>From: dg50@daimlerchrysler.com
>Subject: Re: BS Protest (sorry it's long)
>
<snip!>
>Because if it is, it sounds to me like perhaps the protest comittee made a
>mistake. The spring perch height on aftermarket shock must be at the same
>distance from the end of the shock (plus or minus any tolerences in the rules)
>as on the stock shock. If Katie's spring perch was in fact in the "wrong"
>groove, then the car should have been found illegal.
>
I'm missing something about the rule here. (No rulebook with me right now, else
I'd check the language.) I thought that shocks were completely free, so that
any ride-height variations induced by the shock were OK. Hence all the "Baja
Miatas" jacked up on their gas shocks or squished down on front shocks set to
full soft. What gives? The shocks on my car are straight out of the box from
Tokico (yeah, I know) - do I have to second-guess all the aftermarket
manufacturers by measuring shocks in various ways before I install them on the
car? Yikes!
Furthermore, spring free length and control-arm length are both subject to
*significant* car-to-car variations on Miatae - is it OK to pick through the
junkyard and pick out some long lower control arms and shortie springs?
Howabout picking through the dealer lot searching for a car that is far to one
side of the production variance? If so, it's not clear to me that even if Katie
had set Lucy's shocks to the "wrong" notch, that this would have resulted in a
ride height that she couldn't have acheived with other parts picking. What's
the spirit of the rule?
Anyhow, I've met both Katie and Kevin and they've been very friendly even when
I may have been the loosest behind-the-wheel-nut on course. I mean no offense
to either person here.
Antoun Nabhan * 617.901.8871 voice/page
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