Suspension setup. Am I on the right track?

[Abo Bob]

So how does this sound for a setup to suit a daily driven road car (R34 GTT) that sees that track once a month or so. RE55's on the track, Cheapish Falkans on the street. I am about to lower the car about an inch from stock. At this stage the car will have Bilsteins but I'm not sure about spring rates sorry.

Caster - as much as I can get. 7 degrees positive? Do I need a kit for this?

Toe - 0 front and back.

Camber - 2 degrees negative on the front and whatever lowering gives me on the rear. I'm told the R34 is adjustable on the rear so that when I lower it I can can take out some of the negative camber that is caused if it turns out to be too much. If not I guess I'll have to get a kit for this. I find the outside of my tyres both street and track (track much more obviously) wear more than the rest of the tyre.

Alternatively, I might just have to learn how to adjust the camber without a guage (some sort of markings on the right parts) so that I can change between 1 degree negative for the street and 3 for the track.

This has taken me a while to understand how it all works and at least I now understand which direction everything is moving when you adjust it but it's all theory at the moment. I'm yet to get under the car and fiddle with things myself but for a stock car it handles pretty bloody well which is why I haven't bothered until now.

I haven't mentioned sway bars yet because I'm fairly sure that R34 GTR ones fit and improve things but I'm still trying to find out if R33 and R34 ones are the same as each other (fitment wise not stiffness wise).

Also I've semi hijacked a few other peoples threads so sorry about that. This time it's all about ME! hehe.

[Sydneykid]

So how does this sound for a setup to suit a daily driven road car (R34 GTT) that sees that track once a month or so.  RE55's on the track, Cheapish Falkans on the street.  I am about to lower the car about an inch from stock.  At this stage the car will have Bilsteins but I'm not sure about spring rates sorry.

 

 Caster - as much as I can get.  7 degrees positive?  Do I need a kit for this?  

 

 Toe - 0 front and back.

 

 Camber - 2 degrees negative on the front and whatever lowering gives me on the rear.  I'm told the R34 is adjustable on the rear so that when I lower it I can can take out some of the negative camber that is caused if it turns out to be too much.  If not I guess I'll have to get a kit for this.  I find the outside of my tyres both street and track (track much more obviously) wear more than the rest of the tyre.

 

 Alternatively, I might just have to learn how to adjust the camber without a guage (some sort of markings on the right parts) so that I can change between 1 degree negative for the street and 3 for the track.

 

This has taken me a while to understand how it all works and at least I now understand which direction everything is moving when you adjust it but it's all theory at the moment.  I'm yet to get under the car and fiddle with things myself but for a stock car it handles pretty bloody well which is why I haven't bothered until now.

 

I haven't mentioned sway bars yet because I'm fairly sure that R34 GTR ones fit and improve things but I'm still trying to find out if R33 and R34 ones are the same as each other (fitment wise not stiffness wise).

 

Also I've semi hijacked a few other peoples threads so sorry about that. This time it's all about ME!  hehe.

Not a bad plan, my suggestions follow;

The R34GTR front stabiliser bar is too small (in rate) for a GTT, we use 24 mm on a GTR and 27 mm on a GTT. Adjustable of course. Part # BNF24XZ

The rear bar I would suggest is a 22 mm adjustable, Part # BNR11XZ

The front caster kit part # is KCA331, max adjustment should give you around 6 to 7 degrees positive caster.

The 25 mm lowering is OK for the front camber, that will give you 1 degree negative, a Whiteline camber kit will add the next 2 degrees that you will need. So max adjustment is 3 degrees negative and min adjustment in 1 degree negative. Makes it easy to have separate street and race settings. Part # KCA348

The 25 mm lowering is not OK for the rear camber, it will give you 2 degrees negative. You may be able to reduce that down to 1 degree using the standard adjuster. If not, a Whiteline camber kit will enable that. Not really necessary to have separate street and track rear camber. Part # KCA347

A rear sub-frame align & lock kit (Part # KCA349) allows diff angle change & subframe lock, essential for any serious track work.

The Whiteline spring rates are a good match for the Bilsteins, make sure you get a couple of extra circlip grooves machined into the Bilsteins (front and rear) , that way you can get the height just right for your purposes. Take a look a the Stagea Suspension thread for the details.

Hope that was of some help:cheers:

[Abo Bob]

That was a great amount of help thank you.

I don't understand what this does though:

A rear sub-frame align & lock kit (Part # KCA349) allows diff angle change & subframe lock, essential for any serious track work.

[Roy]

Basically the rear suspension cradle houses all your susp goodies and is bolted to the underside of the car. Where it bolts there are bushes. By replacing them with nolathane, ppl often call them pineapples, just like other bushes it removes some flex/play from the susp and sharpens up the handling and makes things more predictable...it also increases NVH but i cant really tell, Skylines arent quite cars to start with:)

[Abo Bob]

Why did you delete that Roy?

Anyway, R34's are probably quieter than R32's although the more you mod them the louder they get.

[Abo Bob]

Well I've put the lowered springs and shocks in and went for a wheel alignment today.

.................. Before - After

Rear ..........

Toe Left ..... 0.6mm ..... 0mm

Toe right .... 3.5mm .... 0mm

Camber left.. -1,21deg .. -1,02deg

Camber right -1,31deg .. -1,01deg

Front ..........

Toe left....... -1mm ..... 0mm

Toe right .... 1.1mm .... 0mm

Camber left.. -1,19deg .. -1,17deg (not adjustable)

Camber right. -1,30deg .. -1,29deg (not adjustable)

Caster left.... +5,50deg .. same (max)

Caster right.. +5,47deg .. same (max)

The adjustable parts and uprated sway bars will have to come with more money and inclination. Not too bad in the end but more caster at least would be preferable.

[nF]

are you sure the front struts aren't adjustable?

r32s have an eccentric bush at the top of the strut to control camber

[Abo Bob]

That's what the wheel alignment guy said. He spent a bit of time trying to figure it out.

That amount of camber is fine anyway. (lucky me)

[Sydneykid]

are you sure the front struts aren't adjustable?

r32s have an eccentric bush at the top of the strut to control camber

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What the?

R32/33/34 and Stageas have double wishbone suspension front and rear. So adjusting the strut has no effect whatsoever on camber. You have to adjust the upper control arm to change camber, for example via an adjustable bush kit. There is limited camber adjustment standard on the rear, via the upper control arm inner mount. If you need more, then you have to adjust the upper control arm via an adjustable bush kit, which gives much more adjustment than the standard adjusters.

cheers

[nF]

What the?

R32/33/34 and Stageas have double wishbone suspension front and rear.  So adjusting the strut has no effect whatsoever on camber.  You have to adjust the upper control arm to change camber, for example via an adjustable bush kit.  There is limited camber adjustment standard on the rear, via the upper control arm inner mount.  If you need more, then you have to adjust the upper control arm via an adjustable bush kit, which gives much more adjustment than the standard adjusters.

cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

heh, i meant at the upper control arm

strut/control arm whats the difference