Penske quarter midget shocks

[Shane_V]

I'm looking for some information on these shocks, but it's proving to be harder than I thought.

I can't find any specs on them through penske's website, and any contacts through penske are taking a long time to respond. I looked on this forum and found some contacts, but can't seem to find an email for them. Can someone point me in the right direction? Something that would be especially helpful would be a Canadian contact (shipping purposes).

Thanks

[Mike Macie]

I know we got them through Indy Motorsports. Website doesn't work anymore so I'm not sure if they're still around. They will supply the shock dyno info for each damper. But here's the contact info i have.

Indy Motorsports Supply
Anita Millican
anita@indyms.com
317-381-6924

[ibanezplayer]

If you're looking at the penskes you might as well talk to KAZ Technologies, some Ex-FSAEers are modifying the penskes to better suit these cars.

Talked to "Kaz" and some other employees in Michigan, they are very enthusiastic and genuine.

Kaz Tech FSAE damper (http://www.kaztechnologies.com/fsae.html)

[Crispy]

Here is the link to the manual for the Penske 7800s that we use at OSU. I couldn't find info on their website either. I had to Google it. The Kaz Penske damper is also a 7800. Is 7800 the name of the damper, or a series of dampers? ... confusing

http://www.penskeshocks.com/fi...00_Series_Manual.pdf (http://www.penskeshocks.com/files/7800_Series_Manual.pdf)

We purchase ours through the "shock shop" http://www.shock-shop.com/. Owned and run by Chris Billings, an FSAE design judge.

[Shane_V]

I was looking into the KAZ modified shocks, and they look excellent, but way out of our budget. The quarter midget shocks may not be ideal for fsae cars, but you can have them built to spec and the price is right.

I'm awaiting response from Anita right now

[Adambomb]

Sounds like you're after the Penske 7800s. They're a tad big, and aren't adjustable (at least not with knobs), but you can get them custom valved with dyno sheets for under $200. I'm thinking we got ours at The Shock Shop (they're not listed on the website, just call and ask).

Despite the lack of adjustability, they seem to be a really good shock, my forearm-shock-dyno tells me they have less friction and hysterises than the garden variety mountain bike shocks we have laying around here.

[rkraft]

Originally posted by ibanezplayer:
If you're looking at the penskes you might as well talk to KAZ Technologies, some Ex-FSAEers are modifying the penskes to better suit these cars.

Talked to "Kaz" and some other employees in Michigan, they are very enthusiastic and genuine.

Kaz Tech FSAE damper (http://www.kaztechnologies.com/fsae.html)

Thanks for the positive words, player. I would like to correct you on a few details, though: The Kaz Technologies 7800 damper is NOT a modified version of the 1/4-midget Penske shock. It was a completely new design that started in late 2008 with Kaz, Penske, and the University of Michigan team. The Kaz 7800 uses a much smaller piston, different base valve design, is adjustable, has lower-friction shaft seals and coatings, etc.

The Kaz/Penske 7800 has not been 'modified' to work for FSAE. It was specifically designed for FSAE cars. For more information, please see our website. If you have any questions about the Kaz product, please PM me.

[Crispy]

The 1/4-midget Penske shock also uses a 1" piston, but it uses 3/8" (9.5mm) ID shims and I think the Kaz damper uses 8mm ID shims. So it would seem that the pistons and shims are not interchangeable. Bummer

[rkraft]

That's correct, Chris. The Kaz shock uses the Penske F1 piston line, which has different dimensions than the normal 7800 piston.

[sbrenaman]

We also bought our Penske 7800's from Chris Billings at The Shock Shop. http://www.shock-shop.com. These seem to be a great entry level damper for FSAE cars. Non adjustable, linear shocks. They're great for the price.

[Crispy]

I wouldn't even say they are entry level. They seem like a quality part that can be internally adjusted if you have access to a shock dyno. I think their biggest drawback is that they are a bit too heavy.

[sbrenaman]

Yeah you're right Chris, what exactly is entry-level.

We dyno'd ours after a year on the shelf and all 4 dyno'd very similar to the previous year's graph.