My SC project is getting started soon. I will be stripping everything but the dash. Being that I plan on taking a major chunk of weight of..ie CF hood, buckets, gutted doors, cf trunk, and stripped int, I wonder what spring rates would fair best since the weight dist. will be altered soo much. My previous car was a 350Z that had extensive suspension work and I went through many different spring rates on my coilovers. Hopefully someone has ordered some custom spring rate coilovers and can save me alot of trial and error so I can drive more next season.
I found that Uenos famous vertex soarer has 18k/16k rates but I also know that I won't have the amount of saving that car has with all of it's dry carbon and titanium bolt goodness . I've been finding most coilovers come with a heavy front bias being that these cars are so noise heavy. I know I should have a stiffer rear spring then most with all of the weight movement but I don't want the car to snap back during transitions.
I know this is a very driver oriented question but, I am just looking for a good starting point----no dramatic 18k/10 understeer and no snap spin transitions 18k/18k


thanks,
late

 

ps this will be a track/drift car

 

i think f14k r10k would be a pretty good street/track set up considered the car weighs about ~3500lbs

 

I'm running 12k front 8k rear, with an aggressive chromoly stabilizer front and rear (Tanabe Sustec Stabilizer, front and rear for Supra)

I tend to stay away from extremely high rates, since you will tend to lose traction on anything but the smoothest surfaces. (your tires will jump and lose contact patch on a bump, rather than the suspension compressing and maintaining traction).

I imagine Ueno's spring rates are so high because he is set up where much of the car's steering is dictated by his car's power and torque levels combined with a very aggressive diff. (The way the car handles relies more on the gas pedal than suspension)

My personal preference is to keep spring rates reasonable for traction purposes and balance them with a better stabilizer. Then again, I don't drift nor do I think the SC is useful for that. (Please, think of the tires.)

The weight differences from those parts wouldn't warrant huge changes in the way the weight is distributed. You'll get more mileage for your money if you get your car properly corner balanced and make adjustments to tire pressures and spring preload/height settings IMO.

Remember, the higher spring rate you go, the less suspension stroke there will be. Depending on the length of the springs you get, you may run out of height adjustments for an ideal corner balance. Pick your spring rates and lengths carefully.

 

Thanks for the imput, I think I might be leaning toward a stiffer spring rate, then again I should have at least 300lbs of the factory curb weight when it's all done. I am use to burning through many tires and stiff springs rate because that has been my life with the 350z for the past two years. I'm going to set this car up right and have been tring to find more info on what has worked for others. I understand the importance of that fine line between good handling and loosing control. I also know that it took me two sets of coilovers and 3 different springs rates along with countless alignment and corner balance sessions to have my previous car to my perfection. I know I might not get much response from this question but, do any of you track/ drift/ hillclimb, etc with your SCs? I know these cars might not be the first choice for most as a motorsports car but I think any car with the right parts, tunning, and driver that is knowledgable.
I guess I just don't want to loose anytime next season because I'm so addicted. Suspension setups are like recipies.

 

Chris??!

You'll be hard pressed to find people who've had a decent amount of drift related track time with their SC's on here.

DriftGrl has spent some time drifting her SC, and I believe there is one guy in Massachusetts who also does a bit of drifting with his. There may be a few others, but they don't post too often.

 

Have you relocated the battery to the trunk(you can put it where the cd changer went). That'll change the balance of the car a little bit.

 

True already done, and I'm researching my fuel cell options now. I saw how high the gas tank is in these cars and I figure moving that weight much lower and further back should do wonders