So Cal Suspension

When you get a chance get some pics of them installed. I want to see what 4.5" of the silencer cut off looks like. You must have taken it back almost all the way to the mount, right? Another unforseen advantage i noticed is, you use less packing =)

Really? someone paid 275 for these? You guys should go check out the YFZ forums. Guys dump their stockers for like 60-100 bucks for the arms... and i've seen shocks in brand new condition sell for 100 bucks or less. I guess it only takes one sucker...

To start off, when I say don't run anything thicker than a 5wt, I meant a 5wt SHOCK OIL. ATF is different. Silkolene does make a 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10wt shock oil. I think it's called Pro RSF. Don't hold me to that though. Shock oil is generally over priced. I've seen some Baja motorcycle racers run oil as heavy as 30wt in their forks for the 1000. The "weight" rating can vary in any synthetic, or semi synthetic oil by 10-15% legally. A 2.5wt oil is probably more of what ATV shocks or Motorcycle Forks use, because they are smaller, and have significantly less weight on them. Especially Elka's due to their extraordinarily tight seal tolerances. Automotive shocks can handle a heavier weight oil, obviously because they are bigger in overall dimension therefore the valving plates are bigger, pistons are bigger, get hotter, and have much more weight on each shock. Usually a standard Dexron 1, 2, or 3 is roughly a 10wt oil. I know Castrol Full Synthetic Dexron ATF is rated at 6.8cst, (or 10wt). Now, the only real experience I have is with offroad stuff. 2.5" shocks and above. The only thing you will hurt by running an oil too thick, is your shock will be stiffer than if you were running a 2.5wt or 5wt oil. It will be more noticeable in the rebound speed more than anything. Probably 90% of people wont be able to tell the difference between a 5 or 10wt oil. I had several racers that ONLY ran Castrol synthetic ATF. For three reasons... they could get it free, it lasted MUCH longer and it seemed to handle extreme heat better than shock oil. If you're going to have the shock apart, revalve it to one step lower on compression, and two lower on rebound. You'll never know the difference. Another good thing about using ATF is it's red. Most shock oil is a light blue, or sometimes even clear. When the shock starts to seep oil, you never know. With ATF it's bright red, very easy to spot a leaking shock. Hope this sheds some light on the shock world. I'm finally glad the last 5 years of my life building shocks was good for something. If there's any local people around here I'd love to spend an afternoon and tear into some shocks, and show everyone how to do it on their own. There's quite a few little things that if done wrong, can destroy a shock in 10 minutes. Which is why I hesitate just telling someone how to do it. It's one of those, "nah, I need to show you how" moments.

Check out this thread. There's a lot of info in it. Sand Forum

SAW, Bilstein, Fox, and DOUCHEtech use 5w oil... king uses 10w due to their seal tolerances being complete and utter shit. Elka's are a good quality shock. Don't run anything thicker than 5w. ATF is a good substitute in a pinch.

The guy that listed that is a member on this forum. Slacker1bob. I picked up my silencers from him. He's about 10 min from me.

Firm on 250? + fees?

I think you two need to hug each other. I'm sorry I asked.

I might have to make a trip to buttercup. I've been going to glamis my entire life, and can honestly say I've never been to Buttercup. For those that know the area. I come from Temecula, so I rarely make the journey south to the 8. Might have to head out the for a night trip during the summer!

Well, I never ran this setup (FMF gold pipes/powercore silencers) before I chopped the silencers. But compared to the Hi-Rev's throttle response is MUCH better. I think the pipes are what increased my throttle response. Like I said previously, the torque curve is much more smooth. It doesn't "explode" at higher rpms. It feels like it has much more power, steadily. The hi-rev's just didn't do what I wanted them to do. I spend alot of time mid-throttle, and the Hi-rev's just weren't the ticket. I think this setup will do much better in the sand. I can't wait until next weekend to try them out at Glamis.

Packed the silencers today, they sound awesome. They're twice as loud as my PT hi-rev's. I love it.

