Ok i'll pretty much list my parts on the car now.. and some that are going to be going onto the car shortly.

Pretty much i want to know how you would set this car's alignment, ride height, and shock stiffness.

93 RX-7 Full Non-seq.

Currently running 245/45/16ZR AVS-i
JIC FLT-A2s
Front and Rear Strut Bar.


Next mods..

Racing Beat sway bars front and rear.
M2 Toe Links
M2 Trailing arms


and the last thing to consider. (4) 17X10 CCWs with 275 or 285 Rcompound tires.


So for all 3 of these combinations.. i'd like to know your thoughts. This car is basically autocrossed and is going to be used on track events. I rarely drive the car on the street... basically the car gets 2000 miles a year on it. So tire wear is not really a factor.

Thanks in advance.. I know the pros hang out here.. The car will also be cornerweighted shortly.

 

Front-

Caster- max you can get
Camber- max negative you can get
Toe- Start with 1/8" toe out.

Rear-
Camber- max
Toe- 1/16-1/8" toe in

That should be a good starting point. It might push a little but will turn in nicely and be able to put the power down early. No guarantees on tire wear, and it might feel a bit twitchy on the highway, especially when it's wet.

 

Terrible advice. You don't want anymore than 6 to 7 deg caster -- it's easy to get more than that. You base camber on tire model and other variables, but most likely don't need more than 1.75 to 2 deg -- it's easy to get more than that.

The same comments apply to rear camber, you don't really need more than 1 to 1.5 deg, depending on wheel diameter.

You're far better off running 18x10s with 285/30 18 tires. Lots of high performance rubber and R-compound tires in that size.

 

you think 18X10s would be a better move then? I want them all the way around btw... i have heard i won't have any clearance problems with correct offset and everything. Since i have coilovers shouldnt' be a problem.

Basically just wanting advice on just more than alignment... more input is welcome!

 

get a tri-point front sway bar instead of the racing beat. more costly but definitely better than the racing beat one.

i would go with the more aggressive alignment specs...more than -2 degrees of negative camber. you might not need all of it depending on how aggresive you drive though etc. try having them set the rear camber about .75 degrees less of negative camber.

as for the tires and wheels i'd go for the 17's as the cost is just cheaper in the long run.

 

Running 17x10 wheels all around with 275/40 17 tires will result in torn-up fender liners up front, as the overall diameter is ~3/4" taller than stock. Running 18x10 with 285/30 gives you more rubber and is the same diameter as the stock wheels. Another alternative is to run 17x9.5 or 18x9.5 all around with either 265/40 17 or 265/35 18 tires.

 

I'd post this in the Race Car Tech forum, you'll get all the die-hard autocrossers and racers in there. They helped me out quite a bit when i was setting up my car.

I basically used the Pettit long track settings. I ended up with

1.2 neg camber (all four corners)
5.8 caster front right and left
1/8 toe in front

1/16 toe in rear (this really should be set to 0 toe, something i'll have adjusted when I get my next alignment with new tires shortly)

0 thrust angle


For autocrossing only, you'd want toe out in the front and toe in on the rear, but if you're planning on doing any HPDE, you'll probably want toe-in on the front to help with the nervousness in the straights (i'm going by what I've been told here btw, so far I haven't done any HPDE so someone more knowledgeable may correct me)

As far as your wheel choice, a close friend of mine has 17x9 front and 17x10 rear CCW's for his track wheels with koni's and a ground control coil-overs and he loves it. His street wheels are 17x10 all around and I don't know that he's had any rubbing problems at all. I don't know what his offset is.

 

I am an autocrosser, but I have to admit my experience is with Miata's. Having been under a 3rd gen recently, the supensions are very similar so I based my advise on my setup. I actually run a bit of toe out in the rear sometimes if i need to get the car to rotate. If Rynberg is right and you can get too extreme with the settings (doesn't happen with the Miata) then I'd follow his advise, except I'd probably be a bit more agressive with the camber. A good pyrometer is your best friend in autocross.

 

WorldPax: Yes, it's fairly easy to get 2.5 degrees or more of negative camber, especially on a lowered car. I consider this too much, but I'm sure there are guys who run that much.

You can also get to 10 deg caster or so, which is too much.

Similar but different to a Miata...