Kansei's Garage Queen

[kansei]

My building's parking garage is a pretty steep entrance from a tight alley, but I think it'd still be fine. The front end of the FiST is not too low. I'd be down for some simple black front lip, but most of the ones I've seen seem to add emphasis to the length of the area in front of the front wheels, which I'm not trying to do. The car already looks a big ungainly as almost all FWD vehicles do because of that.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^It's sad that no one makes a FUNCTIONAL front air dam type lip (NOT the 'garage door seal' stuff currently offered!), like the ones seen on the R5/WRC cars.

 

[kansei]

Definitely have the itch to get suspension ordered before the end of the year. I've mainly been considering the Bilstein coilovers or maybe the KW V1. Haven't really looked into what else is out there --maybe a good shock and lowering spring combo exists?

the car is only driven for pleasure, so a suspension setup that works well for:
- short range road trips, like to the coast, up into BC, or east over the mountains
- getting to hiking trailheads (not any kind of serious off-roading)
- the occasional track day or autocross use

If I go with a coilover setup, I'm looking for the least fiddly setup possible. My main problem as a car enthusiast is that my assigned parking space is on a somewhat steep angle (tight parking garage in a high rise tower) so I can't even jack the car up to make adjustments or anything. I'll have to pay some shop to let me work on my car to do any fiddling.

The other crazy thing is that I think I'm actually quite alright with the stock ride height. My golden rule of ride height is that the wheel gap ought to be less than the sidewall height. It looks like I'm there already. I hear the out of box or recommended height on the bilsteins is only a fraction of an inch lower than stock so I'd be fine leaving it there unless there's some suspension geometry reason not to.

So yeah if there are some good threads on here I should check out about suspension let me know. I'm reading up as much as I can on it.

 

[M-Sport fan]

My fender gap is going to be the same when my 17x8 1.2s and 215/40 Star Specs go on in the spring.

I also can live with that as it is like a 'rough tarmac' rally setup height.

Another non height adjustable (but slightly lowered) great setup could be the Koni Sport yellows with the Swift springs over them.
I am considering this, or the GC coil over conversion setup for those same Konis (IF it ever is released) with the coil over Swift, or Hyperco springs over them.

 

[kansei]

Oh yeah I read about that GC conversion setup. Cannot wait to see your 17x8 setup, I think the only car I've seen with that wheel/tire combo is the rallysportdirect.com car http://rallysportdirect.smugmug.com...heels/i-s9pCLDM/0/XL/DSC_65431200media-XL.jpg

I was just reading up on the Koni Yellows and it all sounded great up until I read that you have to remove the shock to adjust them. I'd have to pretend they aren't adjustable but I'd constantly question if I had them set optimally.

I decided to bite the bullet, bought the Bilstein coilovers from Whoosh Motorsports and the OEM top hats and other accessories based on this http://stratifiedauto.com/blog/making-your-fiesta-st-handle-even-better/

Some time in January I'm gonna have to rent a bay/lift for a half or full day at a place like http://stewsgarage.com/bay-rental/car_lift_rental/ to install stuff. The list is growing. Mainly the cp-e exhaust and now these bilsteins

 

[WeTheNorth]

The Meister R's would have been another great choice as well


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[Strife]

Is your heart set on coilovers? If you want a modest drop then the Mountune or Cobb springs accomplish that, at a lower price point.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Oh yeah I read about that GC conversion setup. Cannot wait to see your 17x8 setup, I think the only car I've seen with that wheel/tire combo is the rallysportdirect.com car http://rallysportdirect.smugmug.com...heels/i-s9pCLDM/0/XL/DSC_65431200media-XL.jpg

I was just reading up on the Koni Yellows and it all sounded great up until I read that you have to remove the shock to adjust them. I'd have to pretend they aren't adjustable but I'd constantly question if I had them set optimally.

I decided to bite the bullet, bought the Bilstein coilovers from Whoosh Motorsports and the OEM top hats and other accessories based on this http://stratifiedauto.com/blog/making-your-fiesta-st-handle-even-better/

Some time in January I'm gonna have to rent a bay/lift for a half or full day at a place like http://stewsgarage.com/bay-rental/car_lift_rental/ to install stuff. The list is growing. Mainly the cp-e exhaust and now these bilsteins

Yeah, you can't go wrong with the Bilsteins either, and even if they came with progressive rate springs (do they?), those are easily changed out to linear rates of your brand choice.

I WISH there was a place around here like those rental places!!

The last time I've seen/used something like that was when I was a student at the University Of Arizona in Tucson, in the mid-1970s, working on my '76 V-6 Capri II.

 

[kansei]

got back to Seattle like an hour ago (1am) and installed the GJ7Z-19A387-B usb module and played around with carplay for a few minutes

then came back up to my apartment to tear into this box:

so pretty

.. oh and just received an invoice from FordPartsUK.... more things coming I have a problem

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^SWEET!

Are the damper bodies anodized aluminum alloy, or stainless steel (like the KWs)

 

[kansei]

^^^SWEET!

Are the damper bodies anodized aluminum alloy, or stainless steel (like the KWs)

maybe steel with a coating on it? http://www.bilsteinus.com/technology/round-threads-triple-c-technologyr/

 

[M-Sport fan]

maybe steel with a coating on it? http://www.bilsteinus.com/technology/round-threads-triple-c-technologyr/

In any case, they look like they will last FOREVER!!

I like their spanner/adjuster pin/hole setup for the adjustment rings on those, since they will not slip out/off, or round off, and STRIP out, like the slotted ones most of the coil over manufacturers use.

 

[kansei]

In any case, they look like they will last FOREVER!!

I like their spanner/adjuster pin/hole setup for the adjustment rings on those, since they will not slip out/off, or round off, and STRIP out, like the slotted ones most of the coil over manufacturers use.

alas, the fiesta bilsteins (maybe all the B14 series?) have the slotted ones. the new oem parts to complete the setup arrived today so i tossed this one together (hand tight) to make sure everything fit together fine

weathertech mats and the dash cam came today so I gave putting those in a go.

lol this little rub mark is why weathertech doesn't list any front mats as available for manual Fiestas

and the dash cam

front camera location:

rear camera (wire not run to it properly yet):

 

[milkman42]

What cameras are those? I have a feeling I should get at least a front camera to protect myself in an accident. Is that why you have yours?

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[kansei]

What cameras are those? I have a feeling I should get at least a front camera to protect myself in an accident. Is that why you have yours?

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yeah mainly. 99.9% of the time my car is in a private parking garage with assigned spaces. With that I'm not too worried about the parking mode stuff, though it does have the feature. It's about protecting me in a way from a lot of dumb shit that happens out there should I venture out of the garage.

The model is the Blackvue DR470-2CH https://www.blackvue.com/product/dr470-2ch/ which I guess is a pretty new product because I couldn't find real reviews. Supposedly basically the same optics as the much spendier DR650S-2CH, but lacking support for their "cloud service" as well as gps/wifi. I believe they sell single channel (one camera) models of both too.

 

[kansei]

Got the add-a-fuse bits in today, re-did the wiring for the dash cam a bit more professionally. I thought there was a ground fault or something yesterday because the module that wires into the fuse box and lets the cam run with the car off wasn't working. Turns out I was only getting 11.7v in accessory mode (climate control off, lights off, radio was probably on). I let the engine run for a few minutes and then when I shut off the engine the little blackvue box did it's thing and let the camera continue to run. I had it set to 12v which means it'll run the camera until voltage drops to 12v to prevent it from discharging the battery too much. It only ran for a few minutes.

Tomorrow I'll actually drive the car though, taking it to Stew's Self Service Garage (http://stewsgarage.com) where I reserved a 2-post lift for a few hours. The plan is to install the bilsteins and get the ride height set first. I'm going to start at the drop the Mountune springs claim to lower the car by since they seem to be a trustworthy crew, and go from there. After that I'll toss the Cobb rear motor mount in. Wish the CP-E exhaust from the group buy would be here by now, but a production defect that went unnoticed seems to have completely derailed the early December shipping timeframe.

Next weekend should be fun, the maxton rear spoiler will be in as well as euro headlamps (without any HID bits for now Xenonsupply.com seems to be closed, hopefully just for the holidays). Hopefully soon after that the CP-E exhaust will be here, and I'm crossing my fingers that a 2016-compatible CP-E intake comes out in Q1. Should be "done" modding at that point, ready to take this thing on some nice drives when springtime rolls around.

 

[JayGoldstein]

lol this little rub mark is why weathertech doesn't list any front mats as available for manual Fiestas

Does the WeatherTech liner interfere with the operation of the clutch, or is it just an aesthetic issue?

 

[kansei]

Does the WeatherTech liner interfere with the operation of the clutch, or is it just an aesthetic issue?

the pedal rubs it in a way that I have to think it hits the stock floor mat as well, assuming the stock mat extends as far up. It makes a little sound as it scrapes the mat in the last inch of clutch pedal travel. I'm not sure if eventually it'll wear all the way through or if it'll just naturally grind down to the point that it no longer interferes. I'm probably not a good person to test this because I drive like once a month.

I'm hesitant to start cutting though because i'd have to cut out a pretty huge area just to make sure there's never any interaction with the clutch pedal (not sure the brake pedal can get that close to the floor).

 

[kansei]

Didn't end up having as much time as I thought I would today. The shop closed early and by the time they showed me around (first time going) I ended up with about an hour and a half to install coilovers on a car I've never wrenched on before. Ambitious I guess. Got three corners done, luckily the car is free to sit in the garage until the next time I can get out to the burbs to the shop to wrench on it more.

The fronts I left at the height they came out of the box set to, which is right about the middle of the range. The rears I set to the middle. Since the 4th corner isn't installed I didn't bother measuring and tweaking the 'after' ride height. Stock ride height was 35cm wheel hub to fender front, 34cm rear. That was with a basically empty car, including a mostly empty gas tank (light came on traveling home). That's like the opposite of the sort of rake I want to see. Well turns out the middle of the adjustment range on the rear is quite the low setting so now the rear of the car looks like it drags a lot heh.

Ride height is obviously not finalized and looks silly for now. I'm gonna raise the rears for sure, to at least the same height as the front.

 

[Nexus]

Looking good! I would raise the rear atleast .5-7 inches higher than the front.