We had our first test and tune day race today, and since I put the 3.42's and zexel in, and completed a few other power adding mods on the car, I'm having great difficulty putting any power to the ground without spinning the rear tires. Even though I have the zexel in, I can easily light the sticky race tires up at any time in first gear.

I know the LCA relocation brackets work in a drag race type situation, but how about in an autocross?

 

it would also help with autocross racing. One mod I also suggest to you is a torque arm. That **** incresses road traction like crazy. You can seriouly feel the rear end being forced to the ground. Its bad ***.

 

Yea, they definitely wouldnt hurt for autocrossing. It changes the angle of the rear lower control arms, which helps reduce wheelhop and increases traction, whether it be launching or cornering. They also help reduce rear steer, the car should feel 'straighter' over really bumpy roads.

 

For autocrossing, I'd recommend not using the lowerest hole on the bracket. Try to keep the level of the LCA as parallel to the ground as possible.

 

Thanks for the replies.

The car handles pretty well now, just need to be able to lay the power down. I was timed though the slalom and tight cornering sections and I'm matching the small high powered **** grinders there, but their front wheel drive with the engine weight over the drive tires is killing me. I'm at 1/4 throttle in 1st, or lugging around in 2nd to keep from spinning the tires. But, since I couldn't hook up in 1st. and was getting frustrated in trying, I actaully went faster 6/10 of a second faster using 2nd.

Anyway, I'll probably try a set of LCA brackets, and make a set of LCA's to match the panhard bar I made.

 

Hmmm...when I used to autocross like...2 years ago or whatever...I didnt like using 1st gear. Mostly because although the acceleration was nice the gear slow down sucked ****. Since it was such a low gear when you let off the gas the nose would dive like crazy and upset the traction in the rear and also the front. Maybe you should try a different gear set up in the rear and then keep it in 2nd.

Just wondering..what type of suspension set up do you gots at the moment?

 

For the moment I've got a 36 front-24 rear sway bars, both in urathane, stock springs, 16" stock wheels, tires vary.

Our event site is relatively small, so we try to keep the speed down to prevent any more car-obstacle contact incidences. So in the dry using first is mandatory. Using second was a last resort for me. I drive the car on the street, and the 3.42's work well for this, and I really don't want to go any lower on the gear ratio.
I'll probably go with the lca brackets before a torque arm. If the brackets improve traction, then I can save the cost of the torque arm and put it towards another set of wheels and tires to take with me for different tracks and conditions.

 

dan, i would also suggest boxing the lcas you do have, and putting poly bushings with them , and the LCA brackets should help, just try to use the hole that gets you closest to level with the ground. if you get the axle side of the LCA too much lower, it will cause your rear end to stand up under acceleration, which you don't want in autocross, you want the car to have very little wieght transfer.

BTW how did that 24mm bar work for you , did you notice a diffrence over the 23mm?

 

I didn't notice a difference yet. The first runs of the morning were in the wet, but then it dried off completely for my last two runs. Since I only had two good runs in the dry, I really couldn't tell. Didn't have enough tiem to dial tire pressure in with only two good dry runs. Maybe next event I'll have more time to tune tire pressure and suspension for the new front bar.

I did notice that the panhard bar I made with rod ends really transfers loud clunks to the car when you hit a bump. But it seemed to hold up very well. My son only spun the car once, and everything looks just fine. I was a little concerend about the rod ends only having 7500# rating, but they seemed to be working nicely. Next I'll probably make a set of lca's with solid ends. If they don't work well, then they are easy to change back.

By the way, as I suspected they classed me wrong. I was told c-mod, and I really belong in c-prepared. Since I've just gotten back into this, I had another "old hand" camaro guy ride with me and he said I didn't need his help at all. Just need to find a way to get the power laid down, and more seat time and I'll easily be beating the other c/p cars. He said their cars have the interiors gutted, but don't have close to the power I have or the suspenion either. Right now I'm right in the middle of the pack as far as times go, so hopefully I can claw my way back up to the top agian.

 

now what mods do you have done? would my car be in the same class, or would i go in the modified class because of my SFCs?

and with some work you can get you car to hook just a matter of getting the right parts, and the right rear geometry!

