Advanced Suspension Mods

[Advancedynamix]

You are bring light to something I usually wouldn't care about(road course) but now I am scheduled for a track day on Dec 23rd

And your car looks beast with those Hoosiers.

Caution: it's highly addictive, and leads to harder drugs. :p looking forward to hearing about your experience.

[rbrown]

Caution: it's highly addictive, and leads to harder drugs. :p looking forward to hearing about your experience.

LoL

[Aaronbrook37]

Less racing, more r+d! I want to see what sorts of products you're coming up with because I'd love some CharlieSport parts!

[Advancedynamix]

Without the racing, there will be no parts. Lol. It's what motivates me to develop them, and allows me too test them. Manufacturing festiva parts will be a hobby, because it has very little monetary return on investment. I'd be happy to give all the info I have to someone interested in producing and selling parts, as long as I get some freebies.

[bhazard]

Re: Advanced Suspension Mods

Bring the Festiva, you've got the hp to pull the big bore cars on the straights. I'm getting there, but keep spending my engine budget on other things. Lol. Any member who shows up at the track gets a ride around the coarse at speed.

Edit: above offer is on a first come first serve basis and is time prohibited.

Don't tempt me into scrapping my plans to run an ATX! Haha

How bout a 1st gen mx6 gt?

[Advancedynamix]

Heck, I can drive the heck out of my 3 speed auto, I'd take an auto festy on the track with four times the hp in a heartbeat. Might even be an advantage at times. You wouldn't be the only one with an mx6gt out there, I'v seen a couple probes, but it's been awhile. Heck, you can put an engine on a shopping cart and come join the fun (actual quote from one of the guys I race against, about my car, lol).

[festyfreak39]

WOW!!! that festiva looks mean now.

[jake88maro]

hey charlie!! im just wondering when you were gonna put pics up of those rear camber spacers that you made!!!?? im just trying to get ideas of how to fabricate my own set!!! Thanks a lot for all of your info that you posted so far as well man! its been an overwhelming amount of great info keep it up!

[Mandalore]

Funnest thread I have read in a long time.

Would also love to see pics of the rear camber spacers...

.....<Must buy Festiva!>

[moz]

Thanks again Charlie.
There's blck magic in my house!!!

[Huli]

Re: Advanced Suspension Mods

For the black magic springs, can they fit on the stock rear strut? Which one will give stock (or close enough) height with increased rate?

Also, do you have a source for the lower mount bolt? Mine are a bit shabby.

Thanks!

[Advancedynamix]

K, sorry for taking so long to reply to this guys. I've been swamped lately.

The Black magic springs wont fit the stock shocks without modifications.
Before I did my rear shocks I was riding on stock rear shocks with the rear springs cut so they just barely fit snugly on the shock. It raised the spring rate slightly and lowered the car a couple inches. It didn't handle any better than stock, but it looked better. Springs alone won't make a festiva handle (I'm talking lap times and corner speeds, not how it feels) any better than stock. Lowering the car on stock shocks will only make the car more unstable during high speed cornering. This is due to the fact that it increases the amount of sag, which will result in less control of body roll. Raising the spring rate only aggravates this. This is not easy to feel during even spirited street driving, but it's very easy to see and feel on the limits of traction on a skid pad or a race track. The only way to truly make a festiva handle well is to shorten the rear shocks( whether that be by actually modifying the stock shocks or by finding a replacement from another vehicle.) Spring rate is then used to fine tune the way the car rides and handles. I'm in the process of finding and testing a number of shorter shock options, unfortunately I can't seem to find anything that is cheaper than a set of stock fitment KYB's. After I do some testing, I'll post the list, but if anyone has any ideas or has tried something then by all means post away.

Okay, my latest generation of rear camber/toe plate is living happily behind my stub axles on Tweak, but I do have some pictures of the first generation plates. This will give an idea of what they look like. Be advised that your best bet to making these is to do so at a machine shop, because this is a structural part and could create safety issues if not done with precision. I haven't posted much about this because this is not a part I advise be made at home with hand tools. Can it be done? Yes, am I going to tell you how? No. With enough time and attention to detail anything can be made from hand tools, but this is an art. However, if you have access to a mill, and a Blanchard grinder then these plates can be made easily in a couple of hours.





They are ground at a 2.5 degree angle with the thinnest part 10 degrees counterclockwise from the bolt hole that face up. My latest ones are round and have slotted holes rather than threaded holes, and they are adjustable (by rotating them). I replaced the 10MM studs in my stub axles with 7/16 grade 8 bolts but drilling and tapping the holes in the stub axles. The beam required no drilling as the holes are big enough to accept 7/16 bolts. These work to give about 2.2 degrees of negative camber and zero toe at around a 4" drop.

[Advancedynamix]

With the 1 7/8" coilover mod and camber/toe plates the fenders that were intended for those little humble 145/12's can be stuffed with 7" of hoosier at a 4+ inch drop.

[moz]

Re: Advanced Suspension Mods

For the black magic springs, can they fit on the stock rear strut? Which one will give stock (or close enough) height with increased rate?

Also, do you have a source for the lower mount bolt? Mine are a bit shabby.

Thanks!

I might add that even if you were to machine a stock shock. Only the kyb ones seem to have that ring welded to then.
I looked at 3 brands here I'm Australia before I ordered the KGB shocks from america.
basically, without that ring, there's no perch to support the weight of the spring.

[festyfreak39]

argh that festy looks so gangster.