kappaSPRINGS by Eibach

We are driving enthusiasts at heart here at Kappasphere. Our kappaSPRINGS by Eibach are one of the best examples of our passion for great handling. We worked closely with Eibach to develop the perfect drop amount and spring rates for the Kappa chassis. The setup we landed on is one that will optimize handling without a harsh ride.


The drop in ride height of 1" in the front and 1.3" in the rear lowers the car's center of gravity to minimize body roll. This will make the car much more stable and neutral, especially at initial turn in. Stiffer springs also do their part in keeping the car flat through the corners.

click here to view Solstice stock vs. Kappaspehre


The spring rates we chose minimizes the rear end squatting under hard acceleration and the nose diving under hard braking. All of this, including the reduced body roll, is accomplished without loosing the car's great ride. We developed these springs to give you maximum performance in a street-friendly package.



Our base Sky was able to smoke much higher horsepower Kappa cars in the canyons with these springs. You'll be able to embarrass some heavily modified Solstice and Skys with little else than the kappaSPRINGS.



We are generally a function over form company. It just so happens that these cars look phenominal with these lowering springs. A much welcomed bonus to having a better handling car!



IN STOCK & Ready to Ship

Nurburgring/Data Acquisition Tech Seminar on Sept. 26

Save the Date!

September 26th, 2009 @ 11am Nurburgring/GXP Tech Seminar @ Kappasphere!

This special Kappasphere Tech Seminar will feature Dave Thilenius. Dave is the hot-shoe that did the ride & handling development for GM on the Pontiac Solstice GXP at the famed Nurburgring! He's logged over 200 laps on the "Green Hell" in a handful of GM's hottest performance machines and is currently running in the Koni Challenge Series seen on the SPEED Channel.

Dave's Tech Seminar will focus on his experiences at the Nurburgring as a ride & handling engineer at the OEM level. He'll share every terrifying detail of the world's most challenging, most demanding and most dangerous race track as well as the sophisticated data acquisition equipment he used on the 'Ring. Dave has worked closely with Shinoo on the track using data acquisition and helped him shave significant time off his laps and he's going to share his secrets with you!

Lap Time Contest! Win a Free Solstice Book (Sky included)!

In recent years, a car’s lap time on the Nurburgring has been a major focal point for companies testing there. Whoever comes closest to guessing Dave’s fastest lap time in the Solstice GXP on the 14-mile Nurburgring Nordschleife wins a copy of “The Pontiac Solstice Book!” Send your guess to bill@kappasphere.com. The contest will end Monday, September 21. The closest guess wins!

To RSVP call 951-296-6762 or e-mail bill@kappasphere.com

Tech Seminar Location:

Kappasphere

41740 Enterprise Circle N. Ste 101

Temecula, CA 92590

KSRdiscs Stop You the Right Way

Our KSRdiscs use smart slots rather than cross-drilling to be as strong as possible and dissipate heat very effectively. Slotted rotors continuously clean the surface of your brake pad and extract the hot gasses produced by heavy braking. Cross-drilled rotors are prone to cracking from each of the drilled holes.

The durable, one-piece KSRdiscs will give you stellar braking performance on and off the race track for a long time. Kappasphere's parent company, Sector111, uses similar construction on its two-piece ULTRAdiscs (see our S111 blog for more info), which sees very heavy track use on Lotus Elise and Exiges.

Slotted rotors, like our KSRdics, are the preferred configuration for brake discs in motorsport. You get the maximum friction surface, constant brake pad cleaning, excellent heat dissipation and durability. You can get all of that HERE for you Solstice & Sky

Tested & Proven Brake Bias

Proper brake bias is often over looked by most track-day participants. The truth is, professional race teams spend massive amounts of time and money dialling in the perfect brake balance. Whether you prefer braking hard in a straight line before the turn or trail braking (braking as you're entering the turn), keeping the car balanced under braking is absolutely essential for good lap times.

You don't need a million dollar race car with brake bias controls or a team of chassis engineers to get the perfect brake bias either. Properly selected brake pad compounds are just as effective at giving you proper brake bias and performance. Pontiac Solstice driver Don Knowles' SCCA Championship winning team and Hawk Performance have already done all the hard work - with some special assistance from GM. The two Hawk brake pad compounds they selected gave Don Knowles' Solstice perfect brake balance. The DTC70 front brake pads & DTC60 rear brake pads were the compounds that helped Don Knowles' team win the SCCA Stock Runoffs B Championship.

These race-compound pads are THE track-day pads of choice for the Solstice and Sky. If you track your Kappa roadster, we highly recommend this setup. You can't go wrong with a championship winning combination!

We are good friends with the former GM Ride & Handling Engineer who helped dial these brakes in. Dave will be our special guest at an upcoming Technical Seminar at our Shop this Fall. He will describe the work he conducted on the Solstice to help get it set up on the Nurburgring as well as for the SCCA run offs. We will be announcing the date shortly.

reBAR fitted with SOLO GXP Street Race exhaust

Yesterday, a local customer, Al, stopped by our shop to have our reBAR installed on his GXP. We wanted to see if the reBAR would fit with his current exhaust set up.

We dry fitted the reBAR initially and discovered the SOLO exhaust sat too low and didn't allow the reBAR to be bolted in. It took some adjustments, but, we were able to install our reBAR on a Al's GXP Solstice with his SOLO GXP Street Race exhaust.

Here are the steps we took to make this set up work:

• We loosened the three clamps attaching the Solo exhaust.
  
• After loosing up the clamps we pushed the reBAR up against the exhaust and hand tighten it in place.
  
• Now that the reBAR was in place, we lined the exhaust up and re-tightened the clamps so the exhaust was secured at its highest position.
  

NOTE: There was minimal clearance between the exhaust and reBAR. The customer was aware of the potential rattle but really wanted this solution and decided to go ahead with it. Its also a good idea to recheck all the bolts and clamps after the test drive to make sure they remained secured.

When the install was completed, I took it out for a test drive to make sure there were no issues and that everything remained in place. There was no rattle detectable and everything felt extremely solid.

For you GXP owners with the SOLO exhaust system, our reBAR has been confirmed to fit on your car! Feel free to give us a call with any questions or concerns. We'd be happy to help you with this process.

BTW: Al has a very fast car! Thanks for letting us work on it.

Run with the West Coast Mini's Club!

I attended my first MINI run this past Saturday with the West Coast Mini Club of Southern California. The run took us through various hills and twisties of San Diego County.

The run itself was a BLAST! I really had a chance to put our MINI to the test. We have many NM bits on our car (intake, torque arm insert, sway bar, springs, and discharge pipe) along with some Enkei lightweight wheels, Toyo tires, monkeyBAR and Schroth Profi 4 point Harness.  This run was the perfect opportunity to test the new parts. 

The first thing I noticed was that our car definitely accelerated a lot quicker. I'm sure this was due to our induction kit and discharge pipe along with our lightweight wheels. It was a great improvement over stock. The second improvement I noticed was the improved grip that the car displayed.  I first experienced this when I entered a corner a little too hot and the car stayed planted through the turn. There was minimal body roll.  I had a big sense of relief and knew that this run was going to be fun.

During the first leg, I did have problems sliding around in my seat. The stock seat belt wasn’t much help for me through these twisties. Luckily I did have the monkeyBAR & Schroth Harness installed; however, I wasn’t strapped in. When we stopped for a quick break, I put my seat forward and strapped in tight with the harness. From this point on, the drive was a piece of cake and a lot more enjoyable. It was great to hang out with so many modified MINI’s.

The run ended for me when we reached Escondido.   Once again thank you West Coast Mini’s for a great run. I meet a lot of great people and saw many cool MINI’s. Can wait for the next one!

reBAR does fit with Magnaflow 3" Exhaust

Last week we had a customer of ours drive down to our shop from the Bakersfield area. He was interested in a couple of the bits we offer(KSRdiscs, reBAR, brake pads). The one concern he had was if our reBAR would fit with his Magnaflow 3" Exhaust. We tested this during our R&D stages with another customers Sky and confirmed it fit. However since the release of the reBAR some have claimed that it doesn't fit with this exhaust. Well, now was the perfect time to test this again.

The reBAR does fit. Here are some pointers to make it work.

• You have to make sure the exhaust is installed at its highest position.



• The clamp that connects the pipe to the exhaust at the rear of the car is the main area to focus on. It has to be tightened with the pipe inserted to the exhaust as high as possible.



• Tighten the reBAR at its lowest position.
  

We found that by doing this you can make it fit without a problem. So, for all of you that have been waiting on purchasing one due to your Maganflow exhaust, now is the time to get one and enjoy all the benefits of the reBAR.

Thank you Bakersfield customer for all of your help!