Tuning my stock shocks

[Lorduss]

Hey guys, i got a question for ya, i know a decent amount about how oil shocks work, i have a RC car with them, and ive rebuilt them more times and for more reasions than i care to mention.
but my single rear shock on my 400 ex has me a tad stumped.
theres 2 ajustments,
since i dont have my manual on hand ill call them the top one and the bottom one =)

witch screw do i turn to ajust how the piston moves through the oil ? like turning it a tad to harder, to simulate a stiffer oil, causing the shock to compress less on a landing,
and what does the other ajustment do exactly ?
i cant see how i could effect the spring tension, i would like to though.
and where do i get the tool to ajust the front spring tension ? honda dealer? how much are they gonna rape me for on that one ?
damn if i had a mill right now i would make my own tool. but untill then.......

the bottom is the compression, i don't remember which way to turn it to make it stiffer, but i think its to the right. the top one is the rebound. i don't remember the direction for that either.

[Lorduss]

ok, whats the difference between the compression and rebound ?
rebound as in spring tention ?
compression as in how the oil travels through the shock ??
if i got it right thats all i need to know, ill know how to ajust it for what i want.
but what i dont get is how turning the screw well ajust the spring tention, the spring tention looks set into the building of the shock.


are these pistons in our shocks 2 stage? do the disks seperate on the decompression stroke to allow it to travel faster decompressing than compressing ?

the compression i'm talking about is how stiff the shock is as far as oil, not the spring. the stiffer it is the harder it is to compress. and rebound is how fast the shock will recover from the compression. the screww adjustments do not change the properties of the spring.

[Marty@TheQuadshop]

The adjustment on the top is a Fine tune compression adjustment.The screw on the bottom is called the rebound adjustment It works like a valve slowing down the oil flow or making it faster.Alot of people have there reboune to fast making the seat smack you in the butt when going over whoops.
Turn the bottom screw in(clockwise) to slow the rebound down.
Its easy to due and you wont hurt anything.Never turn the adjustment screws all the way in,have at least 1/2 turn out
or you might blow a seal.The adjustment screws are just like needle jets so the more you run then in the less flow there is.
I hope this helps.:D