On Tue, 21 Jan 2003, Alan wrote:
> I had called TRF awhile ago to inquire about shocks and whoever I was
> talking to said that the Koni's were really over kill, because the front
> end doens't weigh that much.
????
I don't get this at all. First off, on a stock TR6, the front comes in at
over 700 pounds per corner. While not extremely heavy it's not light
either. But the SPRINGS are what controls weight transfer. The shocks are
there to dampen the harmonic motion in the spring (gross understatement of
basic physics).
But there are two things about the Konis that are good. First off, many
Konis are rebuildable. This is a really good thing, because shocks do a
lot of work and they wear out either from just plain wear or from lack of
use... but they do wear out. With you $200 Koni pair of shocks, you send
'em in (with some $$$) and you get to re-use them. With your brand-x
shocks, this is not always the case.
But the other thing about the shocks is this - if you want performance,
you start with tires. The idea is get the best rubber you can. The next
step is the shocks. Shocks are instrumental in keeping the rubber on the
road and thus improve the handling. In fact, shock technology is so far
advanced now that race teams have shock dynos and the run all the shocks
(teams carry multiple spares at the professional level) through the dyno
so they know _exactly_ how they perform. Shocks are crucial to handling.
Bottom line - if you buy $80 shocks, you get $80 shocks. If you buy Koni
(or Carerra or other higher end (like Penske)) shocks, you really do get
what you pay for and then some. I understand budgets as well as the next
guy, but it always amazes me that someone will spend $xxxx on a _paint
job_ and then make up for the outlay by putting $xx shocks on a car.
Oh well.
> The front shocks are still one of the few things I haven't replaced. They
> are blue but there is no name on them.
They could be replacements (like Monroe) r they could be stock. It seems
to me that the originals were blue in the two TR6's that I had access to
way back when (but I could be off base).
> The car originaly had 2 or 3 shims in the front, but after I wore out a set
> of tires after 1st acquiring the car, I had the front end aligned and it
> required a couple more shims to streighten things out.
The frames on these cars can twist pretty easily - there's no golden rule
on how many shims you should have. Get the car on a rack and get it
aligned. If you wind up with 3 shims on one side and none on the other, so
be it. However, chances are pretty good that if one side needs no shims
that the frame has been tweaked sometime in the car's past.
> Bob, do you know what the KYB part # was?
I don't have a clue, but I'm probably not the "Bob" you're addressing
here.
:-)
> Al Salvatore
> 76tr6
C ya,
rml
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