Aftermarket Springs and AAS?

[djmtsu]

I would help you out on the switch delete, but I have to keep it for my FC

[Rx-7fetish]

Originally Posted by infernosg

Definitely good info again. I've heard bad things about coil sleeves from the crowd with my last car, but are the Ground Control sleeves any good for the RX-7?

I run ground control on my daily driver and love it. When your order a set of their coilovers they ask you how you drive the car the most and send you springs stiffness according to what you tell them.

Originally Posted by RETed

Are you trying to avoid these brands?
If so, then stay away from the Tanabe GF210's and the Tein S-Tech's.
Both are known to have larger diameters, thus you'll end up with LESS clearance than stock.

Tien S-tech was what i ran before the ground control, i had to use wheel spacers to keep from rubbing, when i took them off i found one of the front springs had sagged a noticeable difference from the other, then i found out that the S in S-tech stood for style

Originally Posted by RETed

Other good quality aftermarket springs are Racing Beat and Eibach (if you can find these).


-Ted

Eibach is the spring brand that ground control uses, its says so somewhere on the site and the springs have the name on them when i got them. The nice thing about the ground control set up is if you decide later that you want to get stiffer or softer springs you can order the new ones right from eibach, its the same springs they use on their coilovers. and reuse the rest of your suspension components. Also if one component of your system goes bad you can replace that specific part, instead of if a strut goes out on an expensive coilover set you gotta lot more pricey part to replace.

Originally Posted by Max777

IF you price out AGX struts, GC sleeves, and camber plates new, you get roughly $1144.00 without shipping or taxes.

Stance GR+ Coilovers go for $1200, are well designed, and have independent rideheight/spring compression adjustability, so even if you slam your car you still have full shock travel. You can get these with softer spring rates like 8K front 6K rear as well if you are worried about them being too stiff.

See above statement. Also slammed cars are completely impractical for a daily driver. Its a pita to get anywhere. Ask me how i know.........

Originally Posted by Max777

The stock AAS is crap, and should be gutted, the FC does not deserve such a disgrace of a suspension "system".

That was ground breaking technology at the time. Its only crap now because of what you said exactly its 20 years old.

Originally Posted by Max777

People that don't have experience with modding often are very "Superstitious" when it comes to stuff, and worry about stipid shit like those AAS buttons, keeping the intake sleeves on a 6pt system, keeping emissions that down work, etc..... come on, it's a 20 y/o car. I bet once you get some new shocks that actually work, you will forget all about the ass.... I mean aas anyway.

Not wanting useless buttons is hardly a superstition. Its showing care for your car. Taking the sleeves out kills bottom end, and the emissions does work, try passing a smog test without it. Instead of ripping broken parts out and calling it fixed how bout you fix them the right way. Of course its twenty years old, stuff breaks, not cause it sucks or was a poor design but because its old (okay the s4 6port activation system was a poor design, but their are numerous fixes all covered on this site somewhere.)

[Rx-7fetish]

Originally Posted by infernosg

Oops, by ECU I meant the control system for the AAS (I've heard people refer to the switches/motherboard as the ECU such as the horn ECU, wiper ECU, etc). I always thought the RX-7's systems were modular being OBDI. Either way, definitely easier to work with than my old Protege in which every mod required a resistor or something to trick the ECU.

But yeah, I'd probably just remove all the wiring and the switch just for completeness' sake.

No computer for it, just the switch to tell the motors what to do and the motors. Just unplug the switch and remove the motors

[Max777]

Originally Posted by djmtsu

The stock AAS is not crap.

It's crap.

[infernosg]

^^^ LOL!

Originally Posted by Rx-7fetish

I run ground control on my daily driver and love it. When your order a set of their coilovers they ask you how you drive the car the most and send you springs stiffness according to what you tell them.

Tien S-tech was what i ran before the ground control, i had to use wheel spacers to keep from rubbing, when i took them off i found one of the front springs had sagged a noticeable difference from the other, then i found out that the S in S-tech stood for style

Eibach is the spring brand that ground control uses, its says so somewhere on the site and the springs have the name on them when i got them. The nice thing about the ground control set up is if you decide later that you want to get stiffer or softer springs you can order the new ones right from eibach, its the same springs they use on their coilovers. and reuse the rest of your suspension components. Also if one component of your system goes bad you can replace that specific part, instead of if a strut goes out on an expensive coilover set you gotta lot more pricey part to replace.

See above statement. Also slammed cars are completely impractical for a daily driver. Its a pita to get anywhere. Ask me how i know.........

That was ground breaking technology at the time. Its only crap now because of what you said exactly its 20 years old.

Not wanting useless buttons is hardly a superstition. Its showing care for your car. Taking the sleeves out kills bottom end, and the emissions does work, try passing a smog test without it. Instead of ripping broken parts out and calling it fixed how bout you fix them the right way. Of course its twenty years old, stuff breaks, not cause it sucks or was a poor design but because its old (okay the s4 6port activation system was a poor design, but their are numerous fixes all covered on this site somewhere.)

Definitely good info. Although the GC's are a little more expensive than I was considering the smaller spring diameter is a plus so it is something I am considering. As for slamming the car, that is something I am definitely not out to do. It's becomming more and more the fad to do so but I'm of the mind of a modest drop with more emphasis on performance improvement (ie, no crazy camber, stretched tires, etc.).

