Well after doing most of the mods I had planned for this winter I came in 4th in class and 9th overall out of 135 cars at our first autocross this year. In my class I finished behind Beth McClure-Strelneiks in her slightly insane Mazda in 3rd, then Frederico DelToro in his Boxster in second, and then Troy Acosta co-driving the Mazda. I am stoked considering the company I was in. I still have some understeer to dial out and it may be time for a rear bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t6MiW34I14...be_gdata_player

Looks like fun... tell us more about the car- motor, tires, suspension. More pics never hurt either.

Well its a 75 with a cammy 2056 with 44 Empi carbs. 21mm torsion bars, 180 rear springs, 19mm front bar, 5 lug conversion using T struts, drilled rear hubs, hard plastic bushings throughout, camber plates up front, 205/225 hankook z214 soft compound tires and some other small things. I'm stoked with how it ran.

You didn't say how stiff/soft your front AR bar is set, but.....
I wouldn't use a rear AR bar unless you have an LSD.....lifting the inside rear tire will ruin your AX day.
Jack up the rear spring rate to induce oversteer. .....bout 250s ought to do it.
If that is too much one tightens the front bar to take some out.
I don't think much of those tires but you may as well run em' till they chord.

Thanks JP. I was kinda thinking the same thing. The front bar is about 1 3/4 from full soft but I need to get shorter drop links cause the angles are all wrong. Hoosiers were out of my budget so I opted for the hankooks. They didn't feel too bad honestly. I guess we'll see how they do when I get the suspension sorted.

Jon.

Looks like a nice, clean car. What are those rims? And I'm curious about the camber plates- are those the "standard" aftermarket strut top mount that mirrors the design of the factory piece, or are they more like the ones Chris Foley sells that weld in and change the top of the fender under the hood?

New sticky tires are yummy.

The rims are old BBS 15x7 and 8. They weigh a ton. I have the weltmeister camber plates which I'm kinda kicking myself over. I shoulda bought the tarrett ones. Haven't had any problems yet but the tarrett ones appear much sturdier.

Any preference to progressive rate rear springs versus non progressive? The 180 pounders I put on are progressive.

Non-progressive.....unless you like variable handling .

It sounds as though you're using stock diameter springs. 200in/lb springs are the max available (from Renegade) and are expensive....200 bucks when I bought some years ago. 2.5 inch diameter (using threaded collars) were cheeper (50 bucks each) and come in 25lb increments up to 600 in/lbs. They also make ride height & corner ballancing adjustments a snap....+ they are lighter.

What cam/heads/exhaust are you running? Sounds good!

It's a webcam 86a if I recall, the one with 290 degree duration. 2 liter heads that I cleaned up a bit. Kerry Hunter header with a flowmaster. Most of the sound is the carbs with stacks and 6" tall filters.

That rear end looks waaaaay too high!

Did you remove the engine for that pic?

That's my build! 2056, 86A, 2L heads, and a "kustom" 4-1 header with a Phase 9 style muffler from Racer Chris.

How much compression are you running?

Congratulations on a good showing. 9th out of 135 cars is rocking.

Did you have a chance to corrner balance the car before the event?

I also agree with Andy that your car looks high, but maybe you're running it on the street as well.

Here is a picture of my car when I was still running 205's for comparison.

Click to view attachment

Yes the car is high in the back. I intended to buy bilsteins but my budget ran out. They'll be on soon enough. If I recall correctly I believe my compression ended up in the 8.5-1 range but I built this motor 5 years ago so I may be wrong.

Oh and yes I balanced it.

Yup, get the height right then corner balance that puppy. I actually think CBing is one of the most important suspension things you can do.

This is without me in the car. Swaybar disconnected. Car needs to go on a diet. Those delrin suspension bushings are nice.

Nice looking car! I broke the Weltmeister camber plates, but heard they may have improved the design and/or materials later. I'd keep 'em unless they break - save your money for tires and seat time.

Yea, I looked at those numbers and thought you had it perfect, until I re-read the post and realized that was without you in the car.

Looks like you need some weight in the drivers seat so that you can dial in the right balance, as if you were out there running. Do that and I'll bet you feel a difference.

