Sway Bar set up and adjustment.??

[Off Camber]

Looking for set up advice.

 

I am running a 88 924s with Open diff.

 

I have

Front.

Koni Sport

350# springs

stock front sway bar 23 or 23.5?

 

Rear

Koni Sport

30mm torsion bars

no sway bar fitted.

 

I have available a 27mm front sway bar.

Rear sway bars 16 0r 20.5 stock with no adjustments & a 22mm weltmeister.

 

I have been running all season on this set up with fairly good results. My lap times are fairly consistant and the car seems to handel well but obviously picks up the inside rear on hard turns. no diff.

 

Questions.

1) which front sway would you use.

2) would you fit a rear sway if so which.

3) how do you fit the welt rear (in which position) (procedure) then how do you adjust it (what happens as you slide the end link.)

 

Sorry for dum questions but I just can't seem to understand this suspension stuff.

[Chuck T.]

If you like the way it drives then it's good. I like a loose car so if it was me I would run the welt rear then adjust it for every different track I run on.

[944-Spec#94]

I have an 84 944 with an open diff.

 

I also use 350lbs fronts with 30 mm rear bars. I use a weltmeister 28 mm front and 22 mm welt rear bar. They are adjusted to about the middle on each end, but they have been tweaked on the track to provide the balance that I like.

 

The basic problem is that you need a bigger front sway bar to compensate for the open diff. However too much front bar will cause the car to understeer. So you need to balance things out. My will still get some inside rear wheel spin in some coners, but this is the lesser of evils as taking out the rear wheel spin adds understeer. Too much understeer is slower than a little bit of wheel spin.

[Sterling Doc]

Looking for set up advice.

 

I am running a 88 924s with Open diff.

 

I have

Front.

Koni Sport

350# springs

stock front sway bar 23 or 23.5?

 

Rear

Koni Sport

30mm torsion bars

no sway bar fitted.

 

I have available a 27mm front sway bar.

Rear sway bars 16 0r 20.5 stock with no adjustments & a 22mm weltmeister.

 

I have been running all season on this set up with fairly good results. My lap times are fairly consistant and the car seems to handel well but obviously picks up the inside rear on hard turns. no diff.

 

Questions.

1) which front sway would you use.

2) would you fit a rear sway if so which.

3) how do you fit the welt rear (in which position) (procedure) then how do you adjust it (what happens as you slide the end link.)

 

Sorry for dum questions but I just can't seem to understand this suspension stuff.

 

I run something close to your planned set-up, and Chuck and David Dirks can vouch that it works pretty well. I have turbo front sway bar (about 26mm), and a Welt adjustable in the rear with 350lb springs and 30MM torsion bar. Within the range of adjustment of the rear bar, I have terminal understeer to dirt-track oversteer, and neutral in between. leaving it a little softer in the rear helps the wheelspin issue, but tends toward understeer. I tend to set it up neutral in steady-state cornering, and then I can throttle adjst it as needed. It's close enough that burning of fuel during a longer race will change the handling balance a bit.

[Tim Comeau]

Off camber,

Please put your name in your signature ok? We're all friends here.

 

Sounds to me like your front end is too soft and is diving down in the turns. This lifts the opposite rear corner, right? Hence, wheelspin.

The answer is to stiffen up the front in terms of springing or sway bar.

How bad does the nose dive under straight line braking?

Does the car feel like it has too much body roll in the turns?

Does the tire wear indicate that you have too much roll? (outside wear)

 

I have:

Koni sports all around.

400's front / 28mm rear

Welt's 28mm front and 22mm rear.

I usually have my bars set up between the very end and 1.5 inches from the end.

The way you turn in affects how you should be set up, right?

Try different things.

I did some testing on track a couple years ago and just started tweaking. I set the Koni's full soft and went out for a while. Came in, turned them full hard, and went back out. This was just to feel the difference and learn.

I've found that DE's are the best events to test stuff at because of the multiple sessions, unless you can go to an open track day and enter and exit the track as you wish.

[Off Camber]

Thanks Guys. and keep it comming.

Tim my Name is Steve and added to the signature.

 

The front dive under braking does seem a bit excessive and I am getting a lot of body roll. the tires are showing signs on the outside edges and from track photos there is a lot of roll.

 

based on the notes above I am thinking of uping the front springs to either 400 or 450

putting in the 27 mm front sway and adding back in the welt 22 in the rear.

 

What is the correct method for setting the rear welt?

My logic tells me to sit the car on the ground, make the welt bar sit horizontal then adjust the drop links so there is no pre load with the slide set in the middle (or at the shortest??))

 

I do not have bushings for the 27 front sway. can I just drill out the current bushings or do I need to buy new ones?

 

Cheers Steve_P

[944-Spec#94]

The front dive under braking does seem a bit excessive and I am getting a lot of body roll. the tires are showing signs on the outside edges and from track photos there is a lot of roll.

 

based on the notes above I am thinking of uping the front springs to either 400 or 450

putting in the 27 mm front sway and adding back in the welt 22 in the rear.

 

What is the correct method for setting the rear welt?

My logic tells me to sit the car on the ground, make the welt bar sit horizontal then adjust the drop links so there is no pre load with the slide set in the middle (or at the shortest??))

 

Cheers Steve_P

 

I like 350lbs front springs because I think they balance well with 30 mm rear t-bars. These are the stiffest allowed by rules. I ran 350lbs front with 28 mm t-bars and felt the car had too much understeer. This why I don't want to go stiffer in front. Given our rear spring rate limitation you need to seek balance more than overall stiffness. Also remember that the spring rates we run are the limite for stock off the shelf Koni shocks. They can't really handle stiffer spring rates.

 

Go and try 400 or 450's. We have also found that everyone seems to have a slightly different feeling for what works best. On track results don't point to a clear "must have" spring rate or even sway bar set-up. What is best is what works for you.

 

One key to improving tire wear is to run enough camber in front. I run -3.5 degrees. Over the years I have run it seems to be the best for overall performance and tire life.

 

As for the rear sway bar setting. You have the right idea.