Forcing a square peg(X-90) in a round hole(autocross)...

GoLucky said:

Body drop? 

I have entertained the idea but the work involved is not feasible for me right now and is in the category of full race car modifications.

tdrrally said:

i have a complete 2.0 with a 2wd auto trans complete with wiring harness up for sale at the right price.

Thank you, I really prefer to keep a manual in it and if I am going to swap motors it will either be out of necessity or further down the line after suspension is more sorted.

Edit: 

I have seen people do multiple quotes and replies in one post how would I go about such a thing?

if i recall correctly you can use the 1.6 trans with j20-23 engines

the auto is electronic control same as a toyota, they're not hard to convert to manual 

So just a text post this evening. I wanted to mention my Front brakes. The stock ones are non-vented disks same as a 2 door tracker. After I put on my Sport Comps I discovered I could barely lock up my tires under hard braking. Well turns out there are not a lot of pad choices for these but I discovered that the 4 door tracker brakes are a bit larger, vented, and there is some pad choice including Yellowstuff from EBC. If I need more aggressive pad materials I will see about custom applications from Porter or other Race providers but the yellows work fantastically and the brakes stay cool. I haven't felt any kind of fade when bedding in and when they warm up have a nice progressive feel.

     Tomorrow I am putting camber bolts in and getting an alignment. Would I be correct in thinking that as much camber as I can get and zero toe will be appropriate for autox?

In reply to meareweird :

Definitely as much negative camber as possible, followed by as much positive caster(which is probably only adjustable by the small amount of slop in the upper strut mount bolt holes). Typically you’d want about 1/8” total toe-out in the front, but that can eat tires if it’s driven much on the street. 

In reply to meareweird :

the vitara mk2 has larger 286.8mm vented rotours  and the xl7 has 309.8 , if you use their caliper and bracket they should bolt on. 

i have read the samurai rear disc conversion kit will bolt on, but i have never tried.

i'm looking to use the 286.8 front rotours on the rear of my 2002 tracker DD

tdrrally said:

In reply to meareweird :

the vitara mk2 has larger 286.8mm vented rotours  and the xl7 has 309.8 , if you use their caliper and bracket they should bolt on. 

i have read the samurai rear disc conversion kit will bolt on, but i have never tried.

i'm looking to use the 286.8 front rotours on the rear of my 2002 tracker DD

Thanks for the heads up on the XL7 and second generation Vitara, brakes bolting on. A quick search shows the same issue of pad availability but if I ever need more thermal mass or swept area I will keep this in mind.

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to meareweird :

Definitely as much negative camber as possible, followed by as much positive caster(which is probably only adjustable by the small amount of slop in the upper strut mount bolt holes). Typically you’d want about 1/8” total toe-out in the front, but that can eat tires if it’s driven much on the street. 

 

No adjustment in the strut mount, I need camber plates for sure. I will have to fabricobble some after I know what front struts/coilovers I will use.

you could convert to a SLA then just a coil over shock 

bilstien makes struts "Bilstein 35-003991 Monotube Strut Assembly, Front, 36mm"

and shocks B6 "24-015882"

    I got a "factory" alignment Tuesday to see a baseline, and where my rear wheels where pointed. Not great .20 degrees of rear steer. I can fix that with adjustable links later on. The front I painstakingly measured and adjusted and remeasured and readjusted until I had as best I could measure zero toe with a bit ouf toe out on my margin of error/slop. Camber bolts netted between 1-1.5 degrees if my inclinometer is correct. I would like to remeasure after a week of driving.

     Saturday was my second Auto-x event and the cold temperatures in the morning were no help to traction but I can definitely feel a difference in front behavior. It feels more consistent up to the limit and easier to pull back in from understeer. I have decided I want/need struts. Mine are who knows how old, possibly stock or cheap replacement at best and i can freely move them with little resistance when detached. I like the idea of Bilsteins but Koni Sports are cheaper. I just need to find a distributor that actually has them. Before I spend money on them I want to make sure they have more travel to play with and I think I have a few things to help with that.

     First Idea is to use cheap Grand Vitara Strut mounts as they sit higher than mine, maybe an inch or possibly two if I am lucky. I will have to try and find measurements or find one to measure. Alternatively I could fabricate camber plates that sit as high as I need but am unsure on best design for that as most I have seen sit at stock height. Second I may have a solution to solve up travel as well as help with moving roll center back to a more desirable region. As seen in previous photos the ball joint sits on top of the knuckle. I am considering how to move the lower ball joint below the knuckle. After some reading it seems a heim joint is really not ideal for this sort of load, especially considering it would be a tension loaded joint. So instead of a stright wall drilled hole I will need to taper from the bottom. I believe there are inserts I can use once i drill out the taper. So I will need to measure my current ball joint to know an appropriate size to use that is same or larger. Because this will be a tension loaded joint instead of a compression loaded joint I think it best to use a joint designed for such use. American designs seem to use these so I believe circle track racing will be my best resource for hardware. This will allow my to also lengthen the lower arm for increased track width and camber, move it lower relative to the steering and bump stop. The downside to this I think would be bump steer as the tie rods get farther from parallel to the control arms but if I can succesfully flip the ball joint then the tie rods would be trivial.

     Anything I may be missing? Wheel clearance will be a concern but I can go to 16 inch wheels if need be. Bump steer as I said would be a concern. What class would this bump me too? Street Mod? Prepared? I would be keeping the  Chassis mounts the same but modifying the knuckle and suspension geometry. Does anyone know how to calculate the loads associated with such a joint?

In reply to meareweird :

Here’s another thought - find some uprights from another front macstrut/rwd car and adapt them? Maybe 240sx or something not too obscure?

Otherwise I think you’re heading down the right path.