Re: "Shock"ing subject

[Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>]

On Thu, 20 Jun 2002 09:16:49 -0500 Greg McNair <gmcnair@domain.elided> wrote:

> On the subject of Koni's, I have a set of well-used shocks in my car,
> and they
> are yellow, so my assumption is that they are likely factory stock. 

actually, if they're yellow, there's a decent chance they're koni sports.
the koni sport has an adjustment range from _very_ stiff to something that
overlaps the stiffest setting of the red konis.

> The previous owner did upgrade the springs to the
> red
> sport versions, and I found a glovebox diary recpt showing the
> installation of
> same.

he might well have put in yellow konis at the same time.

another comment on shocks (i don't have much time here, so this is going to
be rushed):

shocks are not springs. you should have very limited expectations for the
effect of stiff shocks with stock springs.

the fundamental characteristics of spring & damper systems are considered
basic fizziks these days, and is covered in any college Fizziks I textbook,
and in any high school Fizziks book i've ever seen.

in the context of automotive applications, look to Fred Puhn (_How to Make
Your Car Handle_) and Carroll Smith (_{Prepare,Tune,Engineer} to Win_).
Puhn is more elementary than Smith; both are practically oriented rather
than theoretically oriented. if you want theory, there is a 900 page
graduate textbook full of THEORY, _Race Car Vehicle Dynamics_, by the
esteemed father and son team of Milliken and Milliken (the father, Bill, is
the man who gave his name to Milliken's Bend on the original Watkins Glen
Grand Prix course; he is also the founder of Cornell's program in vehicle
dynamics.)

however, 900 page grad textbooks are 1) expensive and 2) full of equations
that will make your head hurt. Puhn and Smith are more than enough for 99%
of the digest readership, i'll wager.

richard
--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty@domain.elided
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
              Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security
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