Please tell me you didn’t actually think Ever was going to attempt tracking his car on those BC coilovers that came on the car. I’ll admit, High-end mono-tube 3-way adjustable coilovers weren’t a part of the original plan. We were just going to get him some Ground Control/Koni Yellows and call it a day. As many of you know, GC/Koni is a great option for those who are looking to have a car that will handle some track time and not break the bank.
If you missed part’s one through five. Please, take the time to click on the links below and get yourself up to speed on just how much work we have already put into this jalopy.
Hopefully now you’re all caught up. Now on to Part SIX!
A lot of people don’t realize just how beneficial a high-end mono-tube damper can really be to a track focused car. Depending on your application and what you will be using it for will help decide whether you need Mono or Twin-tube dampers. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, it’s really more about in what way will the car be used, and they each have their own distinct purpose. Many people of course, have their own opinion, but truth be told each suspension type can give you certain advantages in specific scenarios
What is a monotube shock?
In a monotube shock, the shell case itself works as a cylinder, carrying oil, gas, and a piston valve. It’s a single tube, and a floating piston separates the oil chamber from the gas chamber. They’re used in most race cars because they provide a stiffer ride, and their damping forces are more precise, giving the driver more control.
What is a twin-tube shock?
In a twin-tube shock, there are two cylinders. One cylinder sits inside a shell case. The interior cylinder contains the piston valve. There is no piston or barrier between the oil and gas chambers. The main advantage of a twin-tube design is the packaging.
In a monotube shock, the oil and gas chambers are entirely separated by a floating piston. There is no aeration or foaming, and the valving becomes much more responsive. Higher gas pressure offers additional resistance, giving the monotube variable for tunability. Increased performance just when you need it!
Because the gas itself becomes part of the spring action, it compresses over smaller bumps and quicker through bigger hits, which improves control and response.
Monotubes have a larger surface area to spread the load, distributing pressure evenly over the entire shock and typically resulting in a more efficient and better performance.
In twin-tube shocks, either air or nitrogen is inserted at low pressure into the outer tube above the valve to prevent it from escaping into the inner tube. This keeps pressure on that end of the oil, minimizing aeration or foaming – that occurs when the shocks are under hard use (this will be important later).
There are differences in cost between the two applications.
Twin-tube designs are generally used in OE applications for their higher stroke vs. overall length compared to monotube designs. Typically a twin-tube is a cheaper shock simply because they are mass-produced.
Monotube-designed shocks are typically hand-built with performance in mind, making them more expensive but custom for a specific application.
Shocks suffer the same effect as any hydraulic circuit having air mixed inside – which can lead to poor damping when air mixes with fluid, which happens more easily in the twin-tube design. This isn’t ideal for high performance.
Fading is also an issue. Constant pressure on the shock may lead to the performance of the shock fading (which happens with foaming in twin-tubes); hence the damping becomes weaker, causing handling issues or changes.
Monotubes are typically the shock design of choice for racers. They are easier to work on, allowing for easier maintenance or performance changes.
If all you’re after is a shock to control your spring and give you a somewhat comfortable ride, while not costing you too much, twin-tubes are the best bang for your buck.
When it comes to performance, custom feel, and all-out repeatability and reliability, monotube shocks are superior because:
- Better damping force
- Better heat dissipation
- The free-floating piston stop the gas and oil from mixing
- Better changes from smooth to stiff suspension
- Ease of installation
- Higher performance
TLDR: Twin-tube are for people who daily drive their car and call themselves an automotive enthusiast. Mono-Tube are for hardcore track focused people who are striving to shave tenths of their lap times.
So, there you have it… a brief comparison between the two different styles of shocks. Now on to the KW’s that Ever picked up.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, we had never planned to “BALL OUT” on some crazy coilovers. But, in classic Ever fashion… he stumbled across these KWs on Facebook marketplace for an amazingly good deal. Now he has some crazy ass coilovers that are really not necessary for his skill level.