I did a baseline with me out of the car then balanced it with me completely in the car. Didn't get a pic of that though. It's not as perfect as I would like since the rear is not adjustable.

Once you get the adjustable collars on the back can alter the height to where you want it, then get in the car and play with the fine settings until the car is perfect.

And this is one modification that you'll feel right away.

Getting that ass down will also feel real nice

You can definitely feel it being higher than it should. It's my next step along with going back to non progressive springs.

What weight springs are you going to put in? I was surprised how much I needed and my car isn't heavy.

Have to be careful here as Paul will remind us what a really light car is all about.

Heh.......
IIRC over the years I started out with my first purchase a 140s.......then I put on 21mm front T-bars....uh. 200, 225, 250, 300 (a bridge too far), 275s achieved the balance I was looking for and kept both rear wheels on the ground.(no rear sway).
A guy has got to be objective with your judgments of what is right and not settle for less.......BTW, I sold all them extra springs for .50 on the buck......oopsies all.

I'm running the 180 progressive from weltmeister. They also offer 200 pound and 250 pound springs but they are progressive. I would like to go back to constant rate but don't think I should go less than 200. I still have to shorten the front swaybar drop links so I can go full soft on the bar and have decent angles.

I had some springs that looked to be progressive, but weren't. Some of the springs are wound with a couple coils at one end wound tighter than the others giving the appearance of "progressive" spring. But these coils would go solid when the car was placed on the ground and had no effect on the spring rate. It was just their way of making a spacer so you could use the stock style of spring mounts. See if you can slide a feeler gauge between the coils when the car is supporting it's own wt. If you can't slide a thin feeler gauge between the coils, there not working and have no effect. FWIW

I'm running 240# strings in back and my car is 1876 dry, with the driver.

they are a great investment and look cool too!
Our PCA region adds "mod points" for the after-market adjustable rear spring collars so be careful if you are also building your 914 to fit within certain rules.

Heh.
I had one experience with the "points system" of your local PCA. I don' tremember the exact number .......ain't like it's used anywhere else in the world.......but it was between 1200 & 1300 which = AX03.....that earned a "whatever, dude".
Woody has enough challenges in Super Street Mod of SCCA, but spring perches ain't one of em'.

Our local PCA has maybe 2 or 3 other cars that would be competitive. A Boxster S racecar, not a BSR, a 911 RS replica that is very well driven, and a Cayman R with an exeptional level of talent. Our local SCCA is where all the competition is.

Well I've been playing with some settings and the car did really well yesterday. 3rd in SSM, 12th overall out of 120. The car is finally predictable and I've found some tire pressures that work.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCENbhenA-I...be_gdata_player

Nice going Woody. Sounds like your getting the car dialed in pretty well.

I bought some take offs from one of our S2000 guys that I'm gonna try, 245/16 A6s. I need a little bit taller gearing and these should fit the bill as well as being wider. I just have to come up with some 16" rims.

One more question, do ya'll prefer to run staggered tires front to rear or the same sizes? My car balances at 45% front 55% rear.

I liked running 225s all around with my orange car.

Ass still looks a tad too high. Whole car does really.

I'm as low as I can go in the front without raising the spindles. They are T struts. I was going to raise the spindles myself but it appears the strut tube tapers right at the spindle. Those are 15" rims so the tires are about 2 inches smaller in diameter than what's offered in 16" sizes which in my eye doesn't fill the wheel well. Maybe that's what you're seeing, maybe not. I'll measure ride height and post back.

After looking at pics of my old car I see you are about where I was. Those are 225 50 r 15s

I've always run the canti's all around, but will be going to a staggered set up. And if you use the weight balance, i.e., X% front, Y% rear and extrapolate what size you should be running in the rear based upon any front size.

Like in my case if I want to find the perfect tire for 43.6% front/53.4% rear weight balance, then develop a ratio and apply that to tire sizes.

Jon, that is a great looking car. I had a '75 that was flared in red and black a few years ago. I miss that car.

Thanks, I loved that car as well. I don't have it anymore though

Why do we do that to ourselves? I am trying to build my current car into a better version of my old red car. I've had a couple of Boxsters and 911's in between but that 914/6GT sticks with me for some reason.