My 95 becomes my fun track toy. (WARNING: COLLEGE BUILD, slow progress)

[psulja]

The roll bar looks great in there, I'm a huge fan of Moti's work. Is it welded in or bolted? I thought I remember reading somewhere that it would need to be welded but I forget now.

[Blackbird]

Thanks!
The 4 point roll bars are normally bolted in, the 6 pointers are the ones that require some welding as a part of the installation process (but are still bolted to the car).

Looking good, Tim

Moti

[xjdesertfox]

I must say, moti's got his dimensions on point as well! Nothing was mis-aligned or off, you can tell moti's been fabricating for a long while!

[psulja]

Thanks!
The 4 point roll bars are normally bolted in, the 6 pointers are the ones that require some welding as a part of the installation process (but are still bolted to the car).

Oh, okay. Makes sense, thanks for clarifying that!

[xjdesertfox]

I learned something today about roll bars, they draw a fuck ton of attention. Drove to my buddy's house in the inland empire, top down, a single seat, and my roll bar.

Got pulled over on the 210 east by CHP, cop pulled me over because he wanted to check out my car. The whole drive today from chatsworth to upland, every car enthusiast would follow me through traffic, or try to catch up to me to get a glimpse of moti's creation.

Moti's work sure is eye catching ;)

Gonna put my hardtop back on in a couple hours, Ill write a bit more about the bar once I get my top on.

[iamdallas]

I quite like that roll bar. Make me wish mine was a fancy color.

[xjdesertfox]

Thanks, hopefully soon I can get my hardtop painted black, as well as a black seat so my car will actually match for the most part =D

Coilovers are still the priority right now. Decided to stick around the $1200 price point so I could afford bushings and eccentric bolts too.

Im debating between:
Fortune auto
Stance
Tein Flex.

[iamdallas]

Fortune Auto!

[xjdesertfox]

Fortune Auto!

Do you have them? ive been looking for a maita review on them. I've been emailing back and forth with fortune auto. Its kind of crazy how some of their shocks dyno almost identical to xida's. I've requested stroke numbers and specific miata dyno plots from them.

[friday]

I say the fortune's seem solid because of the support that both RSpeed and fortune will offer you. A local guy had issues with one of his rear shocks and Rspeed had him fixed up pretty quick.

[xjdesertfox]

Well, Fortune auto sent me a dyno on their 500 series shock for the miata today.

This is a 500 series shock

This is a 510 series shock.


It seems the shocks are fairly digressive. Not nearly as bad as others in the price range like megan.

The only issue is fortune has informed me that the shocks have abotu 3" of stroke F/R. Emilio's shocks are pushing about 4.75" front and 4" rear.

So the valving looks ok(in my opinion), but the coilovers fall short on travel, but the question is "is all of that travel used?" with my limited knowledge of the miata suspension, I'd guess no. But Im guessing theres a reason why emilios shocks have so much travel.

[xjdesertfox]

As a comparison, take a look at how much force the xida's can handle, at 9ips, the xidas are hitting -600lbs. According to fortune auto's graph of their $1500 510 series, theyre only hitting -300lbs @ 9ips.

[iamdallas]

yeah. I dont have them (yet)

But, Rspeed is local, and the level of service that you get there is incredible. Plus pre load is independent of height adjustment and they're cheaply rebuildable.

[iamdallas]

Those xidas are of course much better than the 500s, but they're also nearly 2x the price. I think of Stance, Megan's, and FA500s, the Fortune Autos are the way to go. IMO.

[xjdesertfox]

yeah. I dont have them (yet)

But, Rspeed is local, and the level of service that you get there is incredible. Plus pre load is independent of height adjustment and they're cheaply rebuildable.

When I see coilovers with "preload independent of height adjustment" it reads to me as "less travel than what the application SHOULD have"

Those xidas are of course much better than the 500s, but they're also nearly 2x the price. I think of Stance, Megan's, and FA500s, the Fortune Autos are the way to go. IMO.

This is true, however...the reason I'm comparing them is because FA claims their shocks are damn similar to a AST 4100 series shock. The people on Rspeed's site who have reviews them have claimed "similar ride to AST's"

So if I can achieve a similar ride to emilio's ASTs, for $1150. I would have jumped on it. For the price I agree they seem to be awesome, but from the data their giving me I dont see how anyone can compare these shocks to AST's, unless there is some magic thats making the data on paper not match the real life results.

Also, the difference between the FA 510's in the second dyno graph and the Xidas is only $400. 510's are 1499, xidas are 1899.

The only difference for me in california is that I have to pay shipping on FA's ($50) and on xidas I have to pay tax($150)