If you go to KWs website, you won’t be able to find these coilovers in the lineup they offer. These are a one-off custom-built KW competition coilover. Yep, that’s right these have a backstory and while the story isn’t entirely clear, what we have been able to gather is. These coilovers were built specifically for someone who raced an S2000… That person never installed these on their car, and these are brand-new coilovers that have never been out of the box. Consider them NOS (new old stock) because it’s been about 10 years since KW built them.
When we reached out to KW to find out what the specs were (valving, stroke, ETC) we were asked by them to photograph the serial number on them, and they would be able to look up the specs. Here’s where the story gets a bit strange… The coilovers don’t have any serial numbers or indication marks to link us to some sort of record of being built. Now this doesn’t mean they are Alibaba KWs (fake KWs) it just means that they were built for some skunkworks type of race team/program.
After replying to KW and informing them that there were no serial numbers or indicators on the coilovers. They had responded, asking us if we had a name of the person who we got them from, this way they could look up the specs through a name record. When we reached out to the guy from marketplace that sold us the coilovers, to ask for a name of who they were for… He responded with; I know the name of the person, but I can’t share it with you. He claims that he didn’t want there to be any repercussions against the person who the coilovers had originally been for. We assume maybe he was the person who was sponsored by the coilovers and maybe he would be breaching some sort of contract by selling off some coilovers that he never ended up using.
Whoa, talk about sketchy. To whom did these mystery coilovers once belong? What are the actual specs of them? I guess we will never know, but what we do know is, these things are AWESOME, and the car feels amazing now after installing them. To be fair though, anything would be a major improvement from the BC’s that had come on the car originally.
3-way adjustable motorsport grade mono-tube coilovers can be anywhere from 6-9k and even though Ever got an amazingly good deal on these. They still cost more than what most of you would be willing to spend on a coilover plus one thousand more on top of that.
Staring off below you can see the BC coilovers that were originally on the car.
No pillow balls here.
We started in the front.
Remember in part 5, we installed the new Eibach front sway bar and I mentioned that he had ordered new OEM end links and they just hadn’t arrived yet? Well, here they are! Did you really think we would skimp out and not get new end links?
Here are some shots during the removal of the old BC coilovers.
Coilovers, like everything else on this car are super easy to install. For that reason, I’m not doing a step by step install tutorial. I’ll just post random pictures of the process along the way.
Below you can see the New OEM end link on the left, and the old one on the right.
Here is the first KW installed. Currently, we didn’t have any idea of where we were going to mounts the reservoirs.
They sure do look pretty.
Because these are Motorsports grade mono-tube dampers, they need to be filled with nitrogen. They cannot be filled with air because, air will have tiny amounts of water molecules in it. The moisture can wreak havoc on the internals and cause damage, subpar shock performance and lead to premature failure. We have our own nitrogen tank and regulator, so this is an easy thing for us to do. If you don’t have one of these, you will need to take the shocks to a shop that would have compressed nitrogen so they could fill them for you. Roadside nitrogen dispensers for tires and will not go to a high enough pressure.
Unbelievably, the regulator is the most expensive part of this setup.
MUCH better. Now there are pillow ball mounts. We even picked up some Grade C all metal lock nuts for that added “motorsports” look. In all Honesty though, the Grade C all metal lock nuts are substantially better than the nylon lock nut.
Below is the passenger side installed.
Embarrassingly enough this is the best way we could come up with to mount the front reservoirs. Before you start talking your shit… Let me explain. We do eventually want to lengthen the reservoir lines and add quick disconnects to them. Before we did all of that, I thought it be best that Ever evaluates the car with the new coilovers and ensure they are working as they should. It would make things harder to assess if we added a new unknown element into the mix by lengthening the lines and adding quick disconnects. Because these coilovers have unknown specs we are hoping they are valved appropriately for this car and the way it is setup.
So, for now they are affixed to the chassis via bailing wire. This is only temporary!
Now on to the rear.
If you’re an S2000 owner this should be a familiar sight.
Accessing the nuts on the driver’s side is damn near impossible thanks to the fuel filler hoses.
