Yup... That's Dave for you. He's a very surgical driver and the car seems to do great with him behind the wheel. I don't think I could drive it. He's got some highend shocks on the way, I'm excited to see how he does next year.

He was on full stiff on the front bar up until after nationals.

 

Got the 560lb springs installed this weekend. So that will put me at 800lb front / 560 rear. After several attempt I was able to get the suspension set to 12 7/8 in front which is better than last weekend when I was in a hurry and some how had the front shocks pre-loaded too much and the front was at 13 1/2. I look forward to a test/tune this weekend after Mustang SVO club (84-86) gets done with the course. I also need to get it re-aligned.

 

Josh consolidated things correctly. It is very unconventional, but is getting better and better with each adjustment. I have a printout of the alignment, so I can provide that info when I get home. Lots of things changed from Nats to Blytheville: alignment, FSB, ride height, shock settings, tire pressures, heck even my driving. Ha!!

Josh, thanks for the kudo!! But if you think I am surgical... you should watch Mark's videos at Blytheville... He is much more precise than me. Inside the car, compared to him I look like a frantic spaz, but from the outside, I sorta look like I know what I am doing.

-D

 

Okay, here are my settings that worked quite well at the Blytheville Tri-State Tour:
Front
Toe Left 0 | Right 0
Camber Left -3.1 | Right -2.6
Caster Left 4.9 | Right 6.6
Spring Rate 800
Shocks Koni DA (TC Kline)
...Compression 1 out of 12 (almost full soft)
...Rebound 1/2 turn out of 2 3/4 turns (stuck on this setting.. almost full soft)
Height ~13 1/8"
FSB Gendron with custom 1.375 Hollow 5 out of 6 (almost full stiff)
Tire pressure 36

Rear
Toe Left .18 | Right .18 (toe in)
Camber Left -3.1 | Right -3.0
Spring Rate 400
Shocks Koni DA (TC Kline)
...Compression 1 out of 12 (almost full soft)
...Rebound 1 out of 1 turns (full firm)
Height ~12 3/4"
RSB 2006 MX5 Base Front bar
Tire pressure 33

 

And I heard you were "secretive". j/k.

Thanks!

 

Okay, I need some help. With the recent changes my car is pushy, pushy. Here is where I am sitting.....

Front Toe - 0.00, Rear Toe - Total .20
Front Camber - -2.5, Rear Camber - -3.0
Front Spring Rate 800, Rear Spring Rate 560
Front Sway Bar - Gendron Solid, 5 of 6, Rear Sway - MX5 Miata
Tire pressure F36, R34

We have adjusted the shocks by softening the rear and stiffening the fronts but it still is hooking up too much in the rear.

I am thinking we need to go 1 lower on the front bar to get it loosened up. Any other thoughts?

 

Could it have something to do with that front and rear camber or the soft rear spring rates?

my car is loose and it's the same front and rear bar and my front bar is on the stiffest setting. Could it be driver induced? Are you driving up to the turn and then asking alot out of the steering wheel? When you go to a stiff bar you have to set-up early and not ask as much out of the steering wheel. You can't use much steering angle or it will push. A video would help.

The car shouldn't be pushy unless the camber settings is causing it. I've forgot the effects of camber or I could answer your question. Once I set mine I've left it and faught with the other 7000 settings on the car.

The way I look at tunning my car is front camber stays at -2.8, front toe stays at 0, front solid bar stays at 5-6/6, rear bar stays miata, rear camber stays 2.4. That leaves me rear toe, springs, and shocks settings to dail in the car. I'm prolly going to also soon say front springs stay at 900 and rears stay at 800. Use toe and shock settings to tune the car to my likings. Eliminating as many tuning options as possible makes it easier for me to tune the car.

 

I noticed the same thing today on hankooks with a similar enough setup. My plan is to add camber up front and reduce rear toe.

Tires?

 

Just went and reference by autocross books before posting and looking like a dumbass. The issue is your camber settings. I'm not sure what made you choose to run more rear camber then front with your current set-up but I'm 90% sure this is causing your push issue. Adding camber to one end of the car increases the slip angle of that end of the car when cornering. For example if the car is pushy when turning add camber to the front of the car to help increase the slip angle at that end. If the is loose while cornering add camber to the rear of the car to increase the rear slip angle and add grip to the rear. This also work by taking out camber from the opposite end of the car to take away grip but the idea in car set-up is to fix the end of the car having the issue and when you run out of options on that end than start making changes on the other end. The Idea behind this is to keep the biggest grip circles you can.

The issue your having is your already in a car that should be pushy minus the rear toe settings. Than on top of that you increased the rear slip angle relitive to the front which makes the car even more pushy. I suggest adding front camber -2.8-2.9 and taking out rear camber. I'd back it off to about 2.4-.5. I love the fact your trying your own thing but when we already have 2 year proven camber ranges to go by I'm not sure why you wouldn't take advantage of it buddy.

I'm not a s2k set-up boy-wonder so please don't take anything I say set in stone but I have read 4 autocross books and spent 2 years worth reading about tuning s2k's and have been reading/tunning on a STR S2000 since day one of the class. I have yet to put my self on the map as a contender but I also have only been autocrossing for 2 years so I'm still a noob. Hopefully one day Maybe the pros can chime in but I'm willing to bet if you change your camber settings your car wouldn't be pushy.

Also taking out that rear camber will help you put down power on corner exit and straight line accel which a STR car already has enough issues with. You'd be crazy to run anything less than 5/6 on your solid bar! Everyone that has the hollow bar is running 6/6 with is almost exactly the same as your car on 5/6 (904 vs. 939) The 6/6 setting on your bar is prolly a hair to much but damn I love the transitioning speed of it. Honestly I need to back my bar back off a setting since I'm only running the miata bar but I can actually tell a difference in the car's transitioning speed which makes it hard. Stiffer bars are great for transitions but give up a hair in sweapers. Although most of all autocross courses have way more transtions then sweepers. If you did the diff mod (which I don't recommend) you could then loosen the bar some but not a good Idea with the open diff.

Hope I helped man!


As for dave sharing, I think he did it to prove me wrong. HaHa JK! Daves a great guy and has taught me alot, If it wasn't for him I prolly wouldn't of got as involed in autocross as I have. His set-up is very un-convientional and it works for him and his co-driver. I'm not sure I'd "copy" it. If you look at the top 10 people they all have about the same set-up. (on kooks, no diff people) The differences are small to tune for driving style.

 

i would go down on the front sway bar. IMO i think the s2k likes big springs little bar, but of course that is only my opinion. I wouldnt back down on the rear camber. I tried 2.8-3,0 rear camber and it helps the cars stability. Keep everything the same and experiment going softer on the front bar. Also what are your ride heights?