*The FL5 Track Junkie Thread*

[Club Version]

Tire pressures were around ~37psi hot, starting at ~29psi cold. Toe, according tomy alignment printout is 0.03° total toe front and 0.15° rear

This is why I think I need more front neg camber; it destroyed the outside edge by the sidewall and the understeer just got worse after the first session.

If you want the car to rotate with the current mods, I would suggest first running a reverse stagger tire pressures. Fronts should be around 33 to 34 hot and rears can be around 36 to 37 hot.

Also, as for the alignment you will want to run a bit of toe out in the front about -0.04 degree each side for a total toe of -0.07 to -0.08 degrees. In the rear you can set it up to be at 0.00 degree.

This should help the car rotate way more, so be careful on cold tires!

 

[BigBird]

Tire pressures were around ~37psi hot, starting at ~29psi cold. Toe, according tomy alignment printout is 0.03° total toe front and 0.15° rear

This is why I think I need more front neg camber; it destroyed the outside edge by the sidewall and the understeer just got worse after the first session.

all that toe in, especially 0.15 toe is a lot for a track car. definitely understeer city

i would go to 0/0 and go from there

 

[m3bs]

Those alignment numbers all seem reasonable to me, but I’m new to the platform. Never heard of those tires, which could also contribute to your handling issues. I haven’t studied the geometry of the FL5, but is it possible that the lowering springs have screwed up the roll centers? I know on some platforms going too low will really screw up handling.

 

[Rexpelagi]

Tire pressures were around ~37psi hot, starting at ~29psi cold. Toe, according tomy alignment printout is 0.03° total toe front and 0.15° rear

This is why I think I need more front neg camber; it destroyed the outside edge by the sidewall and the understeer just got worse after the first session.

Your camber settings are similar to mine on swifts with camber plates and I don't find the car overly pushy, but your pressures are a bit off where I am. On track I usually start out about 10-15psi higher in the rear, so a pretty big stagger, targeting low 30's hot in the front and mid 40's hot in the rear (on RE-71RS). The rear toe-in is hurting your balance if it's pushy but you aren't running a lot (I have a little on mine too because it's just naturally where I ended up on Swifts).

For whatever it's worth, I ran the Eibach bar which I think is similar in stiffness to the RV6, and I felt like it drove like it didn't have a bar - it was still balanced under braking but low speed corners it was pushy. I switched to the big 0.188" wall Karcepts bar and that feels better although surprisingly it's not a huge change either (at least on the middle setting - 4/7).

I'd play with pressures, go to full stiff on the RV6, and maybe rear alignment and see how it feels next time. I may have missed it but what STM mode were you using?

 

[Rexpelagi]

Good news! I can finally get @svvitch suspension upgrades (if he still wants them)!

(@svvitch upgrades not pictured)

 

[Rexpelagi]

Limited time today but the rear went super smooth - with the Karcepts bar I didn't even have to disconnect the endlinks, just removed the knuckle bolt from the lower arm on each side and pulled the springs, pulled the shocks, and then reversed it.

I'll probably do the front tomorrow, because, well, CMP is next week. ?

 

[svvitch]

Good news! I can finally get @svvitch suspension upgrades (if he still wants them)!

(@svvitch upgrades not pictured)

Lol my car is currently pissing me off ?

 

[svvitch]

Limited time today but the rear went super smooth - with the Karcepts bar I didn't even have to disconnect the endlinks, just removed the knuckle bolt from the lower arm on each side and pulled the springs, pulled the shocks, and then reversed it.

I'll probably do the front tomorrow, because, well, CMP is next week. ?

Kept the divorced setup? Any advantage or just 2 setups same result?

 

[Rexpelagi]

Kept the divorced setup? Any advantage or just 2 setups same result?

The Redshift setup is divorced by default. I know Fortune Auto runs a coilover (and maybe others) but I've also heard (not first hand mind you) there are issues with that because the loading is a lot different through the shock mount (ie, there's potential for failure, and I think FA has had cracking issues on their top mounts and has had to make revisions).

I didn't have the option with Redshift but I'd have stuck with the divorced setup anyway just to avoid potential issues.

Conversion on some cars can work - on my RC-F people ran coils without issues (and I did as well) when converting from the OE divorced setup, but as another example on S550 mustangs it can be problematic because the shock mount bolts connect to the chassis laterally not vertically, so the bolts take all the load in single vertical shear (which isn't good), and the chassis takes no direct loading, so sometimes it can work and sometimes it doesn't. The Civic isn't S550 bad obviously because the shock load still goes directly into the chassis, but the the spring load is far more significant and Honda didn't intend it to go into the shock mount.

 

[Tougefl5]

The Redshift setup is divorced by default. I know Fortune Auto runs a coilover (and maybe others) but I've also heard (not first hand mind you) there are issues with that because the loading is a lot different through the shock mount (ie, there's potential for failure, and I think FA has had cracking issues on their top mounts and has had to make revisions).

I didn't have the option with Redshift but I'd have stuck with the divorced setup anyway just to avoid potential issues.

I'm on the fence on switching over from divorced to coilover. I'm actually working with karcept's on my new suspension set up.
Need to figure out a bracing solution for coilover if switching. I just don't trust not blowing a shaft through the shock tower lol

 

[Rexpelagi]

I just don't trust not blowing a shaft through the shock tower lol

I mean, what's life without a little excitement?!

 

[m3bs]

I'll probably do the front tomorrow, because, well, CMP is next week. ?

Which event at CMP? I’m planning to be there Tuesday.

 

[yeaitsahonda]

Good news! I can finally get @svvitch suspension upgrades (if he still wants them)!

(@svvitch upgrades not pictured)

I'm curious about your thoughts on sway bar links. When setting up Spec Miatas it is standard practice to use adjustable end links. Disconnect before corner balancing/aligning. Then hook up and adjust length at the end to avoid any preload on the bar. Think it would be worth anything on the FL5?

 

[Rexpelagi]

Which event at CMP? I’m planning to be there Tuesday.

The event brah - GL at CMP!

I'm just hoping I don't need to be emo at the Saturday emo night... ?

If anyone local wants a crew pass let me know - I think I can get them (for a fee), although bare with me because I'm new to all this hypetrain stuff.

 

[Rexpelagi]

I'm curious about your thoughts on sway bar links. When setting up Spec Miatas it is standard practice to use adjustable end links. Disconnect before corner balancing/aligning. Then hook up and adjust length at the end to avoid any preload on the bar. Think it would be worth anything on the FL5?

In all my years of racing (15+) I've never once zeroed-out endlink preload on any car, ever.

Is that the right call? No idea. Do I think preloaded bars matter? No. ?

Now, cars like Miatae where the OE designs the suspension with bushing bind as part of the spring rate is a different discussion (but that relates to bushing torquing not endlinks preload) but generally I don't think swaybar preload matters.

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