Pelican Parts Forums - Shock tuning reference guides wanted

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Shock tuning reference guides wanted

Looking for anything and everything including books, links to people's persoanl crib notes, articles etc... pertinent to chassis tuning via shock settings . I have 3 way adjustables; high/low speed bump and rebound.

Thanks in advance.

Somebody's got to scan that old article -- I think it was in Grassroots Motorsports?

I do remember an article in GRM Jack. Was it the one about the guy that's been servicing shocks for racers for years that seemed to mention some very practical if-then kind of guidelines?

http://www.sae.org/products/images/books/b-789.jpg

Carroll Smith's Engineer in Your Pocket

Quote:

AUTHOR(S):
Carroll Smith More publications by this Author

Edition: 1

This handy little book belongs in the pocket of every race engineer, student, or enthusiast. A compilation of Smith's extensive knowledge gained over the past 40 years as a race driver and engineer for many winning teams, Engineer in Your Pocket is laid out to make problem solving as simple as possible. When used in one direction, it lists handling problems and their possible causes. Flip the book over and the other side presents causes first and their possible effects.

The perfect guide to hands-on troubleshooting, this 32-page book fits in your pocket and is laminated to protect against grime and weather.

Contents Include:

* Instability
* Response
* Understeer
* Oversteer
* Power Down
* Transitions
* Brakes
* Ride and Roll Resistance
* Shock Absorbers
* Wheel Alignment
* Tires
* Limited-slip Differentials
* Suspension Geometry

Published by Carroll Smith. Distributed by SAE.

ISBN Number: 978-0-9651600-1-8
Date Published: June 1998
32 Pages
2 Sections
Binding: Paperbound
Product Code: B-789
Product Status: In Stock

Alternatively, you can just buy the "...to Win" books (especially "Tune to Win") by Carroll Smith which has pretty much the same information, and a lot more.

I've never read Engineer in Your Pocket, but there is very little information in Tune to Win about how to adjust shocks.

this article has some tuning info near the end and a good basic explanation on how adjustable dampers work, worth the read

http://g-speed.com/pbh/dampers.html

There is a pretty extensive section in "Tune to win" about chassis tuning, including using the shocks. You're correct, it doesn't get into how to change the shims and stuff, but rather things like...

Corner Entry Understeer -- Causes: Too stiff front sway bar, front shocks too stiff on bump, rear shocks to stiff on rebound, etc.

And then the flip side of that...
Front shock bump affects... (list).

"Engineer in your pocket" I believe takes those tables, and puts them into a pocket reference. I don't know if they were expanded at all. Given that Randy has 3-way adjustables, he's not looking to learn about how to tune shockes by rebuilding them, but rather by using the adjustments that he has.

Penske racing shocks also has their manuals and tuning guides in pdf form on their site.

Thanks fellas, good stuff so far.

I think Excellence Magazine did a comparo of various shocks and how it impacted lap times on a modded SC or Carrera. I think within the last 3 years...can't recall the issue. But IIRC.....very imformative.

- Wil

Will-

I believe the article you are refering to is the comparison of stock Bilsteins, revalved Bilsteins, and Fox adjustables. The article is reprinted in the Smart Racing catalog but I don't think it had very much practical tech on shock tuning..

I remember reading a discussion about that on www.dorkiphus.com sometime ago. It was probably about a year or so ago just about the time I was doing my own susp. upgrades. Maybe worth doing a search there.