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assorted suspension q (long)


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Hi.

 

I have a '70 240Z begging for a V8. Unlike most people here, I've decided a Ford 302/347 is the way to go.

 

Anyhow, I would really like to have most of the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain sorted out before dropping in the V8. As such, I have a few questions, and I welcome any and all answers or comments.

 

First, I have measured the rear toe at 1/4" total in. My auto-x time in the car hasn't made this toe-in obvious. If anything, the car is on the neutral side through most of the corner, rather than exhibiting understeer. For those of you auto-xing, open tracking, or roadracing, what rear toe do you run? Should I make an effort to correct this to zero toe?

 

If so, how are rear toe adjustments accomplished? Will this require offset arm bushings?

 

Next, what spring rates? I will purchase coilovers, and was thinking of starting at 250f/275r. I already have 225 and 300 rate coilover springs (from another car), so I could go up or down one notch from that point easily.

 

Who makes good coilover kits for these? Do they require shortening of the housing? How about the struts? Koni, Tokico?

 

The car currently has a stock front anti-roll bar, and no rear bar. The springs are unknown, but there is a Koni tag on one of them. The front camber/alignment is aggressive. Right now it's very loose through transients, a little loose on turn-in (I'm learning to trailbrake a lot less then I'm used to with heavier cars), neutral for a bit, and then understeering with power on (naturally).

 

But I've noticed that almost everyone racing these cars uses a rear bar as well. Why? Did I somehow get lucky in having such a neutral Z?

 

How many of you are using adjustable tubular arms, like the ones on Arizona Z's site? It looks as if these would solve the rear toe problem...

 

Whose camber plates are good?

 

Is it worth relocating the front control arm pickup point? I know that on some cars this makes a huge difference in grip, but I really don't know how good the stock Z camber curve is to begin with.

 

Wheels! How large of a wheel/tire and with what offset can be used with stock fenders (if it requires minor clearancing, no problem)? And if I use the smaller commonly available flares?

 

Sorry for the long post. Thanks very much.

 

 

 

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Michael Sen-Roy

Houston Performance

281-893-6080

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One thing you want to do is get the toe to "0". None in, none out. Zs like 0 toe. I'd look seriously at the Arizona Zcar style tubular Lower control arms. I'm using those "Type" units on the front, and I'm using the aluminum bushings on the rear, and the aluminum bushing on the rear are only good for about 3/4 - 1 full degree of negative camber, but do a great job of getting toe to zero. My future upgrade is to the Arizona Zcar rear control arms. I'm currently running 1 1/4 degree of negative camber up front and 3/4 degree in the rear. Positive camber is set at 6 and toe is at Zero. The car tracks wonderfully and is precise.

 

As for coilovers, Ground Control makes a nice setup as well as Carrera. I currently do not have them, as I'm running Koni D series shocks with Motorsport springs. Regardles of which way you go, I'd recommend using a good progressive rate spring. You will be much happier than with a stright rate spring. Talk to the techs at Ground Control and Carrera, as they will have a lot of wonderful advice. Also, several guys here and on Zcar.com are running those kits. I'm sure several will chime in here!

 

Mike

 

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"I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!"

mjk

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Guest Anonymous

Zero toe it is, then. Those camber levels sound a bit low, though. Ideally I'd like to see -2° as a minimum up front, with maybe only .5° less in the rear. I _think_.

 

Mike, what do you mean "Type?"

 

Why do you think progressives are better? In most of the other cars I've worked with, linear rates springs have worked best.

 

Thanks very much for the help!

 

 

 

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Michael Sen-Roy

Houston Performance

281-893-6080

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