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Thread: Never thought I'd have a build thread in 2019 - 96 NA Build :)

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  1. #22
    Idling - Listen to it purr...
    Drives
    96 Red NA
    Location
    Miami, FL
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Posts
    43
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    So last month I ordered a set of Fortune Auto coils to replace the Megans I initially went with on the car. I wanted a high quality coilover that will see track duty about 5 times a year. FA's customer service is bar none, the coils are assembled here in the USA, they have an awesome warranty and I love the fact that this is the last coilover system I'll ever buy. Literally, if I decide to sell the car and get another platform, I can send these coils in to FA and they'll modify them to fit the new car. Which is....kinda amazing.

    I wasn't able to take a ton photos during the install, it's pretty straightforward I think everyone on this forum knows this process, so this will be an initial review and my personal experience with these coils.



    Build Quality

    Pretty darn good, I opted for the FA500 units 10K front and 7K rear Swift Springs since those have been proven specs from what I've read online. FA does valve the shock specifically to the spring rates you choose, as is the normal on higher end suspension setups. Upon initial impression, these coils are extremely well built the rears have extended top hats and well, can't go wrong with Swift springs.

    Ride Quality

    So far, I've had them installed on the car for a whole 3 days, since it's all been daily driven around local roads I have them on full soft and omg they are so comfortable. Way more refined than the Megans as expected. Overall they stabilize the car and make the driving characteristics predictable. Very smooth around the corners. I paired the install with a front Racing Beat sway bar and I am extremely more confident taking corners compared to before. Way better turn-in as well. On full soft, they are absolutely perfect for daily driving.

    Height Adjustability

    This is the part where I was met with a hiccup. As I was installing the rear coils I adjusted them to the same ride height as I had on my Megans. Which had the lower mount maxed out, threaded all the way to the top. This gave me the ride height I wanted with full pre-load on the spring. Upon installing the FAs and adjusting them to the same lengths as the Megans the rears didn't go as low. I removed the coils again and made sure they were adjusted properly and I noticed that the Swift spring is about 2 inches taller than the spring on the Megan coils. Aaaahhh that's the culprit, the next day I called FA and they advised me that by default they use a 7" Swift Spring, so I put in an order for a pair of 5" Swift Springs instead in order to get the extra bit of drop that I want in the rear.

    The reason why this is extremely important for me is because I'm going to be running two wheel setups on this car. I plan on hitting track days (TrackDayBro!) during the start of the year when the weather in Miami is great and will be keeping the car off the track during the summer when it gets hot. For those times in the year when I'm not tracking the car, I plan on running my 14' SSR Mark IIs. These coils, with the 7" spring were not going to give me the amount of ride height adjustability that I needed to run these wheels.

    Here's a photo of the car with the Mark IIs and the rear Megan coils maxed out:


    And here it is, with the Fortune Auto coils maxed out as well:


    Huge wheel gap compared to the Megan coils, but it will be remedied soon once I get the 5" Springs on there. Also, had to take the SSRs off for now.....friends don't let friends ride around with really shitty wheel fitment ;)

    Now, as far as the front units, you can adjust these to literally to the ground. There is so much room on the front coils. Out the box they were adjusted way too low and they still had like 2 inches of room to go on the lower mounts. As I was adjusting them accordingly I started getting worried that there weren't going to be enough threads to go higher haha.

    Conclusion

    For anyone considering these coils, I recommend them 100%, at least with the Swift springs since that's my personal experience. These are not comparable to Megan in any way, but in the past I have had Stance/BC and Tein coils. On the soft setting, these are the most refined and comfortable coils I've used on any car and I'm really looking forward to using them on the track. Just keep in mind the rear ride height adjustability issues that I experienced.

    Last edited by nqjr; 01-23-2019 at 10:31 AM.

  2. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to nqjr For This Useful Post:

    91BRG (01-24-2019),fwdtamiya (02-06-2019),Greasemonkey2000 (01-23-2019),MiataQuest (01-23-2019),oldgrayleather (02-08-2019),Phatmiata (01-23-2019),Roadster7 (01-23-2019),Slampen (01-24-2019)

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