Don't bombard him with too many questions =~) The CASTER idea is great, how come I didn't think of that!!

Oh yea, someone buy his car

Forgot the damn link https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=79187


[Modified by Honda318dx, 11:07 AM 10/23/2001]

 

Anybody want to tackle explaining to me two things...

1. What change gets made when you swap these arms?
2. Why changing the caster this way is beneficial?

I figure while I've got the car up in the air (AGAIN) I may as well try something new, if it's usable...

 

I believe, it will throw the toe off a little, hell, anything you do to the suspension will throw the toe off..

By adding more caster, you gain additional negative camber when cornering, also, straight line stability is increased, but so does steering effort.. Im running +4 now, and pretty much with caster, the more you can get, the better.. Maybe you can get +6 by changing the control arms.. ??

 

Like anything, I'd assume there's a point of diminish returns. Pat Goss and I were talking about this a while ago, and he mentioned that he'd driven a FWD car he felt had too much positive caster. For an autox application at least, he mentioned it felt like he was fighting the car too much. I don't recall the amount he told me. Where that lies, I have no idea. If you look at your UCAs, they are shaped more like y's than they are Y's. The balljoint is offset to the rear in stock layout, and swapping them left-right would offset the balljoint towards the front of the vehicle, thus giving you more positive caster. I hope that's the question you were asking...


[Modified by WRXRacer111, 12:02 PM 10/23/2001]


[Modified by WRXRacer111, 12:22 PM 10/23/2001]

 

what wrxracer111 said.

 

Hey Shultz.

Since you need an alignment anyway, try the switching of the control arms thing and tell us if it works.

 

Think of caster like this (and anybody can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong):
Imagine a Harley Davidson chopper with really long front forks. When the rider turns the handlebars, the front wheel sorta falls over on its side therefore providing the increased negative camber while turning.

I can't adjust my caster, so I don't know where too much is detremental, but you can see that there has to be a limit.

 

Hmmm I have the Specialty camber kit which also has adjustable caster. For primarily street driving with the occasional autoX or open track event, where should i put my caster?

 

I switched the upper arms last year after Roger suggested it. It makes a huge difference in turn it. The car is also a little more stable at speed running 0* or even toe out. I don't/didn't notice any increased effort in the steering wheel. In theory, if you have too much caster, the front end of the car will actually have to lift as the wheels turn.

 

OK, I'm gonna do it. The car's all over the garage floor anyway, no reason not to.

 

Judging from the turn that topic took, maybe t'is time for a "Ask Foo" board.

 

Karl, do it! You will like the results.

 

Done. Just did it about an hour ago. In case anyone's wondering...

- air tools kick ***.

- there's a visible difference in the way the steering knuckle sits. It points much more (at the top) toward the back of the car now.

- Yes, the upper a-arm still clears everything.

- No, there doesn't appear to be any added friction or interference. My car's up in the air with no shocks/springs, so I can feel how the suspension might bind up...it looks good.

I think this will give me the ability to raise the ride height of the car just a touch for the time trial, and retain or even increase my camber during a turn. I'll let everyone know how this went after I get done beating down the DSP field at the time trial next weekend

(ducking for cover...)


[Modified by krshultz, 10:57 PM 10/25/2001]

 

VERY cool. Hey can you feel a difference in the way the car hooks up when launching hard?? ... i recently heard a story of a car that hooked up harder with the wrong upper control arms from SEFI8LO.

 

Don't know. Probably won't be able to test that for you, since I'm not in an environment where I launch hard. at least not until next year's ProSolo in Petersburg.

 

FWIW;
I swapped mine over this morning, and based on the looks alone, it definitely increased caster. I took a before and after picture and I tried to shoot it "head-on" to see if I could notice a difference.

Before: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...nce=0&res=high

After: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...nce=0&res=high

I'll try to get it on the alignment rack this week to see exactally where it's at.