Mini Koni shocks

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

Hey-

I was leafing through the Chassis Shop catalog and was wondering if anyone was using those- they look like a pretty good deal, but do they live up to the Koni reputation? We're mostly looking for something reliable and cheap at this point.

Marc Jaxa-Rozen

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

Hey-

I was leafing through the Chassis Shop catalog and was wondering if anyone was using those- they look like a pretty good deal, but do they live up to the Koni reputation? We're mostly looking for something reliable and cheap at this point.

Marc Jaxa-Rozen

[Howard]

Out at PRI, the right Konis were $1,200 each if I remember right. That's not what I would call cheap.

The Sachs' were $6k each, but came with an engineer :-) (I'm serious)

Ok. Just pulled out my chassis shop catalog and now see what you're talking about, and they look a litle long. You're probably best off calling koni and asking for graphs and asking for weights. Those are crome plated.

[Schumi_Jr]

The mini Konis are actually really inexpensive- about $150 US. There are 2 downsides, though. First, they use SPA-1 valving. That means they are designed for drag racing and have basically no compression damping. Second Koni discontinued them so you'll probably have a hell of a time finding some. While not perfect, they might provide a better baseline than any bike shock

Aaron Johnston
University of Waterloo FSAE

www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~fsae (http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~fsae)

[Will98Cobra]

Well i went through all the catalogs, looked at the koni's and just wasnt happy with what i was seeing. i found a shock that i have ordered but havent recieved yet. Try Risseracing.com, they offer a really nice shock that is short and perfect for these cars. Their Jupiter 5R ran $200 bucks. They give discounts to SAE teams. Hope this helps.

William Austin
ODU Motorsports
Chassis/Suspension/Controls

[Jason Hickman]

they also just came out with the jupiter 7r, that has high and low speed compression damping adjustment along with rebound damping. Not sure of the price though.

I used the 5r shocks, and had no problems with blown seals... But, I will caution you, when we dynoed them, no two had the same damping curve. But, they kept the car off the ground, were lightweight, and when you adjusted them, they did affect the handling of the car.

Overall, not a bad alternative to the old rock shox, or the fox. (I believe Stratos also has a bicycle shock out with high and low speed compression adjustment called the El Jefe Sr.)

[Dominic Venieri]

The Jupiter 7R is $600 retail, meaning $300 for FSAE teams.
The Jupiter 5R is $400 retail, meaning $200...
Jupiter 5 $350 retail, $175 FSAE

The Jupiter 5 is just like the Fox Vanilla RC, with a remote piggyback style reservoir.

THe 5R and 7R have remote reservoirs, much like you'd see on a motorcycle shock.

They will make all their shocks to your custom spec's.

www.risseracing.com (http://www.risseracing.com)

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

Thanks for the tip- we'll definitely look into the Jupiters, I didn't know about the FSAE rebate.

[ben]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jason Hickman:
I used the 5r shocks, and had no problems with blown seals... But, I will caution you, when we dynoed them, no two had the same damping curve. But, they kept the car off the ground, were lightweight, and when you adjusted them, they did affect the handling of the car.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would agree with that. At Birmingham, we use Jupiter 5Rs. Having not dyno'd them yet I wouldn't know what the curves were.

They were also used last year on the car that got the fastest lap in endurance and won the acceleration event at FStudent.

I think engine power, mass, and driver ability are much more important than fine damper adjustment. That isn't to say that dampers aren't important, obviously, just less so than other things. For example I'm not convinced the packaging headache and weight of using large race car shocks is worth it.

Our first car had Penske's and is way slower than our most recent car with the Risses.

Ben

[Sleeque]

Oh Ben, are you in for a shock (pardon the pun)
A word of advice from the wise would be to take far more interest in your dampers, the results might just astound you. Unbelievable as it sounds, but they actually change the shape of both the course and your power curve (Well, you will be using different bits in different places)

Slan Leat
Sleeque

PS, the reason your first car with Penskes was slower than your current car had very little to do with the dampers (And you know that)
S.

[ben]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sleeque:
PS, the reason your first car with Penskes was slower than your current car had very little to do with the dampers (And you know that)
S.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I do know that, that was the point I was making. Theoretically superior components didn't make a difference because the fundamental things weren't right with the car.

I'm fully aware of how important dampers are, but all I was saying is that precisely equalising the force velocity curve of each damper is a low priority compared to a lot of other things, and I think our speed on the track proved this.

Given more time, budget, etc, etc ...

Ben

P.S. back in the real world, the Risses I ordered before Xmas haven't arrived yet, they had to scrap a batch because a subcontractor cocked something up.