whiterex

I did a search... didn't take too much time on it though. I have purchased wheels and tires.(thanks again ulllose & teamrx8) I already put in the K&N drop in filter. I plan on doing everything that I can to the car to get a "pretty good" B-Stock setup; exhaust, shocks, front sway bar, ect. Eventually I will get better wheels and v710's. My "logical" thinking says buy shocks next. Maybe get the car handling better first. Thanks in advance for your input.

pcimino

Get a good alignment. My factory alignment was something like front camber 0/0 and rear camber -2.2/-1.1. I forget the toe but that was squirelly too.

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

Yes alingment is VERY important. However like the swaybar none of us agree on specs.

Then shocks

Front Swaybar is up in the air. 3 cars with 3 different bars within a tenth of a sec at natls. You can drill a hole in your stock bar to make it a bit stiffer, nice free mod.

Exhaust

light wheels

CRX Millennium

iTrader: (1)

As for the alignment, it depends on how soon you plan on getting new shocks. Alignment will have to be re-done after shock install. The questoin is how much of a gap set-up wise you need to take on to close in on the M3 that finished 1st in your FL state championship...

whiterex

I keep reading about drilling a hole in the stock swaybar... Where do you place the hole? Drill all the way through?

I think that the M3 was about 3 sec. ahead of me. That guy was a good driver. I believe that I can make up that time with tires and a little more seat time in the rx8. It is a little different than the miata.

I have yet to find a good alignment guy... If I do, how much camber/toe would you guys recomend. On the ms miata, I wasn't able to get the camber that I could with the '92 miata I owned previously. I think that on the miata the most I could get was 1.4 in front and 1.7 in the rear. Again I have yet to find a good alignment guy.

Good info guys thanks.

globi

If the inner front wheel lifts with the stock sway bar, the outer front wheel already caries all the weight it can. What difference could a stiffer sway bar make at this point?

clyde

transistional response is kind of important

tuj

most effective order of improvements:

-driver (evo phase 1+2)
-alignment
-r-compounds (Kuhmo)
-front sway
-konis

Imp

Agreed. But like Jason said, there were top times running different bars/variants at natonials this year.

I have stock bar, no holes drilled.

My scratch time was only .092 off the fastest BS time on the south course this year (who had the Team RX-8 bar). My scratch time was also .002 off of Jasons fastest time (correct me if I'm wrong... drilled stock bar?)

Is a bigger bar worth .1? .002? Or could I drive better?

The latter is the better option IMHO, and is free. Do what you like, try different things. We have quite a few sweepers and some tight stuff here... the stiffer bar doesn't help much at all in those type courses.

--kC

tuj

There have been fast drivers on the stock front sway and on stock shocks, so neither of those are really necessary to be competitive.

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

You can do the shocks without an alingment.... You just have to know what not to take apart.

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

I have not done it, Goeke and Noll did it, I think you go as far forward of the stock hole as you can and still have a flat surface to mount the endlink to.

Alingment I use max - camber front and rear. Zero toe and dont worry about caster.

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

I was on the MazdaSpeed bar as was Noll.
KC and Goeke on stock but Goeke with one adjustment hole drilled.
Only fast guy on the TeamRX8 bar was the ringer he brought in, Sharp.
Leaders from day one were on the Racing Beat bar... They kind of took a beating on the south course as that bar did not like all the sweepers.

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

There have been fast guys on stock bars... No one was fast at natls on stock shocks. So I would not say they are unnecessary.

tuj

uh.... didn't you win a ProSolo on stock shocks dude?

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

One event way early in the season does not mean anything. No way they would cut it now. I got lucky at that event, sat on my first runs Saturday which were my first runs ever in the car. Bauer had Kumho rears and Hoosier fronts on the 968. So none of us were at 100% that weekend.

clyde

I was just saying that even if the inside front lifts in some circumstances, it doesn't mean that a stiffer front bar won't help in other areas.

Beyond that, the driver is part of the setup too and that part has an influence on what other settings might work best as a total combination.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

oh wow, I never realized you tried them all ... one thing I would advise the n00bs on is to beware being mislead by broad generalities

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

yeah, I won the BS at the Atlanta Pro Solo the year before in my Z4 on the OE runflat tires in the rain, simply reading the results is not always revealing

globi

Could it be that kC dealt with understeering in these sweepers and therefore concluded that a stiffer sway bar in the front would not be of any help?
(This would be a fair conclusion or would it not?)

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

Or he could just be some ex-STX hack that said he won natls and cant drive on race tires. Take his cheater boost away and he is nothing.

Keep in mind the swaybars and shocks at best are worth tenths of seconds. imho an alingment is worth more on a stock car. Tires are the one big improvement you can make besides the driver.

whiterex

Looks like I need to find an alignment guy before anything else...

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

you've probably got a better grip on the situation than me I'll be quiet now

Imp

That's why I said:
My 'ex STX car' was set up differently at the time than anyone elses. The following year, everyone pretty much copied me.

Have I tried everything out there? Nope. I've tried really big (RB) and stock. I like stock of the two.

I firmly believe anything bigger/stiffer than stock will induce more push than the stock bar in the sweepers. I don't have to 'try everything' to figure that one out. If you're getting push with the stock bar, any stiffer will not reduce that. Yes, a bigger bar will help in transitions. That's what a big bar does. But in sweepers (where more time is lost) I don't think it's worth it.

--kC

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

perhaps you just haven't found the settings to get both, if I put the OE bar on mine I'd be putting drifters to shame in every sweeper, we ran both back to back on a sweeper intensive course during the initial testing, I've actually stiffened it some more since Nationals and am still working to keep it under me

Some of my alignment and shock settings are quite different then what most people post here