ZBRA

Just bought a FE1 '94 ZF6 coupe to use as a track car. It will be used for ~50% auto-xing and ~50% road racing. This is a track only car and will not be driven on the street ever. It has a serious weight reduction coming in the near future. I already have track wheels and tires for it.

Since it's an FE1 car, suspension upgrades are priority. I'm looking for advice on shocks, springs, sway bars, etc.. I'ld especially like to hear from people actually using the combonation that they are recomending.

What is working for you?

Sidney004

Here is what I am using on my 94 LT1 with an FX3. sway bars: 32mm Fr, 26mm rear. Poly bushings, RD camber brace and cross frame, heim jointed sway bar links and rear camber rods, J55 brakes with SS pistons, cooling ducts, ss brake lines and racing pads. 275's R compounds all around. 280 RWHP

mrc24x

Front Camber -2 (max without shims)
Caster +8 ( a little much but it let me get a little more neg camber)
Toe 1/16" out

Rear Camber -1.5
Toe 1/8" in
VBP extreme adjustable springs front/rear
VBP 32mm front 26 mm rear swats
Poly bushings, new tie rods/rack/ball joints.......
Brake cooling ducts,GS calipers 13" front 12" rear powerslots
Hawk HT10 front / black rear. (might try HT 10's rear)
O.E wheels 17 x11(heavy but cheap)w/ Kumho V710 315's on all 4
Bilstein sports (revalved)
The car is pretty good the first 3 or 4 laps then starts to push. Maybe not the fastest set up but it gives a lot of feedback and you can just use the brakes a little more or crank the wheel on turn in to get it to rotate.

astock165

I'm assuming that those are stock style leaf springs so they shouldn't be adjustable for spring rate correct? Only ride hieght? How is the front adjusted? What rate are you running?

I'd like to run these springs on my FE1 some day.

Another question: what is the best rate to run? I would assume that Z07 rate for a given year would be the best place to start.

Vetracr

90 C4 set up
315-35/17 Kumho's on 17x11 Grand Sprt wheels all around
R9G/ Z-51 springs
Adjustable front bar based on 30 mm with 3/4" sq bar reinforcement
Adjustable 1.5" OD rear bar from Tri Point Engineering
Koni Sport shocks
Poly bushings all around
Gulstrand rear toe link
Gulstrand adjustable camber links
DRM camber and trailing arm brackets
-2 degree front camber
7.4-7.8 degrees Caster (slotted upper control arm mounting holes)
0 front toe (track), 1/8 toe out autoX
-2.5 degrees rear camber
1/16 to 1/8" toe in
C5 front brakes with Camaro master cylinder

Car worked great right out of the box on the track. Was slower than a pig on a Solo II course. Oversteer required on Solo II course would kill you on the track.

Larry

STEVEN13

1992 FX3

Z51 sway bars front and rear.
GS calipers
SS brake lines
Stock springs
Revalved FX3 Bilstein shocks (made a huge difference)
Stock engine
Brake pads PFC 01s and 97s
DRM rad/oil cooler
1.25 negative camber front zero toe
1.0 negative camber rear 1/8 toe in
Nitto R2s 275s and 285s
Stock ride height

Last time out 9/10 at Pocono North (new best for me) a 1.02.1 lap

Steven

ZBRA

How do those work?

mrc24x

The front ride height is adjustable by a threaded pad at the end of the spring and you can insert an allen wrench into the threaded bolt to raise or lower the car. The rear is ride height adjustable with the original spring bolts and rate adjustable with a pin that can be moved to 6(I think) different settings." In" is softer and moving "out" stiffens it. I haven't played with it much but it looks cool.

larryfs

I have to disagree with the -2.5 rear camber!
I was running -2.1 rear, and the car was terrible !!!
oversteered like a pig, felt unstable.
I went back to -1.0 in the rear, and it's perfect.
Tire wear is great, car handles great.

now if I can only get my steering rack sorted out, I'd be good to go.

TRACKMAN2

max -camber always worked for me but you must lay it in hard to reap the benifits medium or slow made it wishy washy.....

Sidney004

Slightly off subject, but those of you who are getting greater than -1 deg front camber are removing the inboard shims and spacers and relocating those outboard side, correct?

RacePro Engineering

. .

mrc24x

No, I have to leave the spacers. Just standaed adjustment without the shims gives me -1.94.

z28cp

Offset lower control arm bushings allow me to get more than -2.5 on each side... Still using factory spacers.

DaveZ.

fmrfast

You must leave the large spacers in place to keep the aluminum cross shaft off the steel frame. The shape of the cross shaft is designed to house the aluminum bushings to allow for the angle required for caster without damaging the cross shaft when tightening to frame.
If you grind the flat side of each spacer "equally" down to a minimum to barely keep the cross shaft off the frame, you will retain caster & may be able to get a little over or close to 2 degrees negative camber. This is depending on the car, it varies car to car. Other options are aftermarket offset lower control arm bushings or aftermarket adjustable upper control arms

ScaryFast

ZBRA, what class are you going for? Is this a competition car or just for fun?

I recommend going coil over suspension but that bumps your class considerably.

ZBRA

It's just for fun. I want to build the best handling car I can without having to conform to the restrictions of any one class.

Got any links to coil over set ups? Is it a significant advantage to mono-leaf? How expensive?

BrianCunningham

Mine's a street car that I run in SM2 (SCCA autocross) with 335's on all 4 corners. I've tried pulling the small cone shims out, but with the 335's it was too much camber and I loss braking potential. I've got the big sway bars on it, and QA1 shocks, but I still have the soft base springs, and the stock ride height in the front.

Have you seen the cars on http://www.tccracing.com
Some are ex SpeedGT cars. You can see how far you can take it.
2750lbs!

Great for the track, but most autocross associations will put you in Prepared if you show up though. If you keep the interior, lights, and some other stuff, you can run in SM2 with the SCCA.

ZBRA

Since I do not care about class at all, I am completely gutting it. I want to see just how light I can get it.

Jacki&GeneZ16

My 1987 non-Z51 (standard suspension) Convertible, a Daily Driver (Apr-Oct) and Autocrosser on weekend in BSP

Alignment: Set 26 Aug 06
1. Rear
a. Camber -0.70 left & -0.90 right
b. Toe -0.02 left & -0.06 right
2. Front
a. Camber -1.30 left & -1.26 right
b. Caster +1.52 left & +3.68 right (so much for symmetry)
c. Toe +0.09 left & +0.09 right
3. To get this much negative camber I switched the spacers on the upper control arm front bolts. Took the 18mm black spacer (between the control arm and the frame) with the 9mm black space (between the locking nut and the control arm), and leave the black spacers alone on the back control arm bolts.

Tires & Wheels
1. Highway: Old BFG Comp T/A 255/50ZR16 (will get new road tires next year) on 16x9.5 OEM wheels
2. Autocrossing: 315/35R Kumhos Victoracer on Fikse 11x17 wheels and 335/35R17 Kumhos V700 on Fikse 12x17 rear wheels (replaced studs for the lug nuts that were a 10cm longer and used 10 cm spacers). Once these are worn out I’ll either get Hoosier A6s or Kumho V710s.

Suspension
1. Bushings: 2005 All replaced with Prothane Polyurethane Bushings, but used a lighter weight Marine grade lube with Graphite. The lube supplied with the bushings squeaked too much.
2. AntiSway Bars: 2006 Original replaced with VB&P's 32mm front & 26mm rear.
3. Shocks: 2005 Bilsteins
4. Misc: Changed in 2005 Wheel Bearings, along with front ball joints and front outer tie rod ends