My Ksport update

C

Carl_Auer

Groovy
So, I am about a month away from ordering some Ksports (as long as the economy did not kill the Alaska PFD money too much) and I have been talking to Nick at Ksport. I asked him about spring rates and sizes. That I would like to go with 8" rear springs and 7" front springs, and he did say that when I order (he suggested calling and ordering from LSD Motorsports in California or ultrarev.com) I can specify any spring size and rate.

My question is, what should I look at? I will be driving the car whenever the sun is out, highway, and some local autocrossing. But it will be a driver. I was thinking of around 250 front, 300 rear, but a recent thread was talking about stiffer front than rear, so, what would people suggest?

Thanks...now to figure out if I think I can do the bodywork and a decent rattle can paint job myself.....
 
How are the roads up there?

I run 350f/300r on my Scorpion, which feels pretty good on a smooth road. Pretty jarring on rough pavement tho. If the roads around here were much rougher I would probably go down to 300f/250r or maybe lower. Even at those rates you're still way stiffer than stock - I think the stock fronts are around 160 iirc, the rears somewhat stiffer (180-200).

One other thing you have to consider is that you do not want to bottom out. Stiffer springs will help with that, but 7 or 8 inch springs are way shorter than stock, so depending on where you set your ride height, the possibility of bottoming out is very real.

Pete
 
KSPORT WARNING!

Hey Carl,

I am still waiting for Nick to get me the proper springs. They admitted that the included springs may be wrong with the Fiat setup I have. What I suggested to him was that they take the bottom mount and flip it upside down. They should run the threads all the way through the body of the mount and the opposite holes of what is currently elongated should be elongated for camber adjustment. With the current mount upside down, it would allow them to run the 8" springs that was shipped with my set. What they are choosing to do is just reduce the spring length by 1" to allow for a lower than stock setup.

The major warning I have is that the only way to mount the camber plates is with the included 5/16" high x 1" diameter washers that they include. If you run stiffer springs resting on 3 - 1" washers, they will certainly radiate cracks towards the strut tower center opening. You will have to use reinforcement plates similar to those that Mark Plaia was selling. I attempted to make them myself out of 1/4" aluminum plating, thereby eliminating the need for the washers, but I really need a drill press to complete it. By the way, the center hole has to be 3" in diameter to clear the set screws. You will understand what I mean when you get them.

The quality and finish of their product was first class in my book. I hope the engineering and execution is equally as good.

Good Luck.

Arman
 
springs

I am not too worried about the 8" rears. Talking to some people on a couple euro fiat boards, it sounds like you can set the rears (8") to ride pretty close to stock. My BlueX with the honda coilovers I had sitting at 24" from top center of the fender arch opening to the ground, and while it was real low, and handled like it was on rails, I had it too low and broke my alternator bracket repeatedly. I am hoping to have the rears at 25" to 26" and the front equal to or maybe an inch lower. When I remove the bumpers (will go bumperless next summer as long as paint and body goes well this winter and I can pick up a decent 1300 grill and spoiler), it will take coilovers to bring it back down to where I want the ride height to be. I guess I will go with 300 front and 250 rear. I am on Marks list for the next round of plates, so, hopefully they will be ready before I install the suspension.
 
Got any pictures??

Hi Arman,

Would you happen to have any pictures of what you are talking about? I have been interested in the Ksports, but I am having a little trouble following your description of the issues.

Sorry for being dense! :)
 
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