Its important to note that Kyles car is a FWD car(at least 400lbs lighter), and has a lot of weight reduction. Its also corner balanced so the loading vs a stock alltrac is going to be a lot different. The alltrac is a front heavy pig at least 60-65% of the weight is on the front. Im not sure how that effects the loading of these balljoints and parts we are considering
FWDLOL!
- Thread starter k.beaty
- Start date
klue":2lmkwoj7 said:
Good points Luke. My car has probably more front end weight percentage than the alltrac because I am missing a driveshaft, rear diff, subframe, axles, etc. Just because I corner balance my car doesn't mean I have equal weight distribution to all 4 corners. The reality is, it's near impossible to get the weight off the front end of a FF car.
Its completely up to the car owner whether or not they want to make their own roll center adjusters, or trust their abilities to make a part that could fail. But Martin used these on his Alltrac, and I've been using them for 2 years now with no issues. Comparing these to a stock ball joint will make it apparent that they are quite strong. The make the OEM balljoint look tiny. The thought has never even crossed my mind about having one of these fail, and I have no reason to think so.
Plus they look angry as fuck under there, and I can make my car low and have the roll center not get all fucky!
k.beaty":36b9nfnl said:I built a new lip yesterday. This one hangs a little bit lower than the old one and is reinforced so that it helps with front aero more and doesn't flex at high speeds. It also makes the car look mean!
What material did you use for this lip? Looks great and very rigid.
Well, I figure I'll update this for those of you interested in how this season went. I made it out to a ton of events and got lots of seat time. It was a blast and I learned a ton. I'm going to use this momentum to carry me through the winter and into the 2014 season. I'm not entirely sure which series I'll be racing next season as I am VERY outclassed in CSCS. I'm going to be sticking with the 5SFE for 2014 and will continue to support CSCS if the rule changes allow for me to be in a more competitive class. However, if the rules stay the way they are I'm going to give Ontario Time Attack a shot. They have a much more fair classing system, and enforce their rules to keep cheating to a minimum. Although there isn't as much publicity around OTA, it'll give me a much better shot at a class championship. I'm really looking forward to 2014!
As for work on the car over the winter, the big thing is going to be paint. At a practice day before the last event of the season, I broke a rear control arm and it turned the car hard to the right. I managed to bounce the car off the wall, but keep the damage to a minimum. The car just needs a quick pull to get the body panels all lined up again, and then it'll be painted. It only bent slightly behind the rear wheels, so nothing is structural. The damage is purely cosmetic.
I don't want to have anything break again, so I am going to re-do the rear suspension. This time, using 1-1/4" aluminum radius rod, oppose to the 3/4" stuff that I had on there before. I believe that the arm broke strictly from fatigue. It is 16" long, and relatively small tube so I imagine it was flexing and finally after 2 years of abuse, something had to give. I'll be keeping an eye on the new stuff to ensure we don't have an incident like this again.
That's about it for the winter plans. I'm going to pick up some spare wheels and tires because they're handy to have, but other than that, just focus on getting the car pulled apart for paint and make sure everything is done proper. I'll re assemble the car in the spring and do a nut and bolt check on everything in prep for a busy 2014!
I'll leave you with some pictures from this season:
And just because I drive this car everyday on the street, here's a cool photo that my friend snapped on the way home from work one day. Follow me on Instagra for more frequent updates and to see what else I'm getting up to. @kbt666
As for work on the car over the winter, the big thing is going to be paint. At a practice day before the last event of the season, I broke a rear control arm and it turned the car hard to the right. I managed to bounce the car off the wall, but keep the damage to a minimum. The car just needs a quick pull to get the body panels all lined up again, and then it'll be painted. It only bent slightly behind the rear wheels, so nothing is structural. The damage is purely cosmetic.
I don't want to have anything break again, so I am going to re-do the rear suspension. This time, using 1-1/4" aluminum radius rod, oppose to the 3/4" stuff that I had on there before. I believe that the arm broke strictly from fatigue. It is 16" long, and relatively small tube so I imagine it was flexing and finally after 2 years of abuse, something had to give. I'll be keeping an eye on the new stuff to ensure we don't have an incident like this again.
That's about it for the winter plans. I'm going to pick up some spare wheels and tires because they're handy to have, but other than that, just focus on getting the car pulled apart for paint and make sure everything is done proper. I'll re assemble the car in the spring and do a nut and bolt check on everything in prep for a busy 2014!
