Jims5543

I am getting ready to rework my suspension. I am not happy with it. I used to be happy with it until I drove a bone stock Honda S2000 and it felt like it handled every bit as good as my TII. On a practice day I took my dads FD out with its original suspension and turned a time within 1 second of my time in my TII and I really dont know his car.





So...Here is what I have right now suspension wise:



Mazdatrix Front camber plates

Racing beat front and rear sway bars

KYB- AGX Shox 4 way front 8 way rear

Racing Beat rear toe eliminator

Mazdatrix rear camber link

Ground Control coilovers 250# rear 400# front



I have it dialed in like this:

Shox front 2 rear 1

Camber -1° all around (remember I run slicks they like less camber)

When I ran victoracers I ran -2° all around

Caster 5°

Toe 1/8" per side toe out





Now I am going to change my spring rates I just ordered 4 new springs from ground control.



I am going with 300# front and 150# rear. I think this will allow my car to rotate better. We unhooked the rear sway bar at a practice day and the car turned better. This indicated to me that I have too much spring in the car. I have an Autocross in 2 weeks and plan on having the new springs in for it. I will report back how it felt.



BTW - With these lower springs I expect the car to sway a bit more so I am planning on increasing the camber back to -2°.



What are you guys running?? Or do you have any suggestions as to my setup?

Apex13B

toe out?



i really dont know FC setup too well, but most Formula Mazda's run .5 neg rear toe in, super stable and turns in well.



you gotta tell me where you dont like it....into a turn, coming out. Try having a real pro drive the car and you'll see if its just you

Jims5543

Toe out makes the car want to turn. Imagine the inside tire is pointing into the turn. So when you steer into a turn you ge tthe outside tire where you want it and now the inside one is halping things along although there is not a lot of force on the inside tire. It also helps a lot with ther initial turn in.



I have had the winningest Autocrosser in SCCA history (Steve Brolliet) drive my car and he loved it. I also had Marc Dana 9owner of Evolution driving school) drive it and he jumped out of it and danced around like a 2 year old. He then told me to diconnect the rear sway. We did and the car handled better.



My friend and mechanic sets up race cars and told me I have way too stiff springs in the car. We decided to go down 100# at each corner and see what it does.



I guess I am the test pilot. We shall see in 2 weeks.

Cheers!

u selling anything out of hte suspension.



i'll take the setup if u don't want it.

=)

Jims5543

I really like the way the car hadles in road course the way its setup right now.



The only thing I am changing right now is the spring rates. I am keeping the old springs for road course.

Robbomaz

This is probably not much of a helpful comparison but a lot of people are suprised by how competive I am in this car, and a couple of winning types have driven it & like it.......

NO off the shelf parts are available for my car though!

I went down the 'hard 'n flat' road at first but found grip limits faster too. I am MUCH faster with a softer more rolly setup using RE540 Brigestones (they have incredibly stiff sidewalls)

Your rates seem very high to me, but obviously to you too....

I have FC struts all round in my 2900lb old girl and use 360 fronts 180 rears on Koni shocks. Rebound is up all the way. Static toe out 1/8 all round

4 deg neg front (RE540S Potenza R-comps seem to LOVE neg!)

Caster is 7 deg

Rear 2 degree neg static but imagine your rear setup but without the toe control link.........no real control over toe or camber once moving fun fun fun..!



If you can pull your bar off and improve then yep things are too hard I added adjustment to my rear bar, which allowed a lot of experimentation and ended up at 180 rears on a mid setting bar. I unhook the rear bar & dial off front neg for wet days.

Jims5543

Man!! EXACTLY what I wanted to hear. I think these lower springs are gonna be nice.



I have considered uprading the shox to a duel adjustible. The koni's are good yes?

Robbomaz

Most of my stuff i do on a eye-wateringly tight budget (wife at home with 2 boys under 4.....I ain't telling you anything new! )

I like Konis! I only have rebound adjustment. Bump added too much $ at the time I need harder bump in the rear, too much squat under power..controlling a basic 80's semi-trailing setup is difficult to put it mildly! Konis are fully rebuildable and you can custom valve them too, which I have not tried yet, but it's on the TD list. The **** G-meter is most useful. The car would load the front wheel even in neutral attitude, you could just feel it! (A 20B lump up there can't help) I worked on getting the bum-meter telling me there was cornering force coming from the rear too! A slight power-on would swing the tail, but I wanted & still am working on the best neutral attitude I can get. Of course I am using a 80's luxo-barge as a base & not a proper sports car... Around the cones events I have 3 deg front neg and mid holes on the bars and use the low tech rear to advantage: barrel into a 180 on steady gas, left foot braking, turn in, lift momentarily & gas it. The rear unloads and does a massive camber & toe change & tries to spin the car. The turn-in when I get it right makes me grin like an idiot, the applause when I get it wrong....... I have a vid of how not to do it....where would I put it? Vosko hosts the vids?



On the circuit I go 5.5 front neg and hardest everything, front rebound could be harder (on max now), there is a ridge in the straight of our local track that floats the nose slightly at high speed (like top of 4th) I need more brakes!



At the front I am planning an increase in spring rate and a reduction in bar and see how that goes. I think the rear is as good as it will get. I have a FD double wishbone rear to go in when I get the time, which is in shorter supply than money!

Jims5543

Got my springs in from Ground Control today.



I got 300 lb springs for the front (taking off 400# springs)

and I got 150 lb. springs in the rear (yaking off 250# springs)



We have a AutoX sunday might take it out for a run see how it feels.



I was just thinking my 60' times should drop at the strip because I will transfer weight better.

Travis R

Just out of curiosity, why do you think the car will rotate better with softer springs?

The new spring setup has the rear springs 50% of the front, the old setup had them at 62%.

Any change in ride height?