That's good to know. I am looking more towards a stiffer setup for the track. As for the rubber insulator between the spring and top mount, could i run without it ?

 

For anyone who is reading this for the first time, as someone who followed the majority of the advice, the only popular cars I cant keep up with are Corvettes and faster Porsche. They just have too much power down the straights compared to my 300whp.

 

It's good to hear someone is tracking their FD. Not to mention this thread is still alive.
Kudos to you!

 

Bringing an old thread back to get some much needed updated info. I have gone through this thread trying to find out which aftermarket rear toe link was best. I did read a few post stating they were using the rotary extreme one but those are no longer available. I have seen some on Pettit Racing website but I dont know anyone using them. Please chime in if you are familiar with a good set of toe links. My car is a weekend warrior, mostly street use with occasional roadcourse trackdays.

 

I have the Super Now toe links and trailing arms. I can’t tell you how they perform yet as I just got the car running. They are, however, very adjustable, and the trailing arms allowed me to fit a 10.5” +50 wheel without modifying the body in any way.

 

Just passing through to thank the OP for the education. My car has Apexi N1 EXV coilovers installed by my builder and they were dead center (16 clicks every corner). The car always felt manic and ready to kill me. I decided to simply adjust them 8 clicks from softest on the front and 6 clicks from softest on the rear. I just got back from a 125 mile drive and it felt like a whole different car. Never thought adjusting the damping could change it that much. I know they're not an ideal coilover choice, but at least I was able to make it more liveable and enjoyable to drive.

 

I've been through this thread a few times. I don't recall seeing chassis stiffness addressed. Does anyone have any advice on how important or is to address. Don't want a full cage as compliance is not possible (currently road registered , doing time attack , tarmac rally) are a half cage, fender bars, sub frame braces etc helpful for the suspension setup / chassis performance? Or less important? (Obviously a half cage might be a good idea re safety anyway) but I just wondered how much it's effecting potential. Those GR86 for example, very rigid chassis, corner very fast.

 

We are building a full FD race car at the moment and one of the weak points is the PPF which I assume you are retaining? We ended up on our first car to have a chrome moly PPF frame made with spherical rod ends to attach to the transmission (Sequential Gearbox)
The floorpan is weak in tront of the rear crossmember and there are pickup points in the later chassis as I recall.
THis build is fully seam welded (bare shell rebuild) with full cage picking up front towers as well as rear crossmember (No PPF) as we are now running an 8.8" rear differential.

 

My understanding is a full cage significantly increases torsional rigidity but the thread being street/track I was interested to know what people do to address that with out a full cage as it effects everything else addressed here. I have a diff brace that picks up the ppf as well. And a gear box brace (banzai? Can't remember)

 

@TIMOMO
Roll bar aka half cage, fender braces and under-car bracing like those from autoexe all help add some rigidity. Same for the factory upper shock braces front and rear.

The diff and trans braces generally are beneficial to reduce powertrain movement under load not necessarily to stiffen the body structure as I understand it.

 

Thanks

 

the single most important add to the chassis as far as stiffness is the front lateral engine bay brace across the shock towers. Mazda recognized this w the R1. of course the rear lateral bar needs to be in place as well.

the large amount of negative camber gain on bump makes the FD a killer on a road course. a true racecar suspension. set it up right and be a hero without breaking a sweat. BTW, i am expecting a brand new set of coil overs next week that might be as good as the chassis. stay tuned.