Rear Camber: -1.2
Rear Toe: 1/8" out

I also tried something this weekend at an autocross. You can get even more front camber by moving the inboard bolts one hole over, letting the strut go all the way to the end of the cutout. With this setup, I'm estimating about -4.5 or so. This has completely removed any push, and made turn in dramatically better. I was also able to drop my rear tire pressure 3-4psi, getting better overall grip. The next time I take it to get aligned, I'll have him measure it with this setup.

As far as ride height, I think I've settled on 360mm (wheel center to top of arch) setting. This has the rear control arms just about perfecly level with the ground, and the gap nicely filled. This is about 1/4" lower than the prodrive springs give.
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Old 05-25-2003, 12:24 AM   #19
ScreaminFast
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THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!


I'm at the shop right now, and thats exactly what i needed to hear. I'm going to readjust the preload now, and then set the height like you have.....you have the same height on all 4?


and that is the measurement with wheels off? on? rims would make a difference right?


Thanks!
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Old 05-25-2003, 12:26 AM   #20
ScreaminFast
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oh yea, and i'm pretty sure that the noise was the caliper was stuck a little, and i think i cleared it up....w00t
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Old 05-25-2003, 11:15 AM   #21
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woohoo.....left the shop at 5:30AM....no more weird noises from the front of the car.

All heignt is adjusted to 26" +/- 1/8" all around (measured from the ground to the fender, aligning it with the hub). Using fingers, its just two fingers in front, and a hair under two fingers in the rear.

Preload is fixed....tightened to where the sprong doesn't move up and down anymore, and then a 1/4 turn past that. It was done with the wheel hanging on it.

Alignment will be done again on wednesday, and i'm giong to bring a printout of your post, Razlak, and possibly some of the other camber info, such as on Ravensblade.


Thanks to all you guys who helped me out!!! I will post pictures in here as soon as I get a chance


sf
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Old 05-27-2003, 10:41 PM   #22
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bump...going to get the re-alignment tomorrow morning!!
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Old 05-28-2003, 12:37 AM   #23
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any photos???
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Old 05-28-2003, 12:55 AM   #24
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I'll get some tomorrow morning when I leave for the alignment shop...
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Old 05-28-2003, 12:59 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally posted by ScreaminFast
I'll get some tomorrow morning when I leave for the alignment shop...
Cool. I keep hearing/reading about these JIC's but have never seen them on a car. I guess I can look at the web-page But please do post them when you get a chance.

Thanks,

LB
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