Hello folks,
I would like to know if anyone has any setups for suspension? What kind of camber do you run in front and rear on a FC RX7?
Thanks.

 

+1

 

What kind of camber do you run in front and rear on a FC RX7?

Basically, as much as you can get in the front and as little as you can get in the rear.

I used between -3 and -5 degrees up front and -2.2 in the rear. Braking was horrible at the highest camber settings on my 255/40-17 front NT01 tires but worked well on a softer sidewall 225/50-16 R-S3 street tires.

 

My mistake, at the time I was running -5 camber up front I had shorter 235/40-17 up front, not the 255/40-17.

That picture is with the 225/50-16 R-S3 the morning of an auto-x I got TTOD at.

 

What kind of springs, shocks, & sway bars are u using? If your looking for a TT set up, remove the rear sway bar, as in my opinion it made the *** end over rotate, but, for autoX def leave it in as you need all the rotation you can get. I've been asking around as well and what I have heard is:

Front:
1-2deg neg. camber
No more than a 1/4" of toe out b/c anything more than this causes a lot of tire scrub shave speed along with overheating the tire
As much caster as you can get

Rear:
1 deg negative camber
1/16-1/8" toe in
Leave the caster

 

I run:

Front:
-3.5* camber
7* of caster
1/8 toe out

rear:
-2* camber
1/16 toe in

 

Personally, I think Auto-X and Track days require 2 different set ups. Trying to have one set up do both is a compromise on both sides. It really depends on what you are looking to do. What are your ultimate goals for either? If it is to have fun at both, then a compromised set up will be ok.

 

The ultimate goal is to enjoy driving the fc and use the full ability it has to grip the road. Also learn how to set up the suspension. I'm one of those people who buys things, builds them and learns how they work as the project moves along.
I see you point though wlfpkrcn on two different set ups. It makes sense too. I am a tuning and track noobie but I am willing to learn from different set ups and find one that works for me.

 

An autocross setup is softer than a track setup because speeds are lower and mechanical grip is more important than roll resistance.

 

I agree, but they're really not that different. maybe a half a degree of camber or a slightly different toe setting? if you're not super competitive in either it would be pretty easy to have a car that does both pretty darn well.

especially since track days, by nature, aren't competitive

 

Maybe not the track days you go to

 

I do not agree. I have only run a few auto-x events so I am not an expert at them or setup. I have not tried to make a car fast at it. However with all the transitions and as quickly as they come you need a car that has flat cornering and can rotate quickly from one direction to the next. Having a sponge for suspension seems counter productive to doing that. I had a friend that ran CSP in a RX2 very competitively. He was running 500-600lb springs on the front, I dont remember rear. Much stiffer than when it was transformed into ITA trim. He said the front sway bar had minimal effect autocrossing. The big gains were in spring rates.

Everybodies driving styles are different. So experiment with setups.

 

That's a *relatively* soft spring. Obviously if your car doesn't respond well enough or rolls so much that you lose grip you have to stiffen the roll resistance. Either way it's going to be stiffer than stock. But if you set up a car for the fastest corner of a high-speed circuit the rate will be even stiffer. Generally speaking.

 

600 lbs/in is a pretty heavy spring on a car that light...

from what I've seen autocross (SSM) FDs are stiffer than track FDs I've seen,
autocross FCs (SSM, XP) are stiffer than track FCs (ITS, EP)
CSP miatas are the same as spec miatas.

spring rates have way more to do with how bumpy the track/parking lot is than weather you're autocrossing or road racing.

the bigger difference is going to be toe changes.

 

i thought i put this in here, i know next to nothing about auto-x, but road racing we'll do different setups for different tracks.

differences are small, and it depends on the car. camber changes, rear bar changes, tire pressure changes. its rare that spring rate changes, the spec E30, was on a spec spring, and on the honda the interaction between the rear bar and the rear spring is kind of key.

anyways, i think playing with the suspension on the race car we have learned three things.

1. you can have all the bling bling stuff in the world, but unless you take the time to see what all that stuff does, its pretty useless. you MUST take the time and play with all the adjustments and see what they do. it takes FOREVER (we spent a season), and its FRUSTRATING (we spent a season making changes and going slower), but after you figure out what does what, not only can you narrow down the faster setup, but also when the car needs a change you know what to adjust.

1a, for example there was a guy pitted next to us, who bought someones car, and had all the fancy suspension stuff sold by the coolest guy, but even WITH the 80hp advantage of the Vtek (y0!) he was running the same laptimes as we were. so we started playing with it, and just by using the adjustments in the pieces he already had i think he was able to drop 2 seconds off his laptime that weekend. so play with it!

2. second. the hardest problem is to figure out what your problem actually is. once you know what the problem is, the fix is usually very easy.

3. the driver is really important!