I'll leave you with some pictures from this season:
And just because I drive this car everyday on the street, here's a cool photo that my friend snapped on the way home from work one day. Follow me on Instagra for more frequent updates and to see what else I'm getting up to. @kbt666
underscore
Well-known member
Wall tapping with a FWD car, nicely done haha. I really wish I could have access to those kinds of racing opportunities around here. Ah well.
underscore":tz7k4o31 said:
Thanks, haha!
My brother actually lives in Vancouver, BC. It's gorgeous there! Although I love going to visit, I don't see myself ever moving for the lack of race tracks out that way. I'd love to drive my Celica out one time to bomb through the mountains, though!
underscore
Well-known member
We're slowing getting more in the area, but most of them aren't within good enough range to just be a day trip. That and so far as I can tell they've all got fairly heavy equipment requirements for racing (safety gear wise). The mountains are awesome though, I would never be able to live on the flats.
CMS-GT4":27zgz3ke said:
I've done lots of research on the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Celica's from back in the day and know what they used for suspension. What information are you looking for in terms of suspension setups. They can vary so much depending on race track, weather, tires etc. The best thing to do is find a starting point, and fine tune to your liking.
athousandleaves
New member
hmmm I like the sound of OTA, really wasn't digging CSCS this summer.
PM me what parts you want from my GTS and I'll begin putting them aside this week.
PM me what parts you want from my GTS and I'll begin putting them aside this week.
I finally started to work on the car this past weekend. It will be going in to get repaired from the incident with a concrete wall at the end of the season this past year. I am going to have the car pulled, and have all of the other dents repaired while it's at the body shop. It'll then get a fresh coat of black paint. I started tearing the car apart and hope to get it sent to the body shop within the next couple of weeks. All that I really have left to do is pull the windshield, and find a few spare bumper covers to send for paint at the same time. It can never hurt to have a spare bumper or 2 kicking around. Should be nice to finally have the car looking like new, as the paint is original and definitely shows it's age.
That's about all that is new with the car. I will be ordering all of the stuff needed to re-do my rear suspension fairly soon, and will get to work on that. I've also landed a deal with BC Racing NA, and will be using their RAM type coilovers with custom rated Swift Springs this season. I'm very excited to be a part of their team and look forward to the upgrade over my 6 year old Megan Racing coilovers. The RAM type coilovers have an inverted shock tube which keeps the damper fluid away from the heat of the brakes, as well as the heavy part of the shock is mounted to the chassis, opposed to being mounted to the wheel like most other off the shelf coilovers. Also, the Swift Spring upgrade is a must! They are the best springs on the market, and BC Racing allows you to order any spring rate that you'd like and they'll valve the dampers to match whatever spring rates you choose. Definitely a nice feature... If anyone is in the market for any BC Racing products, let me know and I can put you into contact with someone who can help you out!
That's about all that's new for now, but I'll keep everyone updated on the progress leading into the 2014 season.
That's about all that is new with the car. I will be ordering all of the stuff needed to re-do my rear suspension fairly soon, and will get to work on that. I've also landed a deal with BC Racing NA, and will be using their RAM type coilovers with custom rated Swift Springs this season. I'm very excited to be a part of their team and look forward to the upgrade over my 6 year old Megan Racing coilovers. The RAM type coilovers have an inverted shock tube which keeps the damper fluid away from the heat of the brakes, as well as the heavy part of the shock is mounted to the chassis, opposed to being mounted to the wheel like most other off the shelf coilovers. Also, the Swift Spring upgrade is a must! They are the best springs on the market, and BC Racing allows you to order any spring rate that you'd like and they'll valve the dampers to match whatever spring rates you choose. Definitely a nice feature... If anyone is in the market for any BC Racing products, let me know and I can put you into contact with someone who can help you out!
That's about all that's new for now, but I'll keep everyone updated on the progress leading into the 2014 season.
CSAlltrac":1xkvt96c said:My favorite GT-S. I keep waiting for a picture of a Beams 3SGE on a crate.
Haha! Thank you! Unfortunately, there will be no BEAMS this season. I've got to spend a good chunk of money on having the paint and bodywork done. I'm also going to be competing in 2 different series full time this year, which will about double my budget from last year.
Plus, it's kind of fun going out and spanking people with a Camry motor... :lol: