Sriracha's Build Thread

[srirachapenguin]

Very nice stance. Would you post FTG measurement front and rear for those of us still working on ride height? Thanks.

Thank you. Forgive my ignorance, but what is FTG?

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Fender To Ground measurement

 

[Siestarider]

Thank you. Forgive my ignorance, but what is FTG?

Just learned this one myself while trying to find a way to compare ride heights between cars of same make. I put the end of a tape on the ground next to wheel center and measure up 90 degrees to the highest point of fender lip over wheel. turns out that is called FTG by the cognoscenti. I use inches.

Not a perfect comparison but useful to note when trying to compare suspension setups. I am a little lower than stock right now on stock size wheels/tires, posted my FTG's on here somewhere recently, I will try to find it and link.

Edit: The other thread is Adjustable ride heights, no mouse to copy link with. Also, my FTG is 23.75" F and 24" R.

Sekred posted a link in that thread to Eibach springs that says OEM ride height is 13.4" F and R measured from center of wheel. Sekred and Jerrick of MeisterR both say better to use center of wheel to fender measurement so that wheel/tire variations are taken out of it.

So subtracting my current well worn OEM wheel/tire dimensions, my current wheel center to fender measurement should be 12.1" F and 12.3" R. Between 1.3 and 1.1" lower than stock. Probably a good place to stop and see how it behaves on track before more lowering.

 

[srirachapenguin]

I can try and get that either today or sometime this weekend. I never did an FTG measurement with the car stock, so I don't have that reference. I know I took one before doing the coilover install but do not remember what those numbers were...oops! I do know they would not have been the same as stock as my wheel/tire diameter is about 1" less than stock. So I'll do an FTG measurement and a measurement from the center of the wheel and post those two sets of numbers.

 

[srirachapenguin]

I got a chance to do some measurements. Here are my FTG (Fender to Ground) and FTH (Fenter to Hub center) measurements:

Front
FTG: 22-3/8"
FTH: 11-6/8"

Rear
FTG: 22-6/8"
FTH: 11-7/8"

 

[Siestarider]

I got a chance to do some measurements. Here are my FTG (Fender to Ground) and FTH (Fenter to Hub center) measurements:

Front
FTG: 22-3/8"
FTH: 11-6/8"

Rear
FTG: 22-6/8"
FTH: 11-7/8"

Just measured my FTH, had to use a level to get hub center start point accurate, even without hub caps its hard to get a good center hub reference.

Front FTH: 12-3/8"
Rear FTH: 12-5/8"

So according to Sekred's source help, I am lowered 1" in front and 0.8" rear.

Yours is lowered 1.65" front and 1.5" rear.

Seems hub to fender is harder to get accurate but also more accurate when done.

Several contributors here have pointed out that if lowered to the point inside ball joint is lower than outside control arm, roll center is messed up. I do not understand "roll center" well enough to opine how much lowering is ok before roll center is messed up. Anybody have some direction on this?

My car feels good at present, but I messed around so much with adjustments to dampers and ride height I no longer have a clear comparison to stock in my own mind.

 

[srirachapenguin]

To the question on roll center and ride height, I'm honestly not sure. I'll defer to those with more knowledge.

 

[Siestarider]

Just realized I was messing up your build thread, sorry about that.

Roll center and lowering limit probably need their own thread.

 

[srirachapenguin]

That probably does need it's own thread. No worries, though. I mind neither the conversation nor the thread bumps

 

[Siestarider]

10-4. I do not believe the maximum lowering possible is based on amount of threads, rather it should be based on suspension geometry. My impression is most adjustable coilover can be lowered past optimum suspension geometry to something less desirable.

 

[M-Sport fan]

10-4. I do not believe the maximum lowering possible is based on amount of threads, rather it should be based on suspension geometry. My impression is most adjustable coilovers can be lowered past optimum suspension geometry to something less desirable.

Yes, and we can blame the stanced, 15*-25*+ negative cambered, 'slammerzz' for that idiocy.

 

[srirachapenguin]

I have a set of sway bars on the way, though I will have a good bit of a wait since they are backordered at the moment. When I put them on, I'm going to change the stance. I'm going to raise the car back up about a half inch or so. I love the stance and the way it handles currently, but an inability to traverse a speed bump or a sloped driveway is a bit too much hassle for a daily driver.

 

[ModBargains]

Hoping they come in sooner then later

 

[srirachapenguin]

Yes, I hope so too! Once again, I have to thank Kevin [MENTION=348]ModBargains[/MENTION] for helping me get a good deal.

 

[ModBargains]

It's my pleasure, thanks for being an awesome customer as usual!

 

[srirachapenguin]

The good news: The Eibach front and rear sway bars arrived on Wednesday last week and I got them installed today. The bad news: I was a bad internet citizen and did not get any pics of the parts/install. Please don't hate me lol. Anyway, time for a bit of a review. Wow, these bars made a difference! I'd say the improvement of adding these is just as dramatic as going from the stock suspension to the coilover setup. The car stays so much flatter and more composed in the turns. This is super noticeable at the rear. The car used to try and hike up that outside wheel like a dog marking its territory, but it just stays planted now. Needless to say, I absolutely love this setup! I did raise the coilovers back up about a half an inch from where they were. I was worried about what effect it would have on the handling since the car loved that center of gravity so much. I need not have worried. Any negative impact there may have been was more than cancelled out by the sway bars. I think this is a fantastic setup now. I'll try to grab some new stance pictures later this week and will also try to get under the car and get some shots of the sway bars from underneath...undo my sin a little bit lol

 

[srirachapenguin]

Another mod (or set of mods, depending on how you count) is complete: I installed the Pierce Motorsports Street Suspension Package which consists of a torsion beam brace, front strut tower brace, and lower tie brace. These braces didn't really provide a massive improvement on top of all the other suspension work I've done so far. That said, they definitely did make an incremental improvement. The car seems just a little bit more settled, a little bit sharper/responsive. I was also impressed with the build quality of these things. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I was a better internet citizen this time and grabbed a couple pics. Unfortunately, no under-car pics of anything. Turns out that jack stand levels of clearance make for impossible cell phone pics. Who knew?

The braces:

FSTB installed:

At this point, I'm very happy with the way the car handles. I'm going to call the handling phase of this build complete. Time to turn to the next phase: MAOR POWER!

 

[srirachapenguin]

I promised pics of the new stance but never delivered. Here's how she sits now after raising the height back up a bit:

 

[srirachapenguin]

More mods accomplished! Last weekend I installed the Injen Intake. I also got the Cobb AccessPort and loaded up the Stage 1 93 octane map. Firstly, the install of the intake was fairly straightforward and flashing the car with the AP took less than 10min to do. I'm very pleased with the results. The car is definitely a bit quicker, more responsive. The power gain seems especially noticeable at lower revs where you need it most. I love the way the intake sounds! You can hear everything the turbo is doing now. When letting off the throttle, there's also a noticeable pssh sound like one would expect from a BOV. It's not loud enough to be obnoxious, but you definitely hear everything going on with the intake. Here's how it looks installed:

 

[MrClean]

Nice build OP