rjleiker said:
I saw a kit you could buy that had the control arm boxing pieces pre-cut that you just weld in... has anyone else seen these?
They have a very specific purpose (involving fairly serious dragstrip competition), but this kit won't help a street driven car enough to be worth the downsides.
Also, what would everyone consider to be the best first (or second and third) step in modification to corner better from bone stock - bushings, arms, sway bars, braces, spindles, ball joints, etc..., for a street driven weekend toy?
In autocrossing, the order in which the greatest gains are obtained is nearly always (1) driver "seat time" and experience driving at that level, (2) tires/wheels, (3) everything else.
So . . . leaving out #1, start with tires and wheels. As much as I dislike recommending a wheel size that's 3" bigger than what was OE, the simple fact is that there isn't much of anything good as far as hard cornering is concerned in 14" & 15". Maybe for Hondas and smaller Mazdas, etc., but not for anything up there around 3500 lbs. I'd look at 17 x 8 with 245/45-17's. Kumho MX tires come in that size won't break the bank, and at one time the MX was a top choice in the SCCA Solo (autocross) street tire classes.
BFG g-Force Sports might be the best current 15" tire (225/60-15), but that does not mean that they're great. While they have decent straight line traction and can corner fairly well, they are not very good at all when you're trying to add throttle while still cornering. Good "drifting" tire, maybe. Forget about "Traction T/A" and other older tire models or tires with "cutesy" names (i.e. "Assurance", "Primacy", etc.).
(3) - poly-bushed endlinks, good shocks, and a performance-oriented alignment. Choose Bilsteins before KYB Gas-A-Justs. Some have had good results with IAS shocks (I have no basis for opinion since I haven't tried them), and there supposedly are Koni Special D (Reds) at a rather higher price point. As far as handling is concerned, Monroe SensaTraks are NOT good shocks, and KYB GR-2's are only OE replacement shocks. Tall ball joints might be a good idea as part of the performance alignment, and don't let the alignment tech set the car to OE alignment specs.
If your car does not have them already, F41 sta-bars ("sway bars") are pretty much a no-brainer, along with slightly stiffer springs.
Replace the body bushings with polyurethane. Poly is also good in the front upper control arms and OK in the front lowers (in the lowers it may gradually deform over time, though). It's less good in the rear lower control arms and a poor choice for rear uppers as far as cornering is concerned - it tends to stiffen the rear and make the car oversteerish when you're pushing it hard enough. Good for the dragstrip frequently does not translate to good in the corners. For a weekend driver, LCAs with poly in one end and a rod end or a Johnny Joint in the other seems to be a good compromise.
Additional chassis bracing is generally a good thing, though I'd suggest doing this more for reasons of structural integrity than for any effect on handling itself.
One other thing - the further you push this car in the cornering/handling direction, the more likely you'll find that the Powertrax is limiting you. Lockers are very good at the straight line, not so good at cornering, especially when the turns get tight and/or you're on and off the throttle. When you're cornering hard, adding throttle will make the car understeer more (push) until the rear tires lose grip, at which point a spin is likely. Get out off the throttle too much and the rear will still get a little loose as the locker unlocks and its "push" effect goes away. A lot of the detail decisions like how stiff the rear springs and bar need to be will ultimately depend on what sort of differential you're running as well as on how hard you're actually driving.
Give Marcus (http://www.scandc.com) a call.
Norm
