Track Alignment
Thread Starter
Full Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
From: Toronto
Track Alignment
Car's an 87Tll with Bilstien coilovers (very stiff), lowered about and inch. Get 8-10 track days a summer, and other than driving to the track, it doesn't get too much street time.
Talked to the alignment tech about the car's use, and here's what I ended up with.
Front
Camber L&R about -1.6
Caster L&R about 6.5
Toe L&R 0
Rear
Camber L -2.7 R -1.2
Toe L&R 0
Front was originally toed out both sides, and one rear was toed out and the other toed in (which I would think would make the rear end track off to one side).
Questions 1/ Rear Camber not easily adjustable, so do I have to be concerened about the difference in rear camber.
2/ Would a little more toe in, front or rear, be better or worse on a track.
3/ Any other advise?
My RA1's were getting a lot of wear on the outside 2" (I know...thats where it happens, but seemed disproportionate). Thought I needed more Camber up front, but the -1.6 up front is what we started with.
Talked to the alignment tech about the car's use, and here's what I ended up with.
Front
Camber L&R about -1.6
Caster L&R about 6.5
Toe L&R 0
Rear
Camber L -2.7 R -1.2
Toe L&R 0
Front was originally toed out both sides, and one rear was toed out and the other toed in (which I would think would make the rear end track off to one side).
Questions 1/ Rear Camber not easily adjustable, so do I have to be concerened about the difference in rear camber.
2/ Would a little more toe in, front or rear, be better or worse on a track.
3/ Any other advise?
My RA1's were getting a lot of wear on the outside 2" (I know...thats where it happens, but seemed disproportionate). Thought I needed more Camber up front, but the -1.6 up front is what we started with.
Lives on the Forum
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 5,707
Likes: 6
From: BC, Canada
For the rear camber you can get some individual camber adjusters that replace the inner trailing arm links. They'll allow you to even out the camber so that both sides are equal. They're available here:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/h6_86-92.htm
http://www.awrracing.com/pages/rx/rxsusp.html
For the camber, you should get a tire pyrometer and check tire temps, that'll hlep you set the right camber. You'll want it so that the tire has (more or less) even temps across the tread. A probe type pyrometer is better than the laser gun style ones, as it'll get the temps further down into the carcass of the tire, and not just on the surface.
I have no direct experiance with aligning a track driven FC, but I'd think that you'd probably want a little more camber up front, and you probably don't want any toe out, especially not in the rear. RA-1's like camber, lots of it. Autocrossers sometimes use toe out for turn in (front) or to get the rear end to rotate, but everything happens faster on the track, and the penalties for a mistake are greater, so it's not advisable. Nimble at autocross speeds often translates to darty or unstable at track speeds.
http://www.mazdatrix.com/h6_86-92.htm
http://www.awrracing.com/pages/rx/rxsusp.html
For the camber, you should get a tire pyrometer and check tire temps, that'll hlep you set the right camber. You'll want it so that the tire has (more or less) even temps across the tread. A probe type pyrometer is better than the laser gun style ones, as it'll get the temps further down into the carcass of the tire, and not just on the surface.
I have no direct experiance with aligning a track driven FC, but I'd think that you'd probably want a little more camber up front, and you probably don't want any toe out, especially not in the rear. RA-1's like camber, lots of it. Autocrossers sometimes use toe out for turn in (front) or to get the rear end to rotate, but everything happens faster on the track, and the penalties for a mistake are greater, so it's not advisable. Nimble at autocross speeds often translates to darty or unstable at track speeds.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
