QuestionQUESTION: I have a 95 probe. I race dirt track and my home track is a 1/3 mile with high bank curves that are wide and swooping and want to further setup my car and im hoping u can give me some advice. right now i have fixed some camber in the right front by messing with my holes for the strut tower. I am thinking about doubling up the coil springs on the right front. is that a good idea? the car is already slamed on the left front and rear with equal stagger on both sides of the front too. i always race my feature at the end of the night when the track is just about burnt or over burnt. i would like to get it to keep from skateboarding in the entrance of 1 and 3. i have to put an extra 100 lbs in my car track rules for a dohc. where should i do that and what are the laws of weight placement. i have to keep the car parts stock but i can manipulate to my good. i hope ya can help. and one last question have could i put some caster in my car with stock parts? what are the laws of stiffness of coil springs?
ANSWER: Camber is an absolute benefit, imagine what your tires look like in the corners, and anything you can do make them sit as flat as possible, maximizing your tire's foot print.
Putting camber in your left front (opposite of the right, the top of the tire jutting out, bottom in) helps. You can gain a lot more camber by grinding out the mounting bolt holes at the bottom of the strut. Get yourself an electronic laser temp probe gauge, they sell for around 50 bucks, right after the race measure your tire temps at the outer, middle and inner treadface (do this off the side, if you check it off the top, brake temp will interfere). On the right side if the out temp is hotter than the middle and inner, you need more camber, if the center is hotter than the other two, you have too much tire pressure, if the outer and inner is hotter than the center, not enough. The inner on the left front should indicate the need for more camber if it's hotter. This is the fastest and easiest way to zero in your car.
Try to find a tire for the right front that has more sidewall plys, many only have 2, go for 4. If you see wear on the side of the tire, it's folding over in the corners.
Find a heavier coil spring for the right front, there should be no need for dual springs, It can come from any make car or truck, as long as it fits in the coil spring bucket.
The whole goal for placing weight is, as low as possible, and as left as possible, if you can get away with putting it under and outside the car, every inch helps. Even moving your seat more left and low helps, even if it means having your wheel a little off center for you to steer.
Caster is almost impossible, but make sure your toe is good, a front drive tends to "suck in" the front of the tire under power, so allow a little, I mean LITTLE extra for that. Check your toe whenever you mess with camber, after any racing rubbing which your fronts might have taken some impact. Check your toe with the wheel turned in the direction of the corners too, if you find it off, odds are you have a bent tie rod.
A stiff spring in the right front to take the cornering force.
A stiffer spring in the right rear helps to make the left front do more work.
A lower and softer spring in the left rear reduces transference of weight to the right front, so it doesn't have to do all the work.
My experience is the left front spring doesn't do a heck of a lot.
One more thing you may want to do is, find wheels for the right side that are offset and stick out away from the car as much as possible, and left side wheels that pull in as close to the body.
This fools the car into thinking it's a larger wheelbase, puts your driver weight so your sitting in between the left front and rear tires. It really helps.
Some guys have experimented with putting toe into the rear tires so they both point to the left if your car is tight, or point to the right if you want the car more loose. Some cars it's a night and day difference, some not.
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QUESTION: anks again for the help and ideas. Ok so u said to put a astiffer spring in the rear too. Should i try to find one stiffer than the right front or visa versa. And whats the wieght going to make my car do if the weights are towards to front or back of the car more?
ANSWER: Before I get into answering your question, there's one thing I want to stress, perhaps the most important thing that will be the greatest asset in your quest for those checkered flags;
Keep a "bible", that is a notebook and document every single thing you do to your car. Make summaries of your race nights, things you've noticed, things other people have commented on, everything you you try, fix, or do to your car. In time you'll find it an indispensable part of your racing career. Record tire pressures before and after the race, tire temps are especially helpful. In one season I'd have a notebook full of what I did, a 100 pages of what didn't work, and a half dozen pages NO ONE would see (except me and my crew) of what did work. Enough said.
Spring rates are something you need to experiment with, ask around the pits and see if someone has their own set of scales and if you could hire them to scale your car. With the tank full and you in the (or enough weight in the seat to replace you), you should aim for 60-65 percent of the total weight in the front, and 60 percent to the left.
This isn't always attainable but the jist is to get as close as you can. The whole idea is to get all 4 tires to share in the work. This is hard with a front wheel drive but you can get close. The front has plenty of weight which makes the rear do nothing but follow the front around so load up what you can towards the rear and lighten the front all you can.
For now, the right rear should be about the same as the right front.
You can use springs smaller in diameter, any spring as long as it sits in the spring bucket.
I might be wrong but I don't recall if you raced dirt or asphalt. On dirt I've heard of guys welding up the spider gears in the differential (guys, including myself have welded them up for asphalt use too, but wow what stress on those gears, be willing to reweld often or swap trannys more often). This will definitely make the left do more work but the car will tend to pull to the left on the straightaway.
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QUESTION: I forgot another question I hope im not taking up to much space in the email box... ha ha what are some good places whether Internet to some good catalogs and remember i race the dirt ovals. to look for aftermarket parts for a ford probe. I mean from the suspension to the motor and tranny?
AnswerHonestly, you're probably better at surfing for what you need than this old man. It took me a month just to open my email! Wish I could help you but I realy don't know, but I'd appreciate you letting me know. Always feel free to contact me anytime when I can help, you're certainly not a bother. Mike
