And all I can say is WOW! Not for the product itself(we all know it has its little flaws) but for how my car now handles. Holy ish!

Many of you may know the problems Ive had with my car since getting it. It was crashed by the original owner, rebuilt, and I bought it salvaged. Well needless to say it wasnt perfect, and has sorta been a project ever since. The main problems were in the handling department.

The handling was nowhere near what a stock ITR should be. Ive never driven another ITR, but I know that my stock 92 DX could outhandle it(almost). For starters, the front had POSITIVE camber when I got it, almost a full degree. With an Ingalls kit I was able to get it to .02 negative, which is basically straight up and down. Add to that, MORE negative camber in the rear than the front, and you might now understand why the car pushed so bad and handled like a dump truck. There was absolutely NO turn in at all and you literally had to muscle the car around a hard turn and it would push like crazy to the outside of the turn. No rotation AT ALL. Then add to that, removal of my power steering, and the car was quite a handful, especially in parking spots. Only way to turn the wheel when not moving was both arms and weight transfer lol.

Fast forward to today. Install was pretty straight forward(luckily because it didnt come with directions, bastards) and once I got the first side done, the other side was butter(especially with air guns). I gotta say that adjustment of the arms is easy as pie, which is very cool. Obviously I dont have an alignment rack in my garage, so I did the best I could by eye-balling it. I did a pretty good job because it drives perfectly straight. Alignment will be done tomorrow so Im excited for that.

Now, the test drive. Immediately after getting in the car, I noticed I could turn the wheel with one hand and hardly any effort at all, HUGE DIFFERENCE already. You would never know I removed the power steering. So far so good. Cruise a little bit to warm up the motor and get a feel for it. Instantly I notice I hardly have to turn the wheel and the car responds and WANTS TO TURN. Im guessing this is what everyone talks about when they talk about nice turn in. The car just feels so freakin responsive its almost scary. Everyone was telling me about how the last HPDE at Lime Rock you hardly have to turn the wheel more than 1/4 rotation at any turn around the track, meanwhile I was crossing my arms and doing 1/2 rotation of the wheel. I dont see that happening now. Feels very nice so far. So I find a nice set of some backroads, with some speedy tight sections and one turn thats more than 90 degrees(a low 2nd gear turn). I was able to get a great feel for Lift Throttle Oversteer in the car on that turn, which I hadnt been able to do before. I can actually turn the car now with the throttle rather than the steering wheel, VERY COOL. I can tell that I have just a bit too much camber(front tires squeeling quite a bit) but that will be fixed tomorrow. I can only imagine how the car is gonna feel in the spring when I get some nice tires and get on the track again. Another thing I noticed is the groves in the road and uneven patches didnt pull the car nearly as much as before, and if it did pull, it would go right back into a straight line again rather than nearly throwing me off the road.

So as you can see Im very excited. I just got some camber adjustable control arms for my car, but I swear to God if feels like a new car or like I got a whole new suspension set up and the car feels outstanding. Anyway just thought I would share that with you people

 

cool story dude
very good wright up, glad to see it working out for ya

 

Great news, I remember you telling me at LRP that your car is not feeling great.

Be sure to drive safely until the wheel alignment is done

 

yes my car needed them badly also. now i just need to buy some new tires.

car is much more fun to drive when the steering wheel isnt going ape ****.

 

Ive heard a few things about ball joints going bad, and even a case of the ball joint bending the control arm where it connects to the arm. I thought I saw a picture of this awhile ago, but wasnt able to find it. If anyone can point me to it that would be great. Im making a steel plate that should protect against any bending but havent done it yet.

Otherwise, I got the alignment done today and was able to comfortably get it dialed in within OEM spec. Only problem it has not is caster but not too much I can do about that. Drives great so far but dont want to push it too hard yet until I can get the plate installed.

 

Glad to hear it worked out for you. I have had my Skunk2 arms for awhile now and have had no prblems with slipping, hitting the inside of the shock tower, or the ball joint...

What were your final alignment settings?

 

When I took it to the shop, the front was at almost -2.5 degrees in the front haha. I set the front to spec for toe, and -1 camber. I think Im gonna run a little more camber though as it doesnt feel like it has enough turn in to how I would like it.

rear toe is at 0, and camber is around -.5.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I took it to the shop, the front was at almost -2.5 degrees in the front haha. I set the front to spec for toe, and -1 camber. I think Im gonna run a little more camber though as it doesnt feel like it has enough turn in to how I would like it.

rear toe is at 0, and camber is around -.5.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That -2.5* up front sounds good....

I'm running -2.8* in front and -1.8* in the rear...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flux &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That -2.5* up front sounds good....

I'm running -2.8* in front and -1.8* in the rear...</TD></TR></TABLE>

wow, hows that handle? probably pretty easy to get the back end loose huh? haha Im gonna play with it some but for now I just wanted a nice even base to start off with.

How low is your car? Im on stock shocks with H&Rs, and what are you using for camber adjustments in the rear?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flux &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm running -2.8* in front and -1.8* in the rear...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Which kit do you use in the back?

Edit-too late...