Softer springs vs less bar, a little to stiff in the back Options

[ottox914]

The balance of the car, F/R is nice, it rotates just as I would want it to on short courses, once the Hoosiers get some heat in them. Its a little looser on the longer courses. Gotta learn how to adjust car and driver for them... Just every now and then the rear will load up and "hop". It happened once coming off the line at an event, and again last week when I finally got this one sweeper right, braked early, and got on the gas hard in mid turn to maximize the exit speed. No one at that corner heard or saw anything odd about the car, but I sure felt it. It has 175# springs in the back, and an adjustable sway bar, with about 5" of adjustment, and its set at 2" in from full soft.

So. I want to keep the balance of the car, loose the hopping, (it wil spin the skins if I get on the gas to hard and to early at corner exit also), am I best served by installing the 150 springs sitting in the garage, or loosening the bar a little.

Also, the car has Konis on the back, usually run full soft. When set full hard as an experiment, (gotta try the whole range, just cuz soft seems to work, how do you know a little firmer won't be a little better?) thats when I got the hopping off the line.

[Joe Ricard]

Here is what I learned so far. I have been recieving the teaching of the Jedi Master JP and my personal mentor Hassan (co-driver).

Completely removed the rear bar. rear wheels stay on ground in corners even under hard acceleration. 150lb coil overs with a spring rubber between one coil.

Koni's .... Start with half or mid range front and back. feel how car turns. pushing?? stiffen rear. Loose back off rear.
Notice I don't touch front. Until Saturday when it was cold and wicked loose. I got to the end of range in the rear so I went to the front for 1/4 trun stiff and whala nuetral slight oversteer when pushed hard. Hassan can drift this car like a ricer pro.

I need to get a corner balance once I quit screwing with tires, fenders and weight moving about. I wanna Hawker PC680 battery. and a header and uh . oh crap that's why I am making a log book.

[ArtechnikA]

if you like your balance i wouldn't change the springing.

you've shown that too much damping is bad - i presume your only adjustment is in rebound (that's typical).

think about it - stiff rebound damping keeps the wheel in the air longer.

so - full stiff is too much. full soft is probably leaving a bit on the table.

adjust until you get wheel hop like you experienced, and then back off some. or just back it off until the hop is mostly gone and concentrate on being very smooth when you add power.

[Joseph Mills]

QUOTE (ottox914 @ Jun 21 2005, 07:30 AM)

I want to keep the balance of the car, loose the hopping, (it wil spin the skins if I get on the gas to hard and to early at corner exit also), am I best served by installing the 150 springs sitting in the garage, or loosening the bar a little.

What size are your front torsion bars and swaybar (adjustable)?

Not sure what you mean by "hopping". Happens only when you "spin" your wheels?

[Joe Ricard]

Hey Joe, How come Sparky is in CSP? didn't teeners move to DSP?

I'm a street mod hound so I donno. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif)

[Joseph Mills]

QUOTE (Joe Ricard @ Jun 21 2005, 02:11 PM)

Hey Joe,  How come Sparky is in CSP?  didn't teeners move to DSP?

I asked my local region to let me stay bumped up to CSP cause I'm fond of running with all the friggin' Miatas. We have some good close competition goin'. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

..

[ottox914]

Front "T" bars are 21's, sway bar is an adjustable welt 19mm. It also has about 5" of travel for the drop link, and is set 3" in from full soft. I run the Koni's at full soft at both ends, using a little shock twist here and there to fine tune at each event.

[Joseph Mills]

Seems like you are addressing two issues. Oversteer at higher speeds, and your "hopping" issue.

For longer courses with higher speeds, you can either stiffen your front sway bar to reduce oversteer, or change your driving technique to compensate. Possibly the most effective would be a bit of both. Personally, for AX, I prefer retaining enough oversteer so the car rotates nicely in lower speed turns and then adjust my driving for the faster sweepers.

For the level of driving that you seem to be doing (and taking into consideration your T-bar size & sway bar setting), I would stick with the stiffer springs you already have installed and use your front bar to balance the car.

As an experiment for dealing with your "hopping" (but also your oversteer), you might disconnect the rear sway bar altogether and see how the car behaves. My rear bar produced wheel spin and "skipping" in corners (maybe similar to your "hopping"). I removed it and went to stiffer springs which reduced those effects and seems to be optimum for my driving. But since your rear bar is adjustable, maybe you could also try setting it on full soft and see how that works for you.