But, after using all 13 words that would only come from a sailor’s mouth. Ever managed to get them off.
Viola!
Pillow balls and grade c metal lock nuts in the rear as well.
Don’t forget to add the nitrogen to the rears!
annnd one of the Type R just because.
We will be mounting the rear reservoirs in the trunk. This means we will have to use a hole saw to make large enough holes for the reservoirs to pass through. Having to make this large of a hole is avoidable if you add in quick disconnects in the stainless-steel braided lines. However, adding quick disconnects should really be left in the hands of some with much experience.
Take a rubber hose and cut it long ways to allow it to slip on the chassis. This will help stop the line from chafing against the metal of the chassis and causing a leak in the future.
We purchased some stainless-steel cable clamps and stole the rubber off them.
Then put the rubber onto hose clamps.
Then mounted the reservoirs to the rear OEM brace.
This is obviously a much better way to mount them than we had done up front.
While the car was up in the air, we also took this opportunity to replace the missing drive shaft bolts that have been absent since the day he bought the car. If you remember all the way back to part 1 of this series, you’ll remember that it was only after he was driving 100+ MPH on his way home from purchasing the car that we realized there were missing driveshaft bolts.
We did order drive shaft bolts right away, but they took a while for us to receive them.
As you can see there is three of the six bolts missing! Remember, every used car has skeletons in its closet. So, make sure you inspect it thoroughly before purchasing.
See below the NEW vs OLD.
We can now rest easy knowing the driveshaft will not come off.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN, it looks fucking sick! (see Ever in the corner just loving it)
It’s so low we can’t even get the quick jacks out. Obviously, we can’t keep it that low (no matter how much ever wants to) As it was before we even installed the KWs his car barely made it into my driveway and we needed wood to stop it from scraping.
Because his car has all the suspension/steering geometry correction stuff, the car would still be able to perform well on track being so low. It’s just not feasible to drive it around that low and not scrape the carbon rear diffuser, or front splitter on any sort of incline.
Alas, these are the only pictures I have of the car. After jacking it up and down ten more times trying to dial in the perfect ride height that pleased us both… We were both over it and just wanted the late night to be over. All that means is that you’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see what the cars final ride height looks like.
Ever (and I) recently participated in a Speed Ventures event at LVMS ORC. This was the cars first official outing, and this should come as no surprise, but the KWs were amazing. They make light work of any kerb on track, keep the car stable and in control no matter what the situation. This is greatly beneficial because the car is easily controllable and helps build confidence lap after lap. When the car is predictable you can drive it at its limit much easier and of course, driving it at its limit will help drop those lap times.
In conclusion. If you have the money to spend and don’t put many road miles on your car throughout the year, a high-end motorsports grade mono tube damper would be an amazing upgrade that you’ll no doubt instantly benefit from. If you are like Ever and your skill level can’t fully exploit every last ounce of potential from a high end coilover… It’s ok, you’ll still be able to experience benefits from them and your driving skill will grow into needing them. Remember, it’s always nicer to have and not need rather than need and not have. This of course is only the case if you bank account can support this large of a purchase. For those of us who’s bank accounts can’t. Fear not, you can still be quick with a “budget minded” shock spring combo or coilover.
In all honestly, there is such a difference in the way a high-end mono tube coilover feels vs the sub-1500-dollar junk that most of us use, that words cannot truly describe. You simply must ride in a car fitted with them to truly understand want true control and stability feels like.
As always, thank you all for continuing to visit the blog and follow along with our pointless builds. It’s sometimes silly to think that we spend thousands on our cars only to drive them for a single eight-hour day a month. Although, to us, it seems even more silly to spend your money on drugs and alcohol. At least we have something to show for what we are spending our money on. Plus, there is no greater feeling than setting a PB and knowing that you are improving as a driver.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or just want to tell me how awesome the blog is… Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, Email: Billy@Functiontheory.com. Instagram: @Functiontheory. Or simply comment below I will always reply!
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