Updates

March 16, 2007 (989 miles)

Street settings update:
My commute comfort has improved a lot. I actually do not dread certain portions of my route anymore. I still have to get used to the great cornering. It feels almost like a regular suspension car over speed bumps in the parking lot. I had my girlfriend ride in the passenger seat and she says it is so much better than before. To recap, I had the Tanabe GF210 springs on stock struts.

Alignment:
I got corner balanced and a wheel alignment at West End Alignment. This shop does a lot of race car suspension work. Darin Nishimura, the owner and tech, stated that the rear strut should not have the slotted top hole at the bottom mounting point. A strong bump can put the camber setting out of whack. He suggested that they should be regular circle holes (like OEM) and a aftermarket camber bolt should be used. Another solution is to not slot that top hole too much so that there is around a -2.0 camber available with non adjustable top mounts and no positive adjustment.

He worked on a lot of cars with KW suspensions. One day he was contacted by KW U.S.A. and spoke to their engineer about the drawbacks of the rear hole being slotted. I guess they never took his advice.

I had a Ingalls camber bolts in the rear before. He now has to replace it with a stock straight bolt. The stock bolt will just hold the camber settings with clamping force only. Though he only personally heard of one "camber slippage" occurrence about three years ago. It is rare but possible.

Darin recommended relocating the battery from the front left corner (1040 lbs) to the trunk but in front of the rear axle (rear right 670 lbs.). This would balance the car better. Also a light racing seat would help with the left to right (51.4% to 48.6%) balance. I am reluctant to lose my side airbag due to this being my street car, removing safety, and possible insurance reasons. So it looks like the battery relocation is my next mod!

The car feels planted better in the rear under acceleration in the corner. Less twitchy. Maybe because my initial alignment was over -2.3 camber in the rear.

I will have another update after my track day at Buttonwillow on April 8. This time on track settings!

Alignment Settings:
Front: -2.5 camber with 0 toe
Rear: -1.5 camber with 0 toe
Height (from center of axle to fender edge): F: 14" R: 13.5"

Weights (lbs.) with driver (unless noted):
Removed trunk carpet, spare wheel cover, and jack.
Had street wheels (Work Emotion CR) and full interior installed.
Complete mod list here.
 

FL: 1040	FR: 992
RL: 720	RR: 670

Cross: 1712 to 1710
Total wet (3/4 full gas tank, no driver): 3214

Weight Distribution:
Front: 59.4%
Rear: 40.6%
Left: 51.4%
Right: 48.6%

Information:

Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 Coilovers
MSRP: $1,895.00

9kg front/7kg rear
7kg front/6kg rear ($75 extra)
6kg front/5kg rear ($150 extra)

Racecomp Engineering
6360 Suite J South Hanover RD
Elkridge, Maryland 21075
888-730-7223
www.racecompengineering.com

West End Alignment
18008 S Vermont AVE
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 808-9233

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