I read that if you pull the rear sway bar on the first gens they handle better.What good is pulling a factory item like a sway bar? Any input on this subject is appreciated.

 

i dunno it is a lot easier to drive though



mike

 

Well with stock suspension, you should leave the sway-bar in. But as soon as you lower the car, it's a different story.



Here we go:

Becuase of the the live axle in the back, when the car is lowered, the front roll center moves down faster than the rear does. This produces oversteer and traction problems. By removing the rear sway-bar, the rear becomes loose again and won't have as much problem. Now if you change the Watt's link to a tri-link or similar setup, this problem goes away.



However all of the above applies to racing conditions. YOU SHOULDN'T BE GOING THAT FAST ON STREET TO GET THE CAR TO ACT LIKE THAT

 

i find on the street taking out the rear bar makes the car a lot easier to drive, i never took it to the track with the bar in it so i dunno about that



mike

 

I'm ordering Racing Beat 1" drop springs in a month along with some new suspension.Should I just leave it in then?Or will it handle better without it?

 

are you getting an bigger front swaybar???



if not get one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



i help look after two rx7 race cars and on both we run a large front bar and no rear bar.. every other 1st gen in this class of racing do the same too...







on my street car i run a 25mm front bar and no rear bar at all... that along with the the rest of the suspension mods i have give me more cornering grip than ever needed on the street! and i'm not talking B/S.



but everyone drive's different so try it with it off... you can always put it back on if you dont like it! its only 6 bolts to take off!



have a quick read of a breif tech thingy i wrote on my website...CLICK HERE

 

adsy, i almost completely agree with you :bigthumg: the only part i dont get is this "Note: I found the rear of s1/2/3's need to be slightly lower in the rear ride height (10mm) to handle their best, the coils might need to be modified to achieve this varies for chassis to chassis."

do you mean 10mm lower than stock? or 10mm lower than the front?



mike

 

it means the rear should be 10mm lower (at the sills) than whatever the front is....

This gets the front and rear roll centres matching. However if a panhard rod conversion of a centrally mounted watts link (rear of the diff) is used this is not an issue.



I worked it out so the sill rake was 10mm lower in the rear with a full tank of fuel, that way its not too bad aesthetically though it is a small compromise, again on the street this isn't really noticeable until your at the pointy end of the cars limits, But im building the car to use on track days ect..





I've actually got to rewrite that page soon i made it simple for the guy that aren't familiar with the terms ect... but should have some more reasoning behind why what part or setting is used

 

hmm thats interesting, ive been noticing that my s3 is lower in the rear than the front, the car came with no name springs, and i put the shocks in, and did the rest of the mods (well no bushings yet), hmm well cool that means i dont have to get new springs



mike

 

Thanks adsy.I think when it comes out to play again I might take it off and see how it handles without it.This thing handles awesome right now and will be better once I get some new springs,shocks and struts in it.I should have suspension done by end of january on this one.