I want to completely redo my suspension as part of my plans for the RS. I've been looking into being able to adjust the ride height and camber by using one of the kits here: http://www.ground-control.com/gccamcat.htm ...Has anyone done what I'm about to do?

I'm going to be doing some major stuff to my car over the next few months. I'd like to have a nice road racing setup that can still drag nicely.

 

depends on what exactly you want and your price.

the stock suspension with new parts is a very good road race setup. however it is a little heavy for racing.

coilovers are adjustable up and down but are quite expensive and i have yet to see a fully adjustable camber caster plate for our cars.

i completely replaced all of my pieces with chromoly tubular, urethane bushings, coilovers, etc. i like it, but it was a bit pricey and i don't really notice the effects unless i'm 1/4 racing. otherwise it feels stock only better because it has new parts.

good luck.

 

First question you need to ask, then answer is what class you will be running?
Get a rule book from the Sactioning body you are going to run with.
Next is what is your budget?
Rules will end up dictating your budget.
I have done ride height adjusters, How is your welding skills?
My advice is before sticking tons of money into suspension modifications that add more variables, worry about the technic of driving.
How long have you been into road racing as a competitor?
Did you autocross first?
If you did, their is a difference when you switch to wheel to wheel.
Weight transfer is the key to any type of motorsport. In road racing one would want 50/50 from left to right and right to left. In drag racing you want the transfer from front to back to aid in traction at launch.
I wish you luck in finding a happy medium between road racing and drag racing.

Todd O. Dillinder
Production and GT class Chairman - Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs.
Owner of Dillinder Racing Enterprises.

 

excellent words.........know your class before you start anything.

 

Screw the class restrictions- thats just to keep the money game so called fair.

I build a car the way I like it and run open track days with a stopwatch. I race myself for personal best times and all out performance handling with no restrictions- life that way is much much more fun.

 

I've AutoXed before...but nothing too competitive. The variable ride height would be more for lowering the car down to just about nothing for road racing/AutoXing, and being able to return to a more normal ride height for regular driving. Not so much for nitty-gritty tweaking for optimal grip and performance. I'm going to keep it a street legal, pump gas car.
I havnt looked into what class the car would fall into with the planned setup, probly C modified? As long as it would be able to hold its own in the Silver state, I'd be happy, as its a dream of mine to run that one day in my car.
As far as my budget goes, I'm looking at hopefully spending no more than $10,000 for everything. I'll be doing all the work, exept any welding that will be needed. I already have a few things that are needed, like the tranny and some other miscellaneous parts. I don't honestly think I'll have to spend THAT much, but then again when I see the radiator I want, the electric water pump, fuel cell and pump,and think that I dont want to buy cheap stuff, I see that it will be adding up. I'm interested in quality parts so I wont hopefully be having to replace stuff all the time.
I want to be able to pull 150-180+ mph out of the car, and I'd like it to be a stable platform. I'm not afraid to spend money if it means a safe machine. I'm going to be doing small things to the exterior of the car, that will include smoothing out any harsh body lines (like where the front and rear spoilers meet the body), quality clear headlight covers that will smooth out the airflow and get rid of the headlight pocket that the stock look has. The cars going to be one sleek machine with every joint and angle smoothed out.
I could talk your ears off about the plans that I have... Just take my word for it, it's going to be one of the most mean looking thirdgen's out there thats still streetable.

One question though, can anyone reccomend any GOOD aftermarket ground fx kits for our cars that dont look r!cey and are functional? I'm looking for the stock look, but less ground clearance. Thanks!

 

Do you have a friend that is good with fiberglass, kevlar, or carbon fiber?
I haven't seen any aftermarket kits that brings the front air dam any lower than stock. Custom work on the other hand i have seen at the track.

Todd O. Dillinder

 

I'm alright with fibreglass, but I believe theres a company in St. Petersburg here that does custom body panels...of course its probably really expensive. The car will probably be fine with the stock GFX anyway.

 

After reading what your goals are, I think you should do this project from the ground up. At speeds like that, you really want to make sure everything is done right. The stock chassis and suspension is a good platform for building a roadrace car. The suspension setup is great, you can mod the car to get an even weight distribution, and the sold rear axle has alot of roadracing advantages. If you want to read about one of our members who built a roadrace car and does make passes at 160 mph, look up bbunting. I'm not sure what his setup is, but I can tell you some of the basics.

