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Track Day Setup Koni/H&R Initial Review

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Decided to stay away from the coilovers for the moment but wanted a more track oriented setup so I went with the Koni Sport Yellows, H&R race springs and MM camber plates.

Since H&R said the spring rates on the race springs were 325lbs/385lbs (called twice to confirm), I decided on a stock 20mm Mustang GT rear sway bar (let the springs do most of the work). I also have a 22mm Ford racing rear sway bar that I picked up cheap in case I want more rear bar.

The install went smooth and I also added the Ingalls adjustable Panhard bar with relocation kit while doing the work.

On the street with the shocks set pretty much at full soft, the ride is stiffer than stock but not too bad. I let the springs settle and took it through a few twisties and it corners very nicely with a lot less roll than before. Power out of the corner also seems to be pretty good. So far, I really like this setup!

Track event at Big Willow next weekend so I will update on how the car handles on the track.
 
Good deal! I had been told told to stay away from the race springs because the off the shelf dampers often don't have the valving to handle those high rates. However, I do know that Koni Yellows are often and readily able to be re-valved. Hopefully everything goes flawlessly at the track and you won't have to mess with it!
 
Zquez said:
Good deal! I had been told told to stay away from the race springs because the off the shelf dampers often don't have the valving to handle those high rates. However, I do know that Koni Yellows are often and readily able to be re-valved. Hopefully everything goes flawlessly at the track and you won't have to mess with it!

The off the shelf Koni's should be able to hold the spring rate (what I was told) although the spring rate would definetly be too stiff for stock Boss shocks. At some point, could have them re-valved but for now, we will just see how they do.
 
What no photos? ;) Very nice and in for next weekends updates.
 
Grant 302 said:
Sounds great Jason...I'd like to hear your update after Big Willow. Are you running in the time attack?

Yes, running Saturday to get a feel for all the changes and then running Sunday Time Attack
 
NFSBOSS said:
What no photos? ;) Very nice and in for next weekends updates.

Going to take a picture next week in the pits in the same spot I took one last time to show the drop. Car is so much lower :)
 

isrboss

This is the exact setup I am considering. I am a tad surprised at those spring rates. Are you running a square setup? I can't wait to hear your track impression/review.

Koni sports are at great price right now, how much did you score them for?
 
isrboss said:
This is the exact setup I am considering. I am a tad surprised at those spring rates. Are you running a square setup? I can't wait to hear your track impression/review.

Koni sports are at great price right now, how much did you score them for?

I was a tad surprised at the spring rates as well since I had read that the 2005-2009 H&R race springs for the Mustang had a much different rate. Thus the reason I called H&R twice and talked to 2 different people. Yes, square setup...currently running 285/35-18's all the way around.

Unfortunately, I bought mine a few months ago and had them sitting around since I wasn't sure the direction I was going with the car. So, I paid seven something for mine (found a good price but not as low as they are now). If you are staying away from coilovers but want to go to a stiffer setup, they are definitely a good option at the sale price.
 
Follow-Up - Track Report

Driving to the track (just over 3.5 hours) with shocks set at full soft and have to say, not bad at all. Not as "floaty" as stock...you feel dips a bit more but no issues over rougher pavement. Didn't have a front end scraping issue going into driveways but did scrape the trans cooling scoop a couple times.

Track was Willow Springs raceway, the big track. I have driven the track a couple times before in the Boss and my previous best lap there was a 1:36:4xx. On Saturday, the timing system wasn't working so just tried to get a feel for the difference in the suspension.

On Sunday, started with times in the mid 1:37's and my best time of the day was during a late afternoon Redline Time Attack session with a 1:36:7xx. Although this time did not beat my previous visit, was good enough for 2nd place in Enthusiast RWD class and since I was getting faster each session, think I just need more time on the suspension to see a gain over stock. Oh, a bit more driver mod won't hurt either :)

My track impression of the suspension is somewhat limited because this track has a couple wide sweeping turns but no really quick transitions. I am going to Chuckwalla next month and that track should be a much better test of the suspension. Having said that, I really like the feel of the car. Gone is a lot of the body roll and the car feels much more planted in corners. Also noticed that I had quite a bit of adjustment "room" in the shocks vs. the stock Boss shocks which I would run almost full firm at the track.

Did plow a bit more than I prefer so I am going to remove the 20mm sway bar that was on the car and go up to a 22mm sway bar I have sitting in the garage.

Couple pics of how the car sits:

BossLowered_zps8f70b5dc.jpg

BossFast_zps1c7824b6.jpg
 
NFSBOSS said:
Jason that Boss is slammed! It looks good too. ;D

Have to admit, between the springs and the tire/wheel combination, the car sits lower than I wanted but I do like the way it looks :)
 
jnathan68 said:
Follow-Up - Track Report

Driving to the track (just over 3.5 hours) with shocks set at full soft and have to say, not bad at all. Not as "floaty" as stock...you feel dips a bit more but no issues over rougher pavement. Didn't have a front end scraping issue going into driveways but did scrape the trans cooling scoop a couple times.

Track was Willow Springs raceway, the big track. I have driven the track a couple times before in the Boss and my previous best lap there was a 1:36:4xx. On Saturday, the timing system wasn't working so just tried to get a feel for the difference in the suspension.

On Sunday, started with times in the mid 1:37's and my best time of the day was during a late afternoon Redline Time Attack session with a 1:36:7xx. Although this time did not beat my previous visit, was good enough for 2nd place in Enthusiast RWD class and since I was getting faster each session, think I just need more time on the suspension to see a gain over stock. Oh, a bit more driver mod won't hurt either :)

My track impression of the suspension is somewhat limited because this track has a couple wide sweeping turns but no really quick transitions. I am going to Chuckwalla next month and that track should be a much better test of the suspension. Having said that, I really like the feel of the car. Gone is a lot of the body roll and the car feels much more planted in corners. Also noticed that I had quite a bit of adjustment "room" in the shocks vs. the stock Boss shocks which I would run almost full firm at the track.

Did plow a bit more than I prefer so I am going to remove the 20mm sway bar that was on the car and go up to a 22mm sway bar I have sitting in the garage.

One way to reduce plowing in the front (to a point) is to increase the front grip by reducing the damping up front. Conversely, you can reduce the grip in the rear by increasing the damping until you stop plowing. I did this over the weekend at VIR to rebalance the grip with my 18000-C's.
 
DGRacing said:
One way to reduce plowing in the front (to a point) is to increase the front grip by reducing the damping up front. Conversely, you can reduce the grip in the rear by increasing the damping until you stop plowing. I did this over the weekend at VIR to rebalance the grip with my 18000-C's.

Thanks for the advice. Did play around with the shock settings a bit but was thinking of trying the sway bar change on a tighter track and seeing how I like the handling/power application combination.
 
u00mem9 said:
Looks great! What wheels do you have? I don't recognize them.

They are from ARK Design and were marketed to the Japanese car crowd. I had seen them a while back, when I was in the Japanese car crowd but didn't like the look on anything I had seen them on.

After getting the Boss, saw that the company was trying to get rid of the rest of their stock so they were selling them pretty cheap. Mine are 18x9.5, 40mm offset, all the way around. They weigh 24 lbs a wheel, JWL and VIA certified, and cost me $155 a wheel shipped. Plenty of brembo clearance and actually look good on the Boss.

I believe they still have some wheels left. You can find them on eBay by searching ARK wheels or here is their site http://www.arkdesign-us.com/products/r8-wheels
 
Car looks great Jason. I think you're right that Chuckwalla will be a good test for it and I'll be interested to hear if it improves your lap times since the comparison will be fairly recent. Based on how you drove at Chuckwalla you're being too modest in the driver mod reference. We can always get better in that department, but in your case there's not much low hanging fruit to be had there ;)
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Jason- You're not giving yourself enough credit. It's hard to drive a car that plows. Work on your setup and I'm sure your times will drop.

Did you install or consider adding extended ball joints up front? Bumpsteer kit? Without knowing your full setup, I think I'd try to improve your front grip vs. reducing the rear with the 22mm bar.

Looking forward to further updates. I liked your rims in person, but the car looks even better now!
 
Cloud9 - Thanks! I do think I drive pretty decently but know I leave some on the table, especially at Big Willow.

Grant302 - Well, the current setup is pretty good with only a bit of plow so more of me just wanting to try out the slightly bigger rear bar to see what difference it makes. I have looked into the bumpsteer and extended ball joints and know they would help with the changes to geometry caused by the lowering but trying not to spend anymore money on mods (of course, we will see how well that works out).

Roadhouse - Thanks!
 

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