The only other thing I can think to comment on is the emissions removal. I was considering it somewhere down the line, but only if there is a "sanitized" version that would allow me to keep the airpump, OMP, BAC, etc. I could care less about the emissions as there is no e-check where I live, but I do not want to overly affect the driveability of a daily driver.

[djmtsu]

Originally Posted by Max777

It's crap.

Alright, but all things being equal, I can hang with any combination of suspension on the Dragon.

[Max777]

omp does not have anything to do with the emissions, even S5 electrical ones will work fine with no emissions. You can keep the BAC no problem, in fact it's recommended, as well as the thermowax on the throttle body.

If you have an N/A, you can open the ports w/o the air pump. Check up Kevin Landers' write up.

As far as modding a 20yo, that's just the point, it's a 20yo car, not a Ferrari, so why treat it like one?

My car is fine, but it's hardly perfect, however I'm not disheartened by that, because I would rather sacrifice some little insignificant thing like a switch for better handling. Or a bit of low end torque for top end power. You'd be crazy not to... After all, modding a car is all about sacrificing one thing for another.

[Rx-7fetish]

Originally Posted by Max777

omp does not have anything to do with the emissions, even S5 electrical ones will work fine with no emissions. You can keep the BAC no problem, in fact it's recommended, as well as the thermowax on the throttle body.

If you have an N/A, you can open the ports w/o the air pump. Check up Kevin Landers' write up.

As far as modding a 20yo, that's just the point, it's a 20yo car, not a Ferrari, so why treat it like one?

My car is fine, but it's hardly perfect, however I'm not disheartened by that, because I would rather sacrifice some little insignificant thing like a switch for better handling. Or a bit of low end torque for top end power. You'd be crazy not to... After all, modding a car is all about sacrificing one thing for another.

6 bucks sacrificed for a fish tank valve and some vac line has my ports working perfect, no loss of low end or top end, just an hour to get parts and roughly an hour to install and adjust. I built the car 5 years ago when i was 16 and didnt find the need to get rid of anything your talking about. I dont have emissions where i live and i still kept it all on my car.

[Ender]

I eliminated emissions for a few reasons:
1) More vacuum lines, solenoids, and other crap to break and therefore diagnose and fix.
2) It looks like shit. There's a reason it's called the rat's nest.
3) Weight. The lines and solenoids don't weigh much, but the ACV, air pump, and air pump intake probably make up ~15lbs.
4) It further familiarized me with the car, its systems and how they were originally made to work, and then how I can improve or improvise on that.

[infernosg]

^^^ I can see why someone would want to do that. This car, however, is going to be DD so the ACV, air pump, OMP, BAC, thermowax, 6PI and related components will be retained. If I can remove some/all emissions equipment and retain those then great, otherwise everything will be staying in.

[Max777]

Originally Posted by djmtsu

Alright, but all things being equal, I can hang with any combination of suspension on the Dragon.

That just means you might be a decent driver and can use the car better than a lesser driver with better suspension. Tires also play a big part in it, some Toyos will make any relic handle like it's new again, while a guy with stiff suspension and worn out all seasons wont be as fast.

[Max777]

Originally Posted by infernosg

^^^ I can see why someone would want to do that. This car, however, is going to be DD so the ACV, air pump, OMP, BAC, thermowax, 6PI and related components will be retained. If I can remove some/all emissions equipment and retain those then great, otherwise everything will be staying in.

why would you want to keep the acv, air pump and the rat's nest?

The car drives fine w/o them, you can keep the other components like the OMP, the BAC, and warm up pellet, and remove the rest like I already said. I dont understand how "being a daily driver" has anything to do with keeping that stuff, cause it BARELY affects drivability....

Originally Posted by Rx-7fetish

6 bucks sacrificed for a fish tank valve and some vac line has my ports working perfect, no loss of low end or top end, just an hour to get parts and roughly an hour to install and adjust. I built the car 5 years ago when i was 16 and didnt find the need to get rid of anything your talking about. I don't have emissions where i live and i still kept it all on my car.

see? That's what I'm trying to figure out... I don't understand the need to keep almost any of it? To me, it's old useless crap that's taking up extra space in my engine bay, and making it look ghetto. Same goes for the stock fan and air box... I understand that some states you NEED to keep some of this stuff, but i can't imagine why anyone would want to unless you are trying to restore the car perfectly stock down to the last detail?

Emissions removal also makes it a lot easier and less of a hassle to pull the top intake off if you need to have access to the injectors or wiring harness.

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by Max777

why would you want to keep the acv, air pump and the rat's nest?

The car drives fine w/o them, you can keep the other components like the OMP, the BAC, and warm up pellet, and remove the rest like I already said. I dont understand how "being a daily driver" has anything to do with keeping that stuff, cause it BARELY affects drivability....

I have S5 and I'd rather keep the 6 ports functioning so that means ACV and air pump are staying. If those are tied to the rat's nest (ie, it can't be removed without losing them) then it'll all stay. There are some decent hills and such where I live, I'd rather keep what little bottom end torque I have.

[djmtsu]

This thread has gone off topic.......big time.

[infernosg]

Well I guess my initial question was answered: you can run aftermarket springs in conjunction with the stock AAS system but some people feel the system itself sucks and is better off removed (among other systems). I guess close thread?