I think that for track use, minimally you need what they call the road/rally rubber springs. There are other uprated ones that may help with body roll and lifespan. I use the old cones because they work and I'm cheap (not necessarily in that order). ??

Kelley

As Kelly said, the best “new” front cones are older rear ones. Be careful though, (some??) newer rear cones don’t have a thread for the cone compressor ...

I don’t think you’ll find any double (bump and rebound) shockies for any sort of reasonable price. AFAIK all the usual suspects have rebound adjustment only. You probably don’t want them anyway ... LOTS of trouble to set up to do anything useful.

I also agree that Spaxs are set pretty much as soft as for even spirited road use.... but it does help to crank them up a bit for track use (tracks are generally a lot smoother than the average road)...

A rear sway bar will nail the front end a bit better (sway bars transfer load diagonally across the vehicle). Zero rear toe has something of the same effect (better turn in) by loosening up the rear.

Back when I was hill climbing/auto crossing I used pretty much the same setup as you except for a bit of lowering all round, 5” wheels and zero rear toe. (I still have my trophy for a class win at a MME (many) years ago .... now where’s that “modest” emoji :)

Cheers, Ian

The Spax seem to be stiff shocks. I have never run them at anything other than the softest setting on the street. The rubber springs I use are generally 50 year-old units taken out of the rear of other cars suspensions. They are, as you might imagine, pretty stiff springs but they handle well with little body roll. My guess is that your new cone springs are NOS from the 90's or later. These tend to be soft springs since they were designed to meet EU cabin noise standards.

Kelley

Yes thanks!  The Konis have a circular piece of rubber in the upper part of the tube which is to be removed and then the shock gets fully compressed and turned counterclockwise until it stops.  Then turn clockwise in half turns going from full soft to full hard.  5 half turns total, I have mine set at 3 now maybe go to 4.  The shocks must still be good because they have a lot of resistance after setting and then trying to pull to the correct length for installation and also to get the rubber piece reinstalled.

I do like the idea that you can just "set and forget" with the Konis.

The Konis should be adjustable, so maybe need to be set stiffer. Other than you need to remove them from your car, I don't remember exactly how to do the adjustment but there should be instructions on the www.

Hello;

I have changed the front cone springs as the old ones had collapsed and replaced them with some decent new old stock ones I had.  When changing the springs when I took off one of the Spax gas adjustable shocks and it came apart!  20 year old wear and tear.  I installed my old Konis which are in good shape but now the handling is way different - a lot of body roll and feels a lot "looser" in handling.

So this long winded question brings me to - go back to a gas type shock that has bounce/rebound control?  I think the Konis as they are hydraulic only have rebound control.  Maybe install a rear swaybar?

Other specs are: 10" A-008's on 6" wide wheels street psi 35 front 32 rear and when competing as high as 40 front to a low of 26 rear.  1/16" toe out at the front 1/8" toe-in at the rear.  1-1/2 degrees negative camber at the front, 0 degrees at the rear.  Standard ride height.

Not sure if one shock is better than the other.  The Koni's are the old standby but there is also Spax, Gaz and probably others.  Looking for a "dual purpose" type.

Thanks,  Andy