 

the reason I'm in c-prep is the sfc's, so you will be in the same class as me. My SFC's aren't in yet, but they bump me from e-street prepared to prepared so I'm just starting off in the class I will belong after the sfc's are in. Also, any braking system is allowed as long as it's in the same stock location as the stock brakes. Outboard must stay outboard, etc. So any brakes I choose to install will be legal. And, I forgot, there is one catch, no carbon fiber rotors.

Do you have a "working posi" yet? You will definately need one.

Exhaust is "free" as long as it meet the sound requirments. My tire choice is also unlimited I beleive. The rule book says "Any tire that is scca approved". So, I think that means slicks. Yea-ha!! Not good for wet, but killer in the dry. I'm going to verify this, but that opens up a world of possibilites. With slicks over treaded tires in the dry there is probably 1-2 sec. difference per run. Now I need a second set of wheels to mount more tires on.

You know I lived with the car not hooking for years when we were autocrossing before, but now with the internet availble with all this info free for the asking, I don't have to live with this problem anymore.

So thank you "Al Gore" for inventing the internet

 

dan, the money for new rims/tires is what is holding me back right now, i am currently in the middle of 2 projects on my car

1) power
2) finish my suspension.

after i get those, well maybe after finishing one i was going to ask you about maybe some help, doing gears/posi i know i need it, the 3.08 peg leg is killing me.

so right now i am sort of broke working on the head/cam swap, and getting the computer stuff for tuning.

 

I understand money is a problem.

For tires and wheels just for racing you might think about a set of steel wheels with race tires on them. I'm seriuosly considering going this route. And if I do, unlike stock wheels they will interchange from front to rear.

It's the same with me. I'd love to get a 1LE car and strip it out for a race only car, but can't afford that. But if you have a 10 bolt, and plan on staying with that for awhile, try to come up with the money for a $100 take out zexel from slp as soon as possible. As you well know 4th gens aren't being made anymore, and the supply of cheap zexels from slp will dry up quickly, if it hasn't already. I bought a spare for myself and it's sitting on the shelf just in case, along with a spare set of 28 spline axles.

I'd be happy to help you with a gear-posi swap. The cheapest way is to get a 3.42 rear out of a u-pull it yard for $75, then come up with a set of 28 spline axles. For both these I paid $175. You might get lucky and get a 3.42 out of a 90 or newer with the 28 spline axles, but not likely. So plan on spending $175 for the rear/axles, $113 for the zexel shipped, $30 for carrier shims, $40-$50 for carrier bearings, and $10-$15 for gear oil. Also count on new axle bearings and seals, $30-$40. You might try to get by without these, but I wouldn't recomend it. Then while you have the rear out, it might be a good time to look at your brakes. My shoes were good, but the wheel cylinders were 16 years old, so replaced them for $30 just because. So figuring on the high side, around $450 for a 3.42 with a zexel for a 10 bolt to put in your car. And, the beauty of doing it this way is, your car will not be down while doing the zexel install, and if you break the 3.42 rear, you have your old one as a spare, or you can go get another 3.42 from the junk yard and drop the zexel and 28 spline axles in and your back in business. The 3.42 gears is perfect for the site we run on. You will only get into 2nd gear max. Oh, you can also weld in lca relocation brackets much easier with the rear out of the car. I really wish I would have done it this was when I swapped out he 3.08 for the 3.42 rear. Now I've got to findsomeone to weld my lca bracekes on while the rear in in the car.

Something else I forgot to mention was I also put a set of earls hyper stop braided brake lines on the car saturday. The difference is amazing I noticed it while backing the car out of the shop the difference is so noticeable. They were only $70 from summit. Little bit of a pain to install, but that's not the fault of the earl's lines, it's just the design of the car. These should be on any 3gen owners list of must have's. Since I'm easily able to make up braided lines here, I kind of balked at the price of them, but after I received the lines I think the $70 price tag is a bargain. I can't buy the parts to make the lines up for that, and have no way of pressure testing them. Earls does. So put them on your must have list.

So, get the zexel ordered now, and the rest will come later.

Geez, just thought about this, but I've been wanting to do a tech article on a zexel install, and doing your rear would be the perfect time for this. I could explain what I'm doing and write something up, and you could edit/add your thoughts and we should have a grea how to article that anyone can follow.

 

dan, i already have 28 spine axles

 

Super!!! That's an extra $100 in your pocket!! So grab the zexel and then call me. We can go hunt down a 3.42 rear at the u-pull it yards around here. This can be done a little at a time, but without the zexel, it will cost $400 more for an auburn or eaton carrier.