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As for camber settings, if you don’t already have a pyrometer, spend $150, buy one and tune the camber via the tyre temperatures. Any other method is guesswork.

Not sure what a pyrometer is......Does that measure the temp of the surface of the tyre? eg, if the inner half of the tyre surface is hotter than the outside then add more negative camber till its even temp accross the surface of the tyre?

dude, if the inner half is hotter then you want LESS neg camber not more.

Woops. True.

But to confirm is that what a pyrometre is?

Sorry for the noob questuions. I know a little bit about handling and suspension but only what I learned from racing R/C cars. Trying to apply what I've learnt from R/C cars to the real thing. :O

you can get laser pyrometers these days... just point at the tire and it gives you a readout

Hey SK I have found that I like the rear swaybar on full hard and the front on medium in my GTSt to eliminate mid corner understeer... it does get a little taily on corner exit with too much throttle and spins the unloaded wheel like buggery... would upgrading from the stock viscous diff to a mech 1 way help? or do I need to back off the stiffness of the rear bar?

you can get laser pyrometers these days... just point at the tire and it gives you a readout

Hey SK I have found that I like the rear swaybar on full hard and the front on medium in my GTSt to eliminate mid corner understeer... it does get a little taily on corner exit with too much throttle and spins the unloaded wheel like buggery... would upgrading from the stock viscous diff to a mech 1 way help? or do I need to back off the stiffness of the rear bar?

Sway bars work by transferring load from the inside tyre to the outside tyre. One of the side effects of stiff settings is to reduce the tractive effort the inside (unloaded) tyre can generate before spinning. Try backing off both bars a notch before you lash out on a new diff.

Thanks Gary, I will post the ride height in a min. Dont have a proper pyrometer but do have an infrared heat gun thermometer which is pretty good. Reads to about 400deg C from memory. And I do use it to check temps across the face of the tyre, and the temperature of my friends wang/forhead/girlfriends nipple etc. It's a very usefull tool.

I will do as you suggest and start with the height. Taking the car to heasmans first thing tomorrow so Paul will hopefully be able to ad some of his own advice to all this.

Your friend's wang is a very useful tool. Baron, get some help. Seriously. :D

To anyone using an infra red thermometer make sure you brush all the dirt & rubbish off the tyre before you check the temps as these thing don;t work on other than black surfaces (Because they work on the emissivity of the surface being measured).

Also, I have found that winding in amounts of -ve camber on the front more than about 2 degrees makes a mess of the centre of wheel to underside of guard measurement as the rim is rotated upwards & the centre of tyre moves accordingly - much more than the actual ride height changes.

Sway bars work by transferring load from the inside tyre to the outside tyre. One of the side effects of stiff settings is to reduce the tractive effort the inside (unloaded) tyre can generate before spinning. Try backing off both bars a notch before you lash out on a new diff.

cheers djr81, will try it out

Suggestions follow;

1. Steering axis of inclination ie; the point around which the front wheel rotates when the steering wheel is turned.

2. Centre of wheel to guard, that way it doesn't matter what diameter wheels you have or what size tyres.

3. Toe out is a destabilising setting and toe in is a stabilising setting. So, zero toe on the front is nicely in the middle. It means the car reacts to steering inputs, but not viciously as it would with toe out. But not dull as it would with toe in.

The rear toe in is to stabiliser the rear under power, pull it straight instead of excessive oversteer

4. Not when I do a wheel alignment, distance is the go for toe.

Hopefully that should give you some indication as to why the recommended settings are what they are.

:laugh: cheers :D

How do your settings go in regards to street cars and tyre ware?

thanks

they dont really have any affect on HICAS, i'm not 100% sure what you're asking. Do you mean do they affect the way it operates?

Is the before mentioend setup for a HICAS equipped(noty locked out) car or not? I would think that setups would be alot different for one or the other.

My HICAS doesnt give me any majour issues so I have not locked it out.

it doesn't really matter. hicas locked/not locked.

i agree I've never really had any massive comlaints with HICAS on track either. sometimes i dont like the feeling like the rear end is sliding a bit (when it's not), but in the end I locked it anyway as just 1 less thing to worry about.

Had the bilstein adjustable shocks installed yesterday, using my existing stock springs. Very happy with the result! Ride is alot firmer but not stiff and bumpy at the same time, which is exactly what i wanted.

I got 18"s put on at the same time and had to lower the car my 2 circlips on the shocks and i think the result is perfect. Needed spacers aswell.

Just a note, when we compared the bilstein shocks to the stock ones, the circlip groove sydney kid mentioned is the same ride height as the stock springs does not measure up when you put them side by side... or maybe i got confused and thats bilsteins recommended height, not the stock height of skylines. In anycase, 2nd bottom circlip groove for 18" rims is perfect for me!

OK. It's bitch and moan time.

Just came back from an attempet wheel aligment and came accross a few hurdles. Car is an R33 GTST with JIC coilovers and jap springs. Thats it.

In summary from wheel place...

No Castor Adjustment front

No Castor Adjustment rear

No SAI adjustment (though I feel that this is only affected as a result of castor adj)

No Camber adjustment on the front

Is this true>?

Victory(Topic originator)...help me out. You say your suspension was bone stock when you had your settings done. Are you sure?

OR

Have I lost adjustablity on some things when the stocker suspension was thrown out for coilovers.

OR

Are these tyres guys just plain moots?

OR

am i going crazy, thinking that I could adjust castor/SAI on my stockish Skyline.

Help

Std suspension adjustment is very limited i believe. Caster shouldnt be adjustable, nor camber...really only toe front and back.

You need either adjustable bushes or adjustable links/arms inorder to setup your suspension as per SK's specs or your own.

Standard adjustments are limited to toe in on both the front & the back & camber on the back.

There is no such thing as a caster adjustment for the back.

To adjust the front caster & camber you need some aftermarket gear.

None of this, however, excludes the possibility that you ARE going crazy. :(

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