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Cortex JRi Double Adjustables - Up Close Look

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Posting some Pics for those interested in seeing these dampers up close and personal. I know good shots of these things are pretty scarce on the web.

They really are a work of art in person and ALMOST too good looking to even install but I figured I better capture the moment now before my grubby mits get a hold of them ;D

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Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Nice pics and welcome to the 'club'. What rates did you go with and did you just get the fronts?

I'm also surprised you have the helper springs up front.

I suggest getting the JRi adjuster pin tool, if one didn't come with yours.
 
Thanks

Yes I just got the JRi DA fronts. Already have Penske DA's out back.

Spring rates on these JRi's are 425lb and the rear Penske setup is 225lb.

I was on the fence about getting the helpers at first but decided that anything that helps prevent spring slop is a plus. Especially for those times when your in full Dukes of Hazard mode 8)

Looks like I got robbed on the JRi Pin tool. I've been using an appropriately sized Allen key for adjusting the rears which seems to do the job but will see how that works on the new fronts, if at all.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
You didn't get robbed! To my knowledge, none of us got the adjusters. I just ordered mine since I lost one of the allen wrenches in my fender.

And I didn't want to assume you were planning to go both wheels up in the front! ...Then the helpers make sense. ;D
 
I have the helper springs and mine are 450/250. Looking good!
 
It rides stiffer compared to P springs. I'm not sure if it's me getting used to the suspension or if in fact they are less firm now that they have some track miles on them but they seem more compliant than when new. CorteX does not adjust the suspension from the stock settings and they were very firm when I drove it home. I've softened them up quite a bit for the street and then just firm up the fronts at the track. So far that's worked well for me and the rear is sticking well. The big thing you notice is when hitting large bumps and the lack of travel in the rear. You really know you've hit something. Conversely the ride is not harsh at all but you know you have more spring. It's fine for a weekend warrior. I've now been at Laguna Seca and Thunderhill with them and I'll be at Sonoma July 2nd so I'll see how they behave there. The car is so well planted and balanced I need to push it harder. I was considering going square but for now I'll stick with a staggered setup on NT01's.
 
2013dibgt said:
Posting some Pics for those interested in seeing these dampers up close and personal. I know good shots of these things are pretty scarce on the web.

They really are a work of art in person and ALMOST too good looking to even install but I figured I better capture the moment now before my grubby mits get a hold of them ;D

Beautiful! I should have taken more pics. I HIGHLY recommend the front helper springs - my cortex Jri front setup is 500lbs / in and I can hear the spring getting light and making a little noise at full rebound especially over small sharp series of bumps.

Do you know if Filip sells the collars and helper spring setup separately? I have them on the rear and there is zero noise at rebound.

One thing, the free height of a given coil spring will increase as you lower the rate, meaning my 500lbs / in front springs (same exact Eibach sport springs you have) will be much shorter resulting in more of a chance for movement at full rebound. OEM spec. is usually 50lbs min load at rebound.. we do not even come close to that with our cortex race setups - UNLESS you have the longer lower rate springs.

If you want to visualize it, think of it like this - our springs for the front have a specific force (load) at a specific height (check height / design height). in order to maintain that same load / height relationship with a much softer spring rate you have to make the spring a lot longer, since it will be compressing more in order to achieve the same ride height.
 
I'm not sure if Cortex sells the Helper Spring setup separetly or not but I can't see why they wouldn't if asked. Adding them would be a bit of work though. I might be more inclined to were ear plugs before taking on the hassle of pulling the struts again just to add the helpers. I say that now only because my car has been on jack stands since May replacing nearly the entire front suspension so my mood and enthusiasium has slowly started to sour. Its certainly a job and a half and I'm ready to get this B1t$% on the road. I got about two days worth of work left and I'll finally be done. For now :eek:

Anyway, I'll have to take some additonal pics as my explaination here will probably not be the best but I found it interesting while installing these JRi's and comparing them to my previous Cortex Koni DA Struts. The JRi strut was longer and the area just below the Strut Gland nut was actually a few inches shorter then Koni's were. I'm thinking this may be a sign that the JRi's have more range of motion under Bump travel. If that's true, I certainly won't be complaining about it 8)

Also, the JRi's were noticeably "fatter" then the Koni setup was and in return felt a bit heavier as well.
 
2013dibgt said:
I'm not sure if Cortex sells the Helper Spring setup separetly or not but I can't see why they wouldn't if asked. Adding them would be a bit of work though. I might be more inclined to were ear plugs before taking on the hassle of pulling the struts again just to add the helpers. I say that now only because my car has been on jack stands since May replacing nearly the entire front suspension so my mood and enthusiasium has slowly started to sour. Its certainly a job and a half and I'm ready to get this B1t$% on the road. I got about two days worth of work left and I'll finally be done. For now :eek:

Anyway, I'll have to take some additonal pics as my explaination here will probably not be the best but I found it interesting while installing these JRi's and comparing them to my previous Cortex Koni DA Struts. The JRi strut was longer and the area just below the Strut Gland nut was actually a few inches shorter then Koni's were. I'm thinking this may be a sign that the JRi's have more range of motion under Bump travel. If that's true, I certainly won't be complaining about it 8)

Also, the JRi's were noticeably "fatter" then the Koni setup was and in return felt a bit heavier as well.

I hear you about working on these cars getting old. I will have to not only remove the struts, but take em apart and put the new springs on! what was the hardest part of the front end re-do?
 
twistedneck said:
I hear you about working on these cars getting old. I will have to not only remove the struts, but take em apart and put the new springs on! what was the hardest part of the front end re-do?

I would say the two most time consuming parts of the redu were the Bump Steer adjustment process and the fact I needed to maintain some form of alignment BEFORE doing the Bump Steer measurements. I iniitaly marked my strut towers before removing the old Struts in hopes that it would be sufficent. I also marked where my Toe settings were as well. I then used all those marks during the Bumpsteer adjustment process thinking all would be OK. Then somewhere along the way I decided to purchase a new digital Cast/Camber gauge. When it arrived I checked the Camber based on the marks I put on the Strut Towers. This was eye opening experience when I saw how far off the Camber was despite using the original marks. This then prompted me to purchase a Toe Gauge because I was naturally curious to see if that was trashed as well. Yup...I was again horrified by the results once the Toe Gauge arrived. Toe was way off which is a key measurment to have correct BEFORE doing the Bump Steer process.

Long story short, I ended needing to do the Bump Steer process twice since all the original measurements were based on poor alignment numbers. To look on the bright side I now have all the tools needed to do my own alignments going forward ;D
 

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