I just did a few hotlaps on my street and I actually love the way these perform. Much better low end than my PT hi-rev's. To me, they feel like they have a much better overall torque curve than the PT's. It's not as explosive on the top end, which is what I like. I'm pretty happy with them. I need to get a hold of nick (nos350x) and see where he's had his pipes ceramic coated. He told me some ridiculously low price. Like half of what chroming costs.

FMF won't let you email them pics... these are only going to be on my bike temporarily, unless I like em. Might have them chromed or ceramic coated...

I haven't run it yet, I didn't have any new packing. Honestly, I should have run them before I modded them. They were new (to me) silencers, and I never ran them prior to. DOH!

Here's comparison pictures. I mocked them both up, to see if I liked the two inches cut off. I liked what I saw and duplicated everything for the second silencer. And now for the finished product! Basic power tools I used were a metal chop saw with a new blade, a power drill, bench grinder with wire wheel, and numerous metal files. Let me know what you guys think!

Since I removed exactly two inches from the outside housing, exactly two inches needs to be removed from the inside pipe, in order to keep the spacing exact. Photos of the inside pipe after cutting. So at this point I didn't like the "downturn" tip, so I figured, WTF, I'll cut it off flush. I don't have any pics of that, but I just cut it flush with the end of the silencer.

Alright, just completed this. Didn't take too long, and I think the results came out pretty good. This was done on Original Powercore silencers. Started with this. Standard powercore silencer. After completely disassembling them, I measured and I didn't want to cut TOO much at first, so I went with 2 inches. As you can see, now the inside pipe needs to be cut. Notice in the un-modded silencer the inside pipe is recessed approx 1/2".

No shit they are gold series. But as I am sure every one knows there are multiple "Gold series" pipes. I called FMF today, and they are called "FMF Gold Series Don Elmer Signature series". Old shit, sound pretty good. Better low end power, which is what I wanted. I mated them to orig powercore silencers, that I shortened 2 inches.

Yeah, heard about that yesterday. That kid's my hero... minus the cross dressing. But it makes you think... "where did he get the idea to wear the dress?" of those 5 presents he stole, the dress was the most appealing?

I spent 4 years working for Thyssen Krupp Bilstein. I worked in the offroad dept building 2.0 and larger shocks. Btw... the hand adjuster for the blackhawks... my idea. Anywho... as far as the oil level specs and things of that nature, I can't argue with. As for the process, I have some issues with cleanliness. Every shock we built was in a dust free room. Probably overkill, but using a road cone to fill the oil? All you need to do is plunge the piston and shaft assembly up and down until no more air bulbble come out, and top off the oil as necessary. Other than that, the overall dynamics of shock internals is pretty accurate! Great post!

K, I've been kind of asking around as to what kind of pipes these are. I got a killer deal on them, just want to make sure I match them to an appropriate silencer. Let the games begin.

Pics?

I notice you're in hemet. Go to off road warehouse in temecula. They're right across from temecula motorsports on jefferson and wnchester. They have generic bushings that can be turned down on a lathe if necessary. I used to work for the Escondido ORW a few years back when rhinos first came out people were buying those bushings. I forgot what brand they are, but they com in black and red. They have bins of them, with sleeves.

Trailtech's are a favorite around here. Trailtech.net Or the very similar, but overpriced LazerStars. weekendconcepts.com

Ehh, vendors... Although the Mexican food trailer is quite nice on Sunday afternoon before heading out! I don't dare eat that stuff at the beginning of the trip. Not a big fan of the areas where thousands gather. If I wanted to see thousands of people in one place, I'd go to Disneyland. I go to ride, camp, and eat. Mostly ride. In conclusion, and I think most of us Glamis-ites will agree. If you want the washes, go to 14+. If you want to go to gecko... go ALL the way to the end to "roadrunner". One downside (i consider it a good thing), is it's kind of a journey from the highway, on big weekends it can get backed up if they're checking passes on the way out. They have nice bathrooms scattered around roadrunner, that are cleaned DAILY. You read that right, daily. THAT is why we pay 90 bucks to go there for a season. So I have a clean place to shit. Oh yeah, and some relatively hard packed places to park. Again, make sure you let us know when you're going. We'll plan a ride or something. Unless you don't like us or something...