The development of our Rallycross coilover package began as the third major offering from Paco Motorsports for offroad and lifted NA/NB Miatas. First came the simple yet effective 3″ lift kit, then came the extreme long travel Offroadster kit. Both offerings are excellent at what they do, but there was a lot of middle ground untouched. Some enthusiasts just want a little extra ground clearance on the cheap, and some want as much offroad capability possible. The Rallycross setup fits squarely in the middle, and is even better than we expected, in terms of versatility on and off road. Through prototyping and testing, the kit has seen many different iterations of shock design, shock mounting, spring rates, valving, etc. Specific design intent for this coilover and mounting package followed these three main goals:
1. Max wheel travel allowed by the factory suspension — This means identifying and staying within the safe operating range of motion of the suspension’s upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, shock clearance to control arms, rear CV axle maximum angle of operation, etc.
2. Relatively low, progressive wheel rates — This is somewhat contradictory to more traditional street/track coilover packages, which use stiff spring rates to control body roll and aid in quick transitioning of weight transfer. The lower spring rates of the Rallycross setup allow the suspension to move through more of its range, soaking up rough terrain and promoting stability and comfort offroad. As with any quality suspension package, this required plenty of measuring, testing, math, and LOTS of trial and error before we settled on the final specs of all components.
3. Adaptability — We’ve learned so much from our customers over the years about lifted Miatas. Everyone has their own ideas and plans of how they want to take their car off the pavement. Many of our lift kit customers don’t even own a Miata yet. They just love the concept of a lifted Miata so much, they can’t wait to find an old roughed up example to throw some mud/snow tires on and go play offroad somewhere. Some are more serious and want to compete in national Rallycross events or Gambler 500 events, and we have some folks prepping for even higher levels of competition. Whatever the intended use, the Rallycross coilovers were designed to cover a multitude of intended uses.
— TECHNICAL SPECS —
Approx. Ride height range: +1″ to +4″ compared to “stock”
~8.5″ total wheel travel all around (max bump travel could be limited somewhat depending upon large tire diameters interfering with factory wheel well sheet metal. Anything below ~26″ diameter tire should allow full travel.)
Aluminum bodied shocks with 9/16″ pistons, threaded spring perches and heavy duty bump stops
Inverted rear shock design allows the high range of travel we achieve, which is traditionally a big limitation in rear shock setups on Miatas.
25″-26″ tire diameter without major fender/body modifications. Up to ~29+″ possible with extensive fabrication
–NOTES–
At higher ride heights, front camber adjustments will be limited to around zero camber to +1 degree camber. Our extended front lower balljoints add up to 3 degrees of negative camber to allow more ideal alignment. Similarly in the rear, care needs to be taken when using high ride heights and too much negative camber because of the extreme angle of the CV joint at full droop (when the suspension is fully extended downward). Factory CV joints have been known to break with extreme use. Stronger axles with beefier CVs and more range of motion are available. Paco Moto Upper Rear control arms recommended on ALL lifted Miatas for proper camber setup and max CV axle angle limits…also provides for clearance with certain wheel/tire combinations, and more ideal wheel alignment. Finally, the rear swaybar requires extended links to allow full wheel travel, which we also offer separately.
REQUIRES DRILLING FRONT LOWER CONTROL ARM SHOCK HOLES ON ALL CARS FROM 12mm to 1/2″ DIAMETER
NB CARS (1999-2005) REQUIRE ADDITIONAL TRIMMING OF SHOCK TOWER HOLES TO FIT RALLYCROSS MOUNTS…
