I figure it would be nice to spread the love as to whats working for us here since we really will never compete against each other and J-bodies getting faster just benefits everyone. So you know talke about the parts you have and what you ran as a setup.

I've got 205 wide star specs with tein ssp's and the 2002 FE2 swaybars and thats it suspension wise.

My fastest and best feeling run today I was running 40 psi cold in the rear and 38 psi hot in the fronts (really didnt check the rears all the much once they warmed up) with the ride height/spring preload set to zero preload on the teins. I was running 10 clicks from full stiff on the front dampers and the rear dampers all the way stiff. It went real nice through the tight corners and sweepers but got grumpy in the slalom. However it was a fast grumpy in the slalom. Thats not very descriptive, I had the ass end out on the slaloms with this setup but it was the fastest in slalom speed and fastest exit speed I'd had all day with the best line coming off the last cone. I was running basically stock alignment btw. I feel like this setup would be much better with a rear bar and a bit less damping in the back to make it less sideways in the slalom and faster still in the tight corners.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

I don't remember the setup specifically but I remember spanking an Exige with 2 different drivers and a new 911 turbo in my the Gay Tan Cav. That day I took 3 of my 6 runs and won my class and finished in like the top 15% overall.

Who were driving the exige, one armed, blind monkeys?


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Darkstars wrote:I don't remember the setup specifically but I remember spanking an Exige with 2 different drivers and a new 911 turbo in my the Gay Tan Cav. That day I took 3 of my 6 runs and won my class and finished in like the top 15% overall.

What class were you in?

This could be a great thread though, so I'll add my setup in from last year, which I was in Novice class for the last two races of the year, but placed 1st both times so I'll be in ST this year.

Eibach Pro-Kit with KYB AGX's
Eibach front and rear sways
Front K bar
Trunk bar
Front and rear strut bars
225/50R16 Falken Azenis RT-615's in the front
205/55R16 Pirelli P4's in the back

I had the AGX's set to 3 up front and 8 in the back, this seemed to really kill the under steer that the big front bar added. I could actually get the back end to come around if I flicked it right, and you'll see that in the vid below at 0:19. Not fast, but fun, haha

Tire pressure was at 40psi all around, but I wasn't really checking it throughout the day.





This year I'll be running the same setup, but with 225/50R16 Kumho Ecsta XS's in the front, and my old Azenis in the back. I'm also working on a rear tie rod setup like JuicedZ4's below, but with carbon fiber tie rods instead of aluminum.





Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.

Honestly theres no real point to using carbon tie rods for that k- brace. You wont even save a pound and it'll cost a lot more. Not to mention you likely dont have a noticeable toe change since you're not running r comps back there.

I'm considering putting winters in the back for a couple runs just to see how that feels.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Weight is weight, and I needed a project for my composites class



Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.

Ok. Anyways, the best way to do that is to buy pre made carbon tubes and to just epoxy threaded aluminum inserts into it. I think you'd be better going to your school's Formula SAE team and offering to make them carbon fiber control arms, if they dont already have them.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Aluminum doesn't play well with CF, the potential voltage between the two is about 0.3V, add in a bit of water and the aluminum rots out in about a year. And remaking someone elses design doesn't satisfy the requirements for the project.



Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.

Transporter7220 wrote:Aluminum doesn't play well with CF, the potential voltage between the two is about 0.3V, add in a bit of water and the aluminum rots out in about a year. And remaking someone elses design doesn't satisfy the requirements for the project.

Hmmm. Never heard that one before. Why the heck is that how all the fsae teams with cf control arms do it? Oh I think they anno them first.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Anno would help, they also rebuild pretty much everything every year don't they? My professor pointed me away from aluminum, because he had a few parts just fall apart. I can still make the steel ends pretty light though.



Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.

Yeah we do make new cars every year. But normally those control arms will sit for the better part of the year before competition.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

my setup for this year will be...

tein ss coilovers (i'll have to check the settings... i set them a few years back and haven't really felt the need to adjust them)
addco front sway bar
addco rear sway bar
rksport subframe brace
vert strut tower brace (front)
freedom design strut tower brace (rear)
misnblu's trunk brace
Baer brakes (front and rear)
17x8 5zigen fn01rc +35mm offset
245/40/17 Hankook K110 V12 evo's
Jeffie's rear torsion beam bushings
ARP studs front and rear

hoping to throw -1.5 degree camber shims at the rear before the season starts but it'll probably happen mid season. I'd also like to ge tthe car corner balanced but having a hard time finding a place around here that does it.

You have sidewall roll issues in the back? I sure as heck dont, my shoulder on the star specs in the back hardly sees wear at the auto-x but my tires are pumped up to 40 psi cold. I think you'd be better throwing those shims sideways to make them toe out rather than camber, and you'll spend the whole event trying to get the setup so the car doesnt like spinning.

Now the fronts on the other hand, I'm due for an alignment, I'm getting more camber so I can run less pressure without rolling over.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

It wasnt SCCA, it was with the Windy City Miata Club, most of the classes were breakdowns of Miata's so my class was like 3.0 liter and smaller N/A so I had the S2K's, Exige, a few Bimmers, ect. People were taking pics of my car because they had never seen a cavalier show up to race lol

Theres an upcoming event in my area in May 7th and I wanted to try it out... My suspension is stock but i recently got new struts for the front and back.
Any suggested suspension mods??
Thanks!

Drive it first.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Im thinkin bout lowering it first..

R3D_ROCK3T wrote:Im thinkin bout lowering it first..

I would wait. If you auto-x and become addicted then you will want coil overs, like the STD R5 setup in the group buy right now. if its meh to you, then you'd be ok just getting lowering springs and lowering shocks.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

first time out, run as stock as possible. it'll allow you to be in a more competitive class as suspension mods will put you into higher classes in a hurry.

strat81 wrote:first time out, run as stock as possible. it'll allow you to be in a more competitive class as suspension mods will put you into higher classes in a hurry.

Even though stock classes and ST classes run the same times if not stock being higher. hoosier A-6's make a big difference.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

the ST guys in our region run some of the fastest times of the day on street tires.

i've yet to see a stock class car come anywhere close to ST times. (unless there is an inexperienced driver running in the ST class and a seasoned driver in a stock class car)

Really? Around here the e-stock guys run as fast as street mod fwd which is faster than basically all the st classes besides STU and STR (cause awd > fwd).


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

competent driver > car... the ST guys in our region are the ones who organize the events and have been autoxing for a long time.

they also have alot of years improving and fine tuning their setup.

Yeah and here, regional e-stock runs at the national pace for the top few drivers.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

strat81 wrote:competent driver > car...

Truth. I remember a certain stockish beater car running quicker times than my cav....




its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa