Need help!! Instructions for adjusting Koni dampers on Stasis Track Sport kit suck!!
02-08-2005, 07:19 PM
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Need help!! Instructions for adjusting Koni dampers on Stasis Track Sport kit suck!!
I can't tell from the instructions whether I need to turn the shaft to the left or the right to tighten up the rebound. From the engine compartment facing the top of the damper, it just keeps spinning. Doesn't stop left or right. What the hell!! If anyone has this kit and knows how to adjust, please help!
Thanks,
Josh
Thanks,
Josh
02-08-2005, 07:30 PM
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Re: don't you have to <compress-turn> to adjust?
don't know what you mean about compress turn, but your supposed to be able to adjust while installed on car. I have tried turning both while the car is on the ground and when jacked up with the wheel at full droop? I would think that no matter which way turned it would bottom out, but just keeps spinning?
02-08-2005, 07:46 PM
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dumb question.
you did drill the hole for the adjustment tool, right?
If it keeps spinning, then the tool isn't seated all the way down on the tab.
if you have the STASIS tool, it has the word FIRM with an arrow going counter-clockwise.
If it keeps spinning, then the tool isn't seated all the way down on the tab.
if you have the STASIS tool, it has the word FIRM with an arrow going counter-clockwise.
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02-08-2005, 07:59 PM
#8
if you have a tab at the top of the shaft, and you are actually turning it, you'll get about...
... 2 1/2 turns lock to lock on the adjuster. As Paul pointed out below, counter-clocwise is FIRM.
02-08-2005, 08:01 PM
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Do you have the old(yellow painted) or the new(gold anidized)?
Only the newer ones are adjustable on the car.
Like Paul said, the tool is most likely not seated all the way down into the shock rod like it needs to be.
I'm at the same place you are. I think the problem is that the holes you drilled are not in perfect alignment with the adjuster. You will need to either take the shocks off and drill bigger holes or take a dremmel and oval out the holes so the tool fits(thats what I'm going to do). If the tool can go through the body hole and the spring plate hole, but still "spins" you have not engaged the adjuster because your holes are not just right relative to the shock rod/adjuster.
Jason at Stasis is really great and sent me a tool when one was'nt in my kit. He sent me a portion of a Stasis install doc. that has some good info.
Here it is:
RIDE HEIGHT
Ride height is a function of spring rate and vehicle weight. We use the B5 S4 Manual Sedan as a baseline. This vehicle equipped with the recommended 600/700 spring rates for the B5 S4 Track Sport kit will be able to retain OEM ride height. You will be able to adjust the car lower than that. The limiting factor in adjusting ride height will be the rear. Though with these spring rates there should be no need to get the car any lower. If you wish to further lower the vehicle, you can run a shorter rear spring (6" vs. 8"). A common rear spring rate of 800 will result in a minimum rear ride height of 25.25".
Our recommendation on ride height varies based mainly on spring rates, and secondly on vehicle use. To maintain proper compression travel, we have come up with this general guide on ride heights:
600lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.675" front ride height
700lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.5" front ride height
800lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.25" front ride height
Changing ride height in the Track Sport kit should not require the use of a spanner wrench. In addition, each turn of the spring perch equates to about 1/8" change at the wheel. So to lower the car 1/2", we would first recommend turning the perch 4 turns and checking ride hieght again.
ALIGNMENT SETTINGS
In a car with OEM upper front control arms, front camber becomes a function of ride height. Factory front camber in a B5 S4 is about -.7 degrees. Lowering the car to 25" front ride height will yield about -2.0 degrees of camber in the front. Our recommended ride height settings generate a front camber of -1.2 to -1.7 degrees. Given this, we recommend running about -1.0 degree in the rear, or as little as -0.5 degrees.
For Toe, this varies mostly on vehicle use. If you do a lot of freeway driving, we recommend 0 Toe in the front, and 1/16" Toe IN in the rear. If you are an aggressive driver, that does not car too much about straight line stability on the freeway, we recommend running 0 Toe front and rear. For customers who track their car a lot, we recommend running about 1/16" Toe OUT in the rear, and 0 Toe up front.
At our recommended alignment settings, tire wear will need to be managed. Our recommendation is to rotate the tires front to back at 5k miles. For customers who want the absolute maximum tire longevity, at 10k miles, we recommend having them remounted in to out. At this point, repeat the process of rotating at 5k miles. This should generate 20k miles of very usable tire life.
For customers who do not wish to remount the tires, rotating every 5k miles should still generate a good usable life out of the tires.
ADJUSTING THE DAMPERS
The Track Sport kit features dampers with rebound adjustment both front and rear. The dampers come with external adjustability both front and rear, though it is essential to properly install the dampers for access to the adjustments when installed. The rebound adjuster (both front and rear) has about 2 1/2 turns from MIN to MAX. The dampers come pre-set based on the spring rates and should not be adjusted prior to installation. Additionally, the dampers take about 2 weeks on average to break in. The dampers will soften and lose some of thier initial "edginess" that they have when first installed.
The dampers are adjusted in the front via a tab. To increase the damping force, turn the tab counter-clocwise. To decrease the damping force, turn the tab clockwise. The adjuster is somewhat non-linear in its range. So the last 1/2 turn before full MAX will affect more force than the first 1/2 turn from full MIN. The rear dampers have the same adjuster, but you access it from the side of the shaft. There is a wheel that is installed on the tab to allow for adjustment from the side. This wheel has 4 holes in it. As you sweep the wheel from left to right you will run out of range in the window on the mount. Thus the next hole appears and you continue adjusting. Since you are adjusting from the side, as you sweep the adjuster from left to right, you are turning the adjustment tab counter-clocwise which is increasing rebound force. We measure rear rebound in "sweeps" as it is easier to count.
There is no exact pre-set ratio of front to rear adjustments, though the following will give good general guidelines for settings (all settings are from full MIN):
+ 1/2 Turn Front, +3 to +5 Sweeps Rear = Normal Street Setup
+ 1 to +1 1/2 Turns Front, +5 to +7 Sweeps Rear = Aggressive Street Setup
+2 Turns Front, +8 to +9 Sweeps Rear = Track Setup
In general, most customers just want to adjust the Track Sport kit to their particular driving conditions and style. Customers who like the car really tight, and do little freeway driving tend to run more rebound force than customers who do more freeway driving and like the car a bit more compliant. Typically, most issues with inbalance in the rebound of the Track Sport kit can be adjusted via the rear dampers. Since the rear of the car is very sensitive to rebound changes, small changes can have a large affect on how the car behaves.
If the car is having issues on the freeway coming out of dips (pogo-ing), the one of two things is happening. First, if the rear of the car is kicking the customer forward in their seat, then they are likely running too much rear rebound, and they should soften it by a minimum of 2 sweeps. If the car is not kicking them forward, then it is likely the the front is running too much rebound relative to the rear. So increasing the rear rebound to match the fronts will help balance this out. However, running a lot of rebound force all around, though balanced, may result in a freeway ride that is aggressive coming out of dips. The car will remain very "stuck" to the road, and will transmit more input into the driver. By reducing the rebound force all around, the car will in fact move more coming out of dips, but the result will be more compliant to the driver.
Like Paul said, the tool is most likely not seated all the way down into the shock rod like it needs to be.
I'm at the same place you are. I think the problem is that the holes you drilled are not in perfect alignment with the adjuster. You will need to either take the shocks off and drill bigger holes or take a dremmel and oval out the holes so the tool fits(thats what I'm going to do). If the tool can go through the body hole and the spring plate hole, but still "spins" you have not engaged the adjuster because your holes are not just right relative to the shock rod/adjuster.
Jason at Stasis is really great and sent me a tool when one was'nt in my kit. He sent me a portion of a Stasis install doc. that has some good info.
Here it is:
RIDE HEIGHT
Ride height is a function of spring rate and vehicle weight. We use the B5 S4 Manual Sedan as a baseline. This vehicle equipped with the recommended 600/700 spring rates for the B5 S4 Track Sport kit will be able to retain OEM ride height. You will be able to adjust the car lower than that. The limiting factor in adjusting ride height will be the rear. Though with these spring rates there should be no need to get the car any lower. If you wish to further lower the vehicle, you can run a shorter rear spring (6" vs. 8"). A common rear spring rate of 800 will result in a minimum rear ride height of 25.25".
Our recommendation on ride height varies based mainly on spring rates, and secondly on vehicle use. To maintain proper compression travel, we have come up with this general guide on ride heights:
600lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.675" front ride height
700lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.5" front ride height
800lb. Front Spring = No lower than 25.25" front ride height
Changing ride height in the Track Sport kit should not require the use of a spanner wrench. In addition, each turn of the spring perch equates to about 1/8" change at the wheel. So to lower the car 1/2", we would first recommend turning the perch 4 turns and checking ride hieght again.
ALIGNMENT SETTINGS
In a car with OEM upper front control arms, front camber becomes a function of ride height. Factory front camber in a B5 S4 is about -.7 degrees. Lowering the car to 25" front ride height will yield about -2.0 degrees of camber in the front. Our recommended ride height settings generate a front camber of -1.2 to -1.7 degrees. Given this, we recommend running about -1.0 degree in the rear, or as little as -0.5 degrees.
For Toe, this varies mostly on vehicle use. If you do a lot of freeway driving, we recommend 0 Toe in the front, and 1/16" Toe IN in the rear. If you are an aggressive driver, that does not car too much about straight line stability on the freeway, we recommend running 0 Toe front and rear. For customers who track their car a lot, we recommend running about 1/16" Toe OUT in the rear, and 0 Toe up front.
At our recommended alignment settings, tire wear will need to be managed. Our recommendation is to rotate the tires front to back at 5k miles. For customers who want the absolute maximum tire longevity, at 10k miles, we recommend having them remounted in to out. At this point, repeat the process of rotating at 5k miles. This should generate 20k miles of very usable tire life.
For customers who do not wish to remount the tires, rotating every 5k miles should still generate a good usable life out of the tires.
ADJUSTING THE DAMPERS
The Track Sport kit features dampers with rebound adjustment both front and rear. The dampers come with external adjustability both front and rear, though it is essential to properly install the dampers for access to the adjustments when installed. The rebound adjuster (both front and rear) has about 2 1/2 turns from MIN to MAX. The dampers come pre-set based on the spring rates and should not be adjusted prior to installation. Additionally, the dampers take about 2 weeks on average to break in. The dampers will soften and lose some of thier initial "edginess" that they have when first installed.
The dampers are adjusted in the front via a tab. To increase the damping force, turn the tab counter-clocwise. To decrease the damping force, turn the tab clockwise. The adjuster is somewhat non-linear in its range. So the last 1/2 turn before full MAX will affect more force than the first 1/2 turn from full MIN. The rear dampers have the same adjuster, but you access it from the side of the shaft. There is a wheel that is installed on the tab to allow for adjustment from the side. This wheel has 4 holes in it. As you sweep the wheel from left to right you will run out of range in the window on the mount. Thus the next hole appears and you continue adjusting. Since you are adjusting from the side, as you sweep the adjuster from left to right, you are turning the adjustment tab counter-clocwise which is increasing rebound force. We measure rear rebound in "sweeps" as it is easier to count.
There is no exact pre-set ratio of front to rear adjustments, though the following will give good general guidelines for settings (all settings are from full MIN):
+ 1/2 Turn Front, +3 to +5 Sweeps Rear = Normal Street Setup
+ 1 to +1 1/2 Turns Front, +5 to +7 Sweeps Rear = Aggressive Street Setup
+2 Turns Front, +8 to +9 Sweeps Rear = Track Setup
In general, most customers just want to adjust the Track Sport kit to their particular driving conditions and style. Customers who like the car really tight, and do little freeway driving tend to run more rebound force than customers who do more freeway driving and like the car a bit more compliant. Typically, most issues with inbalance in the rebound of the Track Sport kit can be adjusted via the rear dampers. Since the rear of the car is very sensitive to rebound changes, small changes can have a large affect on how the car behaves.
If the car is having issues on the freeway coming out of dips (pogo-ing), the one of two things is happening. First, if the rear of the car is kicking the customer forward in their seat, then they are likely running too much rear rebound, and they should soften it by a minimum of 2 sweeps. If the car is not kicking them forward, then it is likely the the front is running too much rebound relative to the rear. So increasing the rear rebound to match the fronts will help balance this out. However, running a lot of rebound force all around, though balanced, may result in a freeway ride that is aggressive coming out of dips. The car will remain very "stuck" to the road, and will transmit more input into the driver. By reducing the rebound force all around, the car will in fact move more coming out of dips, but the result will be more compliant to the driver.
