Track Day MSP Build

[low_psi]

Trailing arm or lateral arm?

Lateral arms. I don't have any pictures of the trailing arms but I'm making a few more sets here soon and will snap shots.

Also thinking about powder coating the lateral arms silver to match the trailing arms.

-Dan, next week I'll shot some installed shots next week but here are the rears:

 

[dandan2]

u should have little low psi decals made for them. lol they look great mark.

 

[low_psi]

There's so much flake its hard to photograph them, they just glow in photos

 

[Outlawstar98]

Those coilovers you made look sweet, what were you using before? or what are you using now but going to take out for those bad boys?

 

[low_psi]

I had just stock Tokicos with the off the shelf Ground Controls.

To move the rear strut further down into the wheel well for more droop travel I used two OEM top mounts. I knocked the studs out of the bottom one and drilled out the sleeve for the bushing. Then cut the bushing out of the second one and welded it on top of the bushed mount. No pictures of that, I'll snag some tomorrow.

The fronts went on w/o much hassle at all. I used new 400# springs and the modified Cusco plates. Droop travel is great and ride height has a great window to work within. The old 350# springs from the front are getting swapped to the rear to replace the 250# springs.

Overall the ride is beautiful. Commuting home this evening was the most fun I've had with the car in years. The car just eats up bumps in the road with ease. Its obviously a drastic change from the blown Tokicos I had on the car but the only time the car rode this well was when it was over an inch higher with the soft stock suspension. I've doubled the spring rates and the car is just as compliant. Really looking forward to taking it out to the track on Friday. Just need to swap rear springs, reinstall the rear sway bar and corner-balance/align it.

 

[low_psi]

Ran an autoX today, was fun but the car had terminal understeer in the tight sections and the street pads couldn't keep up for even one run. I was just out there to have fun with the car and get a feel for it since I'll be at a proper track tomorrow. Didn't check tire pressures all day, adjust shocks or use the new, stiffer adjustment on the swaybar. Literally just showed up, put my helmet on and ran the car as is. No point in adjusting the car as I was learning the track layout. Still fun none the less.

A few days ago I put a set of NT05s on the car, 255 up front and 235 in the rear. After today, I think I'm going to be missing the grip of the RA1s tomorrow. I'm going to play with shock and swaybar settings tomorrow. Car should be a lot of fun back on an open track and we'll be running my favorite configuration. Hoping for an improvement in lap times despite running street tires. Gotta bleed the brakes in the morning... I'll post up some pictures from the weekend as I get them.

 

[dandan2]

badass, keep us updated.

 

[low_psi]

Well, threw out my back this morning getting the car ready... turned a fun day at the track into a lazy day in pain on the couch. Hopefully I'll get another day rescheduled soon.

 

[dandan2]

Booooo, light weight. lol just kidding. hope it gets to feelin better.

 

[MakeMeGoFast