[jekyll991]

I'm a member of my FSAE team and we're in the process of deciding what type of shock to use. Right now I'm trying to make a case for the Manitou Swinger expert:
http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Manitou/Manitou-Swinger-Expert-Lock-Out-Shock.axd

It has the adjustments I would like to have-that you can't get at a reasonable price from fsae-specific shocks- at a decent price, and of course I want to go air to save wait and add ease of adjustment.

So right now one thing I know that could make it less than ideal is if it uses any sort of platform valving. One review said that it did but no SPV or anything is listed in the specs for it anywhere that I can find so I'm looking for a certain answer.

Thanks.

 

[jonKranked]

the old swingers were platform damped (they were basically a progressive 5th element, and many of the parts were interchangable), but in you link it indicates it's a shim based damper.

FWIW the old ones that were platform damped were insanely easy to convert to shims. there's even a guide on it in the DH forum (would have to search, it's probably been buried under years of other threads).


also, are you OK with using an air shock for FSAE? i'd be concerned about the upper pressure limit trying to support a motorized vehicle + driver on a shock designed for MTB.

 

[jekyll991]

Yeah I've seen the thread while trying to figure out if this shock is or isn't but didn't read it too much. I didn't realize shim-based was mutually exclusive from SPV because I haven't looked into how SPV works, I assumed it was just some fancy valving with shims.

The car will be 500-600lbs (being generous, we hope to achieve less) and be supported by one at each corner so the weight will be distributed of course. Also using a pull-rod style setup so I can adjust the motion ratio (since we can vary travel to a certain degree) to be able to run lower pressure. For reference, what is the max pressure? With a coil-spring setup we were designing for around using a 150lb spring (because that's what was in the middle of the range of the springs available for the penske damper we were going to us).

 

[4130biker]

At 150lb coil spring, the air shock can go that low... I would just be concerned about the inherent stiction of the air spring interfering with getting an appropriately low spring rate. Not to mention, it seems like such a low leverage ratio would really amplify any stiction in the shock.
Hopefully I'm saying that right... Maybe someone like Udi or Steve M will chime in. Sounds like a fun project!

 

[TrumbullHucker]

i remember people saying you could re valve a swinger 4 way making it feel nice..... always wondered about that

 

[jonKranked]

i remember people saying you could re valve a swinger 4 way making it feel nice..... always wondered about that

the hardest part was getting the shimzzzzz

 

[TrumbullHucker]

the hardest part was getting the shimzzzzz