Katie Kelly gets to process through all of her email:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kelly, Katie [mailto:kkelly@spss.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 2:36 PM
> To: autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: RE: Clarification on the clarification (BS protest)
>
>
> Kevin McCormick writes...
>
> >Turns out that Ms. Kelly's Koni's may be a pre-production
> set that differs
> >in the perch height compared to the currently available
> units, and those
> >(Ms. Kelly's) are legal via the protest route. Competitors
> using recently
> >purchased Koni's are suggested to do their own math.
>
> My understanding is a bit different. It's also vague as hell.
> There are
> many, many different types of aftermarket Koni shocks
> available for Miata
> Rs. All have the same part number, though some have two perch
> settings (one
> being "stock"), some have three, and some have five.
There are three sets of Koni's for first gen Miata's - the first had five
grooves, the second had two, and the third had three. At least the part
numbers between the second and third are different. Too much technicality
here, but just wanted to be correct.
>
> This is what I heard, anyway, when talking to other Miata R drivers.
>
> Apparently, earlier versions of said shock came with the
> perch setting set
> at 2mm too low. Now, what I'm going to tell you now is purely
> what I've
> heard through the rumor mill, and is not to be taken as fact,
> but according
> to my sources (B Stock Miata drivers), Kumar Viswalingham (I
> hope I spelled
> that correctly!), who works for Koni, had this error in shock
> design fixed,
> so later versions of the same shock were made within the
> spec, or at least
> within legal tolerances.
As I had heard as well, except that empirical data suggests that not all
currently available one are at this height (witness my new ones and other's
similar experiences.)
Legal tolerances is an interesting term that others have used (so not
picking on Ms. Kelly) The rule is pretty clear, but yet not. It says 'no
lower than' meaning that there is no tolerance (except higher) - yet eyelet
bushing sag happens, so, what does one measure? Two new shocks? Two used
ones? That was part of all of this. Certainly the .050" that Ms. Kelly's
were low was 'in the noise' and not worth 'anything'.
>
> Lucy's were within the legal tolerances. I am not certain
> whether or not
> Lucy's shocks were a "pre-production" set. I bought them used
> from a friend
> of mine, who, incidentally, just sent me an email confirming
> that the shocks
> were within the legal spec.
>
> In short, I would advise all B Stock Miata drivers to measure very
> carefully! You might not be as lucky as me!
Don't worry, everyone, I'm going to GS (or wherever the Type-R ends up!)
Kevin
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