After building a car from the ground up for over 2 years i am finally at the point that i need to tune the suspention better. The car is a stripped out 1998 Toyota Altezza with basic bolt ons for engine including a Power FC. The car is used for the local version of Solo. Link as shown below. It is somewhere between solo and gymkyana with sloloms, 180 handbrake turns and corner speed at prob 35-40mph max and straights topping out at 50mph.

Current suspention.

Chassis fully spot/seam welded

Tein JDM Monoflez 10k F 9k R

Hotchiss sways

Ikeya Formula Subframe Locks (seeem to lower the front of the subframe about 3/8")

DTEC pillowball bushings on all lower arms

Currently installing Ikeaya formula Upper arms F&R

Megan Toe and Traction arms

Tires Toyo RA1 sized 255/40/17

Current suspention settings:

2 degrees all around and 0 toe ride height set around 1.5 inches lower than stock.

Mike K has gratiously suggested 3.5 degrees front Camber with 1/8 toe out and 1 degree camber rear with 0 toe to sharpen the turn in. and 32psi hot pressure in tires.

After not being able to get an alignment before the last event i set the tire pressures at 32 and made some mental notes of what was happening. The first thing that struck me is how the car turns well but does not dive in like i would like. The toe out will help that. Also in the lower speed 90's the front seems to push. Im guessing thats where the extreme camber comes in. Ill basically document this process so i can get some feedback and basic understanding of what does what.

www.youtube.com/user/caribbeanstyle...5O7f9GcjyM

 

I also suggest 3+ degrees of camber on the front. Going from 2 degrees to 3 degrees made an immediate improvement on my Evo.

Here's a question. I shortened the ikeya upper arms about 4mm the get more camber. After reading my old scc's I noticed that by doing that I effectivley increases my kingpin angle. What effect whill this have?

It offsets caster and gives more self centering. You might need to up the postive caster some. I sugest 9 degrees.

hmm that arm isnt adjustable yet...ill see what it looks like when i adjust it

I plan on getting this part. It is not a RCA cause it does not change the ball joint location or the lower arm location, but it does lower the tie rod to help eliminate bumpsteer as well as move it closer to the ball joint to quicken the steering. Its still in testing but i have signed up as a tester.

 

Cool to read. I drive an IS300, although i know they are not simply a rebadged altezza, they do share some sheetmetal haha.

I think i see your name on my.is is this correct?

yeah im on my.is

vid of my car from the event last month
www.youtube.com/watch

finnally got the scales in. This is with me in it. I dont think its tooooo bad at all. so the car is a hair under 2500lbs

Looks like it lowers the ball joint to me?

yeah the original design didnt it seemed, but the guy had to shenge to a different balljoint and it ended up lowering it like 5/8. so it is in fact an RCA also. Good eye. i been waiting for it to come in the mail for over 10 days now so i dont think it will get to me before my race this weekend.

On a seperate note. I have access to a good alaintment machine, how accutate are they compared to stringing the car? or does it depend?

They are immensely different, but like all things the more information you have the more bad choices you can make. Make sure when adjusting your alignment to your new ride height that you retain a realistic camber sweep through suspension travel (I will load the struts without springs and set measure tire/camber angles through the entire range). Also make sure to adjust your camber to the type of tires you are running. Some tire compounds/carcasses require more initial camber others require less.

Nice looking setup you have their, I am trying to figure out how to have a project car that isn't covered from bumper to bumper with rust underneath. Must be that they don't salt the roads in winter in the Caymans... eh?

Well I haven't figured out the details of stringing a car yet so I will have to stick to the alaignment rack for now. The car isn't overly low so I suspect my curves are ok.

Winter? What's that? LOL the Cayman Islands are South of Cuba and west of Jamaica so we get "mild" winters to say the least.

Mike you want to come down and show me how to string a car.

Sure pay for my flight and put me up and I'll come out with all of my jigs and tools.

Acutlay buying a set of smart strings is cheaper than flying me out.

how much to come to west covina?

something is bent and i can't figure it out!

bring you car over when I am not busy and i'll just help you, however that is probably not until after the new year.

ah but mike a set of smart strings cant teach me what you could. I might have a proposal for you something in the new year though.

Well i went and got aligned today. I didnt make the upper control arms long enough so I got stuck with 1.23 camber and 0 toe in the rear. In the front i didnt make the arms short enough and was only able to get 3 degrees on one side and 2.5 on the other. I think i will loosen up the front subframe and see if it will shift ove a bit. Maybe take some diagonals from the rear mounting points or something.

Because i was short on time i ended up just sticking with 2.5 degrees camber and .56 degrees toe out in tyhe front. Ill see how this feels and then in the off season ill either figure out how to string it at home and redoe everything or take it back. The machine im using is a very nice Hunter machine that shows every little thing.

Oh yeah i have about 6.5 degrees caster in the front. Ill save up for an adjustable arm there to add in some more.