Racetech cartridge emulators

[Adam R]

I've got a set of emulators that I'd like to install but I bought them used and don't have directions.  I called Racetech and they weren't helpful at all.  I know more or less what needs to be done, I just don't know specifics.   I don't know which holes in the dampening rods need to be enlarged, or if some need to be brazed, or if I need to drill new holes in the lower half.  

Has anyone gone through this process and can help me out?  I want to make sure i do this right.  Or is there a web site that can help.  I'm told the SVRider.com site has a step by step install.  Is it transferable to the GS or are there other things I need to be aware of.

I think there used to be a post on this, but it must have gotten deleted as its not coming up in the search engine.

Thanks,
Adam

[Adam R]

Ok, SVrider has a good article on how to do this at http://svrider.com/

My question now is: is it necessary to enlarge the holes in dampening rods.  Do I also need to add holes?  Can I just drop in the emulators?


What happened to the people that have done this mod?  How helpful was it?

[JamesG]

Call it a pet peeve of mine but... If you are going to reference something, is it too much to ask that you link TO the document itself, not just the site?

Anyway, Emulators can be useful, but usually not for a streetbike, because you rarely ride hard enough (or shouldn't) to need the finer damping provided. Plus adjusting them is a royal pain in the ass. You have to take the caps & springs off and fish the emulators out of the oil. I've had pretty good luck with them in my SV and GSX fork equiped GS racebike given the above limitations. But it wasn't easy, it took quite a while and several disassemblies and changing fork oil to get what felt right, and a suspension guru would probably be able to make it better (correct).
Speaking of, and no offense, but if you don't know which way to put the emulators in, especally without the instructions, you might want to have someone racetech qualified do it for you.
IF you insist on going it alone, you can go out to the racetech site and get some basic set up information for them. Spring rate, oil wieght/level, and even how much preload to put on the emulator cartridge. The emulator goes between the top of the damping rod and the main spring with the vavling spring facing up. You have to drill lots of holes low down in the damping rod to "disable" the stock compression damping. I would try the forks with the stock rebound hole, but you have a 50/50 chance of needing to close it up to reduce the rebound. And then fiddle with oil weight to fine tune things.

Like I said its a PITA.