First you want to think about your chassis. You want to build your chassis strong for two reasons. First, you want to eliminate as much flex as possible. Second, you want to make sure you are safe if you crash. With a high budget you can do expensive things like a tube frame, but I'll just talk about the basics. 3rd gens are unibody cars. This means the strength of the chassis is tied into the body. If the body is tweeked, your chassis is weak. You'll want to make the unibody strong, and then strengthen it even more with a rollcage. So you'll want to make sure all the panels line up (this includes the doors and new door pins if your door sags!), any rust is removed and replaced via welding. Then you'll want to install Subframe connectors, or SFC's. SFC's are the best bang for the buck as far as strengthening your chassis. They connect the front and rear subframe. To further strengthen your car, you'll want to install a front steering brace (aka wonderbar) to tie the front subframe together (right by the front swaybars). Then you'll want a strut tower bar (aka STB) to eliminate strut tower flex. The rear shocks dont need any type of brace since its a solid rear axle. The last step to really strengthening your chassis is a rollcage. But you dont want just any old rollcage, you want one made for roadracing. The rollcage will protect you from a wreck, and really strengthen up the chassis. Alot of places sell NHRA approved rollcages for dragracing, you dont want that stuff. You want a 10 point cage made for SCCA or roadracing. The connections of the cage should all be triangles, as triangles are the strongest connection possible. After that, your chassis will be very strong. You can also do custom things like welding support bars in the engine bay, or around the body. The more time and thought you put into it, the stronger it will get.

Next you want to think about suspension. The 3rd gen suspension setup is good. The stock suspension is very neutral, but does have alot of body roll causing easy weight transfer. Alot of aftermarket companies make suspension mods for our cars, but in some cases the stock configuration or part might be better. It really depends on application. Dragracing suspension parts should be used for dragracing, and roadracing suspension parts should be used for roadracing. Sometimes its hard to tell what application the parts were made for. The goal is a neutral suspension setup with the proper suspension geometry. When you lower the ride height of the car, you change the suspension geometry. Make sure you do everything you can to get your geometry back in spec. At high speeds it can be very important. So you should do some reading (use the search button) to find out how to correct the geometry after lowering. Its possible to do a 3 inch drop and retain the correct geometry. How you do the suspension is really up to you, but I recommend sticking with parts that compliment the design of the car. For example, our cars's front suspension was not designed to be used with coilovers. Most of the coilover kits out there are made for dragracing, but there are some that work for roadracing. Its possible to do custom mods to the strut towers to strengthen them enough to handle a coilover setup. I think one of the guys in the UK did it (forgot his username). But in the stock form it might be dangereous. The only real advantage to coilovers is they are lighter, and sometimes they can offer you more adjustability (dampening, etc). A spring pertch setup (like the ones Ground Control makes) and adjustable struts/shocks will work fine. If at all possible, lower the ride height with parts that dont affect geometry, drop spindles for example. You'll also want to do bushings everywhere, the type of bushing will depend on how often you use the car. Since you want to make it streetable I recommend poly instead of spherical rod ended. The usual roadracing parts will make the car handle better, adjustable torque arm, adjustable panhard bar, adjustable lower control arms, etc etc. You can find more info on these by searching.

Finally you want to think about the rest of the package ... Brakes, Steering, and Tires. You want brakes that were made for roadracing, as well as an adjustable proportioning valve and steel braided lines. If your car has high miles you might want to replace some steering linkage parts to get rid of the slop in the steering. If you dont have the quick ratio steering box, you'll want it. And finally your tires will probably be the most important part you choose. You want wide tires, large wheels to clear the large brakes, and good compound to stick to the track.

Good luck building your car!! I'll have pics of mine done soon. Right now I'm getting ready to weld in the rollcage. We have the entire car stripped, motor pulled and everything. Doing it from the ground up.

 

Lots and lots of upgrades and replacements are in store for my car. I've decided to shoot for the super sport class, which is 165mph max speed if I recall. Unlimited class maybe after that and a few more mods.
I've decided to sell my two TH-350 transmissions and my T-5, and buy a WC-T5. Something about roadracing with a TH350 seems wrong. Plus the TH350 doesnt have an overdrive, so compared to the T-5 I think I could more easily get top speed with the manual.
Anyway, back to the suspension part... I'll be replacing all bushings using poly all around exept of course the engine mounts. Subframe connectors are also of course on the menu.
The main goal is to eliminate any high speed "floating". I need a rock solid feel. I'm doing more and more research on this subject, as I dont want to front the money for a setup thats not up to par.
I wouldnt mind an adjustable ride height setup. I've heard of three different ways of doing it, and im just tryong to sort it all out. You see, the cars still going to be a streetable ride, but we all know that driving on the street while being lowered down to nothing is just great. Adjustable ride height would be cool, but if I have to go with a non adjustable, I think 1 1/2" lowered would be fine. Any ideas on that?

 

Crazy-thanks for the nod-look forward to seeing the end result!

Crispy-take a look at what I slapped together in my pics. I also have some video at the speeds you are wanting.

I might suggest that you take a look at a different trans-either a T-56 or TKO. If you want dual purpose, the Ground Control adjustable ride height kit is easy to adjust.