Advanced Suspension Mods

[shorestiva]

mmkay I'll probably add some sometime....

Put over 1k miles on my setup and I love it but now I'm starting to get some creaking from the rear struts. Think it might have something to do with how muddy my driveway is but haven't had time to put it up it the air and check yet.

[bhearts]

can someone share a link to a purchase of the front struts i need. ive decided im not going to use my rio struts up front.

[Advancedynamix]

MK3 coilovers

[rbrown]

MK3 coilovers

So this is the way you are recommending now Charlie? Save for changing the springs out for different rates.
Are these close to what you started with when this thread began?

I should add. Street car. No racing will happen.

[Advancedynamix]

So this is the way you are recommending now Charlie? Save for changing the springs out for different rates.
Are these close to what you started with when this thread began?

I should add. Street car. No racing will happen.

Yes, these are very close to what I started with. The spring rates need to be changed, bolt holes need to modified and you can't use the rears. They work great on street or on a race track. These are actually higher quality than the Raceland products I've used in the past. I've built 3 sets of suspension with these Hottuning shocks and they have worked great. Some members have had success with the eBay seller splitting the kits up for a discount since you wont need the rears.

[ottoparts]

Happy 4th all. Playing around on a lathe today. This is my take on camber adjusters for the rear.

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[sc72]

Looks interesting let us know what happens.

[greywolf200]

That looks very interesting. Fun day in the shop.

[jason_]

Love the flip flops in the shop.

Reminds me stick welding in a tee-shirt, no gloves, sandals, and gym shorts.

Any sparks caught just wiggle and shake them off.

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[Advancedynamix]

Those are nicer than mine. Now to determine where your bolt slots go. That's the tricky part. I've found that the taper centerline should live about 10 degrees advanced from centerline of the top rear and bottom front spindle mount holes. When the car is at rest with a 3" drop, those holes will be close to vertical. If your plates are more than 3 degrees then advance the centerline more. I'm still trying to get my 5 degree plates dialed in.

[theastronaut]

I don't think we've discussed ride height and how it affects suspension geometry and grip. I recently lowered my '88 about an inch up front, put 160 pounds of sand bags in the driver seat, leveled the height side to side, reset the camber to 3*, and the toe to zero. It lost a lot of front grip and it now understeers badly, to the point where I can't get the car to rotate even when trailbraking into a corner. I'm thinking this is due to the lower control arms being level now, and it's losing negative camber as the body rolls. Before with the arms running downhill towards the spindle it would gain camber as it rolled. Am I on the right track here?

The only other thing I changed were the front tires, they're the same as the last pair but I can feel the full tread depth "squirming" around through corners. The old tires were nearly slick but I doubt they made that much difference in the amount of grip.

Edit- forgot to ask, is there an ideal ride height or control arm angle? I see that Miata guys spec a certain ride height when talking alignments.

[Advancedynamix]

Your correct. These cars seem to handle best at around a 3" drop. There are a few factors here. The control arm angle is one of them, as is the bump steer. One factor that is hard to visualize is the attitude of the sway bar. At an extreme drop it is now angled upward and is less effective at improving traction with TQ. Remember that a trailing link will press downward when loaded with wheel TQ if the rear of the link is lower than the front, but the opposite is true if the rear of the link is higher than the front.
Also, all the bushings are in a bind at these extremely low ride heights. I have poly bushings on my control arms and sway bar to chassis mounts, but it still binds at the height I've got Pedro at right now.
Nate and Arty(skeeters_keeper and FestYboy) designed some control arm spacers awhile back that I have been meaning to try. They space the steering knuckle up from the ball joint and correct the control arm and sway bar angle. I've never needed this before, but now I'm at an all time low. Lol

[theastronaut]

You just described the way my car is behaving. It's squealing the inside tire pretty badly before it gets near the limit of grip (bump steer?), and it's spinning the inside tire coming out of a corner worse than before even though it's not cornering as hard. The control arm spacers are interesting... I love the way it looks this low but its not as much fun without the grip it had before. I had thought about relocating the inner control arm mounts up higher when I do the B6 swap, but then I'd have to move the sway bar up, and the rear beam mounts up- not worth all the effort just to be low and functional. I'll probably leave the height/alignment it as-is until the next autocross.

[Advancedynamix]

Yeah. Welcome to club low. Haha. As far as I know, we are the first to demand good handling, smooth ride and a low stance. The Nate/Arty spacers in the front and spindle drop plates in the back might be the ticket. I don't think my race tires will fit on the car, but that saves me money anyway. Lol. Not being able to fit my R comps on is the best way to (A) not break things and (B) Not spend money on entry fees and fuel and tires.

[Aspire SVT]

Nice

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