Best Race Suspension and Exhausts

[TemecFist]

Stock. You're not a good enough driver to need beyond the OEM hardware.

Wow.

 

[Taz]

If you confused maybe you should not be posting at all. I quoted the OP‘s response to my post were he shows he is versed at handling coming from riding sport bikes amongst others.
He states the stock car feels quite pedestrian because of that.
Clearly it proves what I said about you assuming stuff just because you think without knowing.
Perhaps you have never ridden a motorcyle they handle pretty damn well and teach people a lot about cornering and apex’s aka how to drive.

It certainly teaches you to be on guard at all times, to think waaay ahead, road sense, observation, and vehicle handling. By comparison to motorcycles I feel like driving a car is like being on stabilisers! Everything around me also feels very slow-mo as well. Riding motorcycles went a very long way to me passing my car test approx. twenty years ago. Now whenever I buy a car I find ways to get the most performance out of it in order to avoid making the act of driving feel boring. Here's the sort of performance I hope to eventually get out of the FiST.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6KtN0q_OE


The fact that the car when accelerating looks a bit skittish and he sometimes looks like he's driving by the skin of his teeth does look very inviting to me. Look at it this way, if I was rich I'd be buying things like a McLaren P1 and Dodge Demon (love the wheelies!) for their excitement rather than a Fiesta ST.

 

[kevinatfms]

True but most people hear asking about track setups are not going to spend their money on Moton or AST . Unless you are going for full on race spec car that is competing at a national competition level with sponsors and are ready to drop 100k or more into your car.
Feal are not bad but I seriously would put the MeisterR above them as MeisterR has touring Car championship wins they can attest too. Again thats a UK thing not a U.S. thing and he is in the UK. Fortune are great.

KW I would not recommend after owning ST. KW for our cars all use progressive springs.

He could go for a spring shock combo but it sound like he was asking for something more serious but perhaps not too over the top.

Dont personally know anything about the Meister R stuff so i didnt really comment with that option. They look to have great backing from the gentlemen(forgot his name....sorry!) that frequents this forum. They do have a very nice QC process and damper dyno plots from what he has posted.

The ST/KW relationship sucks because the KW stuff is super top notch while the ST stuff is sub par in alot of aspects(the coatings are flat garbage on the damper bodies and springs). Id still rock a set of V3's with the progressive springs. Same with the Bilstein B14 kit - progressive springs included and monotubes only up front(not ideal in any case).

I think a proper spring/shock combo isnt a bad idea though. People harp on the adjustability...etc....yet alot of people slap them on and dont take into account anything as far as setup. A proper spring/shock combo is worlds better than a mis-aligned/adjusted coilover setup.

I wish OP would have stated what he was going to use the car for. That would give a better indication on what setup would work best at whatever price point.

 

[Dpro]

It certainly teaches you to be on guard at all times, to think waaay ahead, road sense, observation, and vehicle handling. By comparison to motorcycles I feel like driving a car is like being on stabilisers! Everything around me also feels very slow-mo as well. Riding motorcycles went a very long way to me passing my car test approx. twenty years ago. Now whenever I buy a car I find ways to get the most performance out of it in order to avoid making the act of driving feel boring. Here's the sort of performance I hope to eventually get out of the FiST.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6KtN0q_OE


The fact that the car when accelerating looks a bit skittish and he sometimes looks like he's driving by the skin of his teeth does look very inviting to me. Look at it this way, if I was rich I'd be buying things like a McLaren P1 and Dodge Demon (love the wheelies!) for their excitement rather than a Fiesta ST.

I have the Turbo Technics s280 on my car on pump gas 91 right now and it goes like a Motorcyle IMO. The s280 is Turbo Technics turbo that was built and marketed after the RT330 due to issues with the RT330 . The RT330 was a hybrid and the S280 is complete non stock frame Turbo.
I love it. It dyno’s out around 270-275 wheel. Thats with no fueling add ons. I would hazard to say the same Turbo with higher octane gas you guys can get you would drop out around 280-285hp with no fuel add ons.

 

[Taz]

I wish OP would have stated what he was going to use the car for. That would give a better indication on what setup would work best at whatever price point.

99.9% road use, with a bit of road hooligan like the guy in the video with his manic FiST. However, I might take it racing a bit in the future if it takes my fancy.

 

[kevinatfms]

99.9% road use, with a bit of road hooligan like the guy in the video with his manic FiST. However, I might take it racing a bit in the future if it takes my fancy.

Id say stick with a spring/shock combo then. A good set of Koni Sports or Bilstein B6/B8's along with your spring of choice would suit everything you need. Even down the road going racing you can get away with a good spring shock combo(this also helps focus on the real thing which needs to be improved.....the nut behind the wheel). Spend the rest on seat time.

 

[Dpro]

Id say stick with a spring/shock combo then. A good set of Koni Sports or Bilstein B6/B8's along with your spring of choice would suit everything you need. Even down the road going racing you can get away with a good spring shock combo(this also helps focus on the real thing which needs to be improved.....the nut behind the wheel). Spend the rest on seat time.

This is sound advice given he has given us more info on his goals driving wise as the title suggested a track suspension.

I would say one thing that kept me off the spring shock combo is getting stuck with a predetermined ride height I may or may not like. It ultimately pushed me to the coilover department.



I was going to go spring shock combo originally, but the other factor was the price of Koni’s or Bilsteins all the way around combined with a set of springs actually came very close to the price of some great coilover’s for our cars.

It was like why bother spending all that money on a spring shock combo if for a hundred or two more I can get a coilover setup with Camber adjustment, on top of adjustable shocks and ride height.
So for me at least coilovers make sense.

 

[TemecFist]

Dont forget, with coilovers, you have the availability to corner balance.

 

[M-Sport fan]

This is sound advice given he has given us more info on his goals driving wise as the title suggested a track suspension.

I would say one thing that kept me off the spring shock combo is getting stuck with a predetermined ride height I may or may not like. It ultimately pushed me to the coilover department.



I was going to go spring shock combo originally, but the other factor was the price of Koni’s or Bilsteins all the way around combined with a set of springs actually came very close to the price of some great coilover’s for our cars.

It was like why bother spending all that money on a spring shock combo if for a hundred or two more I can get a coilover setup with Camber adjustment, on top of adjustable shocks and ride height.
So for me at least coilovers make sense.

The thing that many on here, like you, do NOT have to worry about either is the coil overs corroding, and the collars 'cold welding' to the threaded sleeves, due to salt soup exposure in winter use.

THAT is the main reason I want to go with a spring/damper setup, yes, IF I can confirm an actual, definite final ride height on any given combo, which is proving to be much more difficult than would be expected.

Depending on where Taz is in Jolly Ol', and whether or not they throw down tons of salt when they get even a light dusting there, it may not be an issue for him at all.

 

[ronmcdon]

I wish OP would have stated what he was going to use the car for. That would give a better indication on what setup would work best at whatever price point.

Pretty much. Hard to respond to such threads when there's not a lot of info. what's optimized for one type of driving or event may not be for another. Also think suspension setup overall would include more than a set of coilovers.

I have the Turbo Technics s280 on my car on pump gas 91 right now and it goes like a Motorcyle IMO. The s280 is Turbo Technics turbo that was built and marketed after the RT330 due to issues with the RT330 . The RT330 was a hybrid and the S280 is complete non stock frame Turbo.
I love it. It dyno’s out around 270-275 wheel. Thats with no fueling add ons. I would hazard to say the same Turbo with higher octane gas you guys can get you would drop out around 280-285hp with no fuel add ons.

what would one expect with 91 and 4 port aux if not also upgraded fuel pump? Don't have any patience at all using that ethanol fuel.

 

[Dpro]

Pretty much. Hard to respond to such threads when there's not a lot of info. what's optimized for one type of driving or event may not be for another. Also think suspension setup overall would include more than a set of coilovers.


what would one expect with 91 and 4 port aux if not also upgraded fuel pump? Don't have any patience at all using that ethanol fuel.

thats an interesting question because most people that run aux fuel usually get Corn tunes as well. I know that WetWeave crested 300whp on a single port and 93. So I would guess it would hit 300 no problem . There is a big thread on the whole subject. Upgrading the fuel though should put you in 325 range I would think. I know my guy only backed off tuning above 25.5 because it was starting to lean at high rpms and he claimed he was getting clutch slippage. I was a little surprised but my car does go like stink. It was also tuned on a Mustang Dyno so numbers were low.

 

[Taz]

Id say stick with a spring/shock combo then. A good set of Koni Sports or Bilstein B6/B8's along with your spring of choice would suit everything you need. Even down the road going racing you can get away with a good spring shock combo(this also helps focus on the real thing which needs to be improved.....the nut behind the wheel). Spend the rest on seat time.

Am I right that the only difference between the Bilstein B6 and B8 is that the B6 keeps the car at factory level whilst the B8 lowers it a bit?

 

[Erick_V]

Am I right that the only difference between the Bilstein B6 and B8 is that the B6 keeps the car at factory level whilst the B8 lowers it a bit?

The B6's are meant for stock springs and the B8's are meant for lowering springs

 

[Woods247]

Am I right that the only difference between the Bilstein B6 and B8 is that the B6 keeps the car at factory level whilst the B8 lowers it a bit?

If you choose a lowering spring, go with a linear spring like Swift. You’ll have better feel and more control of the car. Your first mod should be a LSD, but that’s just my opinion.

 

[M-Sport fan]

If you choose a lowering spring, go with a linear spring like Swift. You’ll have better feel and more control of the car. Your first mod should be a LSD, but that’s just my opinion.

That's pretty much the ONLY choice for a linear rate lowering SPRING (vs. a full coil over setup) for these cars.

There also is NOTHING AT ALL which retains the factory ride height, with even a slightly higher linear spring rate anywhere in existence.

 

[kevinatfms]

Am I right that the only difference between the Bilstein B6 and B8 is that the B6 keeps the car at factory level whilst the B8 lowers it a bit?

Unless the damper has a lower perch it does not designate any ride height change.

Bilstein has been known to change the perch height occasionally on vehicles though which then translates to a small increase in height(a few BMW forums have noticed this perch change in a few instances).

The difference in our platform's B6 and B8 damper is the shock shaft length. The B8 shaft is around 1/2" shorter to compensate for the reduced travel of a lowering spring.

Swift has stated both B6 and B8 from the tech line i spoke with. The spring is designed around the stock damper valving. According to this theory, the B6 damper would be the ideal damper. Ive also spoken with another tech at Swift and they stated since its a lowering spring that the B8 is the ideal damper.

 

[Taz]

So,

If you choose a lowering spring, go with a linear spring like Swift. You’ll have better feel and more control of the car. Your first mod should be a LSD, but that’s just my opinion.

Are you saying that I would be better off choosing THIS over the B8 shock set?

 

[M-Sport fan]

IF you mean the Swifts WITH a set of B6/B8 dampers, then a resounding YES!

Although some love them even when used with the factory dampers.