Lower??

[Quickurt]

I exhausted my annual race budget in a couple of months, twice, with Formula Atlantic.
First time with a Ralt RT-4 ('95), second time with a Swift DB-4 (2000).
I crashed the RT 4 the second weekend I ran it and it cost more to fix than I had paid for the car (used). Can you say WTF????

[FUHRIUS]

but I like both the feel and look of the car much better dropped a bit.
I chose go, essentially, ROW ride height with eibach springs and left the stock s struts alone. it gives the car a slightly stiffer ride vertically but did a lot to control roll. with the stock struts, it forced a more progressive feel to the struts, while maintain a pretty plush feel from the stock struts when they're at the beginning / middle of their travel.

most of the guys who seem to know what they're talking about that I've been talking to about where to take my suspension suggest that simply lowering the car gives the best bang for the buck handling improvement. next is to remove as much roll as possible. my next step is to do the gt3 front / tarett rear sways (with the tarett drop links). this should accomplish alot without getting into the bigger bucks of coilovers / control arms, etc.

with everything there will be sacrifice. they biggest potential problem being getting the cars to align properly. I, personally, like having the neg camber that is a certain result of lowering the car. the inside of the rear tires, in particular, take the brunt of it...but I'm still getting 7-8k miles out of my rear ps2's which doesn't seem to be too far off from what people are getting with stock geometries.

btw, the drop links are supposed to be the weakest link in the suspension, especially when pushed hard in a setting like at the track. my car's never seen the track, but I'm starting to move it in that direction.

[Quickurt]

I am really appreciating all the input, even if I don't get the chance to comment on each post.
I found the GT3 front sway bar comment from someone else who said they really liked it. It was a 987 and I see fuhrius has a 986 pictured as your avatar.
Which GT3 bar is being used? I talked to my parts Buddy (that's his name, too!) and he had no idea which model GT3 front bar would fit either 986 or 987. He didn't say he didn't think one would fit, just that he had no idea of a proper part number to order one or get me a price.
I feel the usual need to start looking at the compromise that's right for how I use my car. From what I am seeing the Eibach springs are lower than I want to go, considering the roads I need to negotiate in our travels. The springs being offered by Brumos lower the car 20mm (3/4" plus a touch) and the car can still be aligned to proper specs. This may also be a benefit of 987 suspension.
The other comment I found loved the reduction of low speed understeer, but said the car's nuetral attitude in faster turns did not seem effected. Lowering itself should help the weight transfer/roll center, if I understand the geometry of 987 McPherson correctly, and a stiffer front bar sometimes works to increase understeer, rather than decrease. I've had it work both ways, depending on where in the traction curve you're starting. Remember, too little weight on a tire can result in traction loss the same as too much. Considering the throttle modulation exercise we did at Brumos U, I would say the stiffer bar will increase front traction.......but I've been WAY wrong before!!

[Johnny Danger]

Give it a nice dose of "diagra" to keep it down.

[Quickurt]

GORGEOUS Danger man!!!
Only problem is, that front spoiler would be GONE on two North Carolina roads I drove last spring. I put two nice gouges in the bottom of mine (stock) at stock height. I don't know how on earth they paved a switchback that steep.
That's where the compromise I was talking about comes in. I'm willing to risk some body part replacement, but I don't want to insure it'll happen.
Actually if my parts Buddy finds out the 2010 nose cap will fit my 2006..............

[Gary H]

Loving the rear spoiler Johnny - what is it? (Would PM you but your mailbox is full )

[Pirrex]

Originally Posted by Gary H

Loving the rear spoiler Johnny - what is it? (Would PM you but your mailbox is full )

I'd like to know too, love it!

[Johnny Danger]

Originally Posted by Pirrex

I'd like to know too, love it!

I cleaned out my mailbox. Feel free to PM me.

[Johnny Danger]

Its a fiberglass piece that I purchased from a retailer in Florida www.directcartoys.com
(they sell on Ebay as well). After researching numerous spoilers out there, regardless of price or prestige, I found that there wasn't much that distinguished one brand from another when it came to such a simple accent piece as this. However, according to my auto body "guy", like most fiberglass aero parts, it required a fair amount of reshaping and tweaking in order to make it fit perfectly. Overall I think it proved to be a good final touch on the project .

[Quickurt]

That's one bad ass Boxster, Johnny!!
Do you have "men in blue" issues with it?
I love bright yellow, as you can tell by the pics of my "other boxster", but one of my 914's was what they called sunflower yellow and the cops just really, really liked that car............

[stephen wilson]

Here's a picture of what literally "blew" my racing budget last season.

[Johnny Danger]

Originally Posted by Quickurt

That's one bad ass Boxster, Johnny!!
Do you have "men in blue" issues with it?
I love bright yellow, as you can tell by the pics of my "other boxster", but one of my 914's was what they called sunflower yellow and the cops just really, really liked that car............

I'll send you a PM.

[Quickurt]

You know you can use a steel crank now?
That looks like the typical one time past 8000 RPM break. I did one that looked just like that with a 540 Lola and their stupid design of having the flywheel sticking below the frame rail. It hit the ground in the dip on the old Road Atlanta track and just really didn't like it.
I never let one break after over-revving, but saw quite a few who didn't believe it was really true. You turn one of the cast iron cranks in excess of 8000 rpm and it's GOING to break. Maybe next lap, maybe next weekend, but you can bank on it.

[stephen wilson]

Well, I bought the engine used, so I don't know it's history. I have a rev limiter, and it failed at 6900, just before pulling 2nd gear. I did spin the previous day in T10 at Summit Point, and didn't get the clutch in soon enough, possibly turning the engine backwards, with the wheels chattering. I don't know if that could have precipitated the failure. The engine did have 20+ hours on it, and I'm sorry to say I have missed a few shifts and winged it during that time.

Well, new season, new ( to me ) engine, I just have to get everything put back together again!

[Quickurt]

What chassis do you have?
I never got the chance to run Summit Point. IF I had decided to go back running the CF instead of buying a Boxster, my main plan was to travel outside the SEDIV and run other well known tracks. I guess the getting old got the best of me!

[stephen wilson]

I have a Van Dieman RF78. Summit is a very technical track, but their paddock space stinks! I had similar plans, Road Atlanta, Elkhart, rent a car for Laguna... Nice idea, but very demanding in reality! I hate long tow's, and get tired of the endless hours prepping the car. That's why I decided to slow down a bit, and take some racing money for a Boxster. The Boxster I can enjoy most of the year, racing only a handfull of weekends. But those weekends are intense!

[Quickurt]

RF79 and Crossle 30F were very influential in my design when I built my "new" 70 WDF2 Winklemann. Do you know Steve Robertson out of Atlanta? He probably knows as much about your generation VD as anyone alive and is pretty quick with it. He's done a tremendous amount of suspension/shock/spring work.
I have his email if you want it, we go wayyyyyy back.

[stephen wilson]

No, I don't know Steve, but I wouldn't mind contacting him for some tips. I have been experimenting with spring rates, ride height, and rake.

[Gerardo de Kort]

This one is pretty low too.

[Johnny Danger]

Originally Posted by Gerardo de Kort

This one is pretty low too.

Digressing for a moment, during my exhaustive research regarding body kits, one of the brands that I found to be extremely well made was RUF. They utilize a material that is similar to polyurethane called "PURIM". Unlike fiberglass which can manipulated, PURIM cannot. Therefore, a bumper that is made from this material has to be manufactured to very high standards in order for it to fit well. Otherwise you're SOL. It was impressive to see just how well the RUF bumper was made.