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Motion Control Suspension 2W Coilovers

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#1
I've been running MCS 2-way adjustable remote reservoir dampers with Eibach springs (400lb front, 350lb rear) for a year now. The front dampers are Fiesta dampers, the rears are Mazda 2 coilover dampers. About half of these pictures were taken during the installation a year ago, so the sizes aren't consistent.

The rear dampers use clevis mounts instead of the OEM style shock mount at the top. The rear shock reservoirs are mounted inside the car, in the side pockets of the hatch.

rearShockTopClevisMount.jpg
rearShockBottom(2).jpg
rearReservoirInterior.JPG


The front shocks use BC Racing camber plates with the shock mount drilled out to fit the 22mm shaft. The front reservoirs are mounted in the engine bay, with the driver's side mounted on top of the battery (a simple plate sandwiched between the battery tie down and the battery). The passenger side reservoir is held by a mount welded to a Mishimoto coolant reservoir tank (see picture).

frontShock.jpg
frontShock2.jpg
frontReservoirs.JPG
frontReservoirDriver.JPG
frontReservoirPass.JPG
camberPlate.JPG

This isn't going to be a review of these coilovers. They're competition level dampers, originally specced for slicks (original spring rate was 600lb front, 400lb rear springs, too much for street driving). I'm just posting these so people know they are an option for track/competition cars. They ride fine on the street, with a rebuild interval is 20-25,000 miles. They're noisy, especially at low speeds. But I think they're awesome and I'm very happy with them.
 


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D1JL

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#2
I am curious if you did any additional structure support to the top of the rear mounts?
That location is only sheet metal and was never designed to carry the load of the rear spring/car.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #3
That's really good question. The clevis mounts have a thick baseplate where they mount to the stock damper location, but I didn't actually do the install, so I'm not sure if there's any reinforcement done to the top of the damper mount. I'll have to check.

Edit: I suspect not, looking at my invoice.

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D1JL

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#4
I have/had a similar setup with the Ford B-Spec coilover set built by Eibach.
It was finally thought that with the constant pounding of the rear suspension due to our road conditions that it may cause a liability issue here in the US.
The B-Spec cars had additional body reinforcement done and the roll cage aided that.

Rear Down Tubes Mount XL.jpg
 


OP
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Thread Starter #5
Did you have issues with your kit on the street?

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OP
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Thread Starter #7
Hm. I'll talk with my shop and MCS directly about this, then.

That was good to know; thanks for the heads-up.

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OP
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Thread Starter #9
I stopped by the shop that did the installation and asked about reinforcement of the rear shock mount. When I first decided to go with these Motion Controls, MCS approached my shop about testing the clevis mounts for the top of the rear shocks. Part of that was taking pictures of the mount and comparing to the caged cars that got similar kits. MCS was confident that the area wouldn't need reinforcement, so the shop didn't add plates.

So, I was told that MCS doesn't think the area needs reinforcement for a street/track car. The dampers will come out of the car for servicing at the end of the year. When that happens, we'll look closely at the area around the shock mount to see if anything needs to be done at that time. And, of course, I'll post about that or any failures I have here.

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D1JL

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#10
If I may make a suggestion.
Take a measurement between the tops of the rear shocks now and compare it at the end of the year.
The stress over time should cause that distance to become less.
Unlike the front, there is no bulkhead to prevent the coilover tops to bow inward.
That is what the gussets and roll cage provided.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #11
If I may make a suggestion.
Take a measurement between the tops of the rear shocks now and compare it at the end of the year.
The stress over time should cause that distance to become less.
Unlike the front, there is no bulkhead to prevent the coilover tops to bow inward.
That is what the gussets and roll cage provided.
A good suggestion. I'll take that measurement this weekend when I've emptied the hatch.

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kevinatfms

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#12
If I may make a suggestion.
Take a measurement between the tops of the rear shocks now and compare it at the end of the year.
The stress over time should cause that distance to become less.
Unlike the front, there is no bulkhead to prevent the coilover tops to bow inward.
That is what the gussets and roll cage provided.
Id be worried about a big enough hit to rip right through the top sheet metal where it bolts into the body. This is very reminiscent of the E46 BMW M3 rear spring perch issue. Over time it will crack and tear.
 


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#13
I'd highly recommend running a rear strut bar if you're going to do this. it will help protect the towers similar to how a cage can. cheap insurance
 


OP
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Thread Starter #16
It's still good! The car still rides great on the street and hasn't developed any new noises. I haven't put in a strut bar like y'all have suggested, but it's still on the list.

I haven't seen any tearing it deformation on the rear shock towers when I last inspected them early this summer, but I A) stopped driving the Fiesta on track after some serious brake issues in February and B) just generally didn't drive it much this year (I've only driven my Fiesta about 1k miles since March).

If I was doing my normal 10k miles/10 track events per year I would probably be scheduling a rebuild in December. With my current usage that is probably at least another 12 months into the future. And that's just going off MCS's recommended service intervals, not because I've seen any leaking or had performance degrade. I'm in Texas, so rust isn't really an issue, either.

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OP
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Thread Starter #17
Update:
At 18k miles on the coilover kit the driver's front and driver's rear shocks have started leaking. I'll be sending these in for servicing in the next month or so, once I get my other car back from having *its* coilovers serviced. The service interval MCS posts on their website is every 15-20k miles for street/track use, so I'm right in the middle of that window.
 


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#18
Update:
At 18k miles on the coilover kit the driver's front and driver's rear shocks have started leaking. I'll be sending these in for servicing in the next month or so, once I get my other car back from having *its* coilovers serviced. The service interval MCS posts on their website is every 15-20k miles for street/track use, so I'm right in the middle of that window.
Curious how my MeisterR are doing then, since I've put like 40-50k on them now.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #19
Possibly better than mine. But the lighter colored shock bodies let me see the leaks early. I'd eyeball yours, tho, just to be safe. My other car is getting its suspension rebuilt because I didn't catch a leak early and drove it until the seals catastrophically failed on the highway and started banging (those are custom Bilsteins, not MCSs).
 


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#20
Possibly better than mine. But the lighter colored shock bodies let me see the leaks early. I'd eyeball yours, tho, just to be safe. My other car is getting its suspension rebuilt because I didn't catch a leak early and drove it until the seals catastrophically failed on the highway and started banging (those are custom Bilsteins, not MCSs).
I was debating on upgrading to like Fortune 510s, but the price just went up on them quite a bit, and I'm not sure I'm keeping the car forever.
 




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