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[TR] RE: Front Koni Shock Settings

To: triumphs@autox.team.net, tswrace@pacbell.net
Subject: [TR] RE: Front Koni Shock Settings
From: "Jeffrey J. Barteet" <barteet@mrl.ucsb.edu>
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:22:43 -0700
Tom, List,

I've messed around a few times with my koni "classic" adjustables.

Because of the shock access, it's not exactly a 5 minute job to change the
settings.

So I don't have the EXACT setup as your TR3.

I have a '62 TR4 with an ADDCO front sway bar. 3/4" I believe. Stock springs all
around.

I have tried the Konis at maximum damping resistance, and approximately '2/3'
and '1/2' settings. Those latter two were guessed at as I just tried to get
both shocks the same.

In the end, I went back to maximum damping resistance. The car just felt better
(to me) this way.

I control the harshness of the ride with tire inflation, and this has worked
better than I ever imagined.

I have 205/65/15 Pirelli 600 tires on K&N 'minitaur' rims. I can go quite low on
the inflation, i.e., 22 psi, and the car feels VERY smooth with a little bit of
trade off in sidewall flex in hard cornering. (And the tires by no means look
flat)

I have run the tires up as high as 38-40 psi in "autocross mode" which feels
good in an autocross sort of way, lots of feedback to the steering wheel, and
very quick steering response, but it will knock your fillings loose.

Most of the time on the street, I run the tire pressure somewhere in the 25 psi
range. Experiment and match the ride to your driving style.

Your tires are probably smaller, as I got greedy on the tire width with this set
of tires. So I'm guessing a smaller tire will do the same thing at different
pressures.

It seems we've done a bijillion tire polls on the list, but I don't recall
people talking much about pressures.

And old Harley hard-tail guy is the one who turned me onto the significant
difference a few psi can make in how the tire rides.

-jeffrey

--
Jeffrey J. Barteet
Materials Research Laboratory
University of California, Santa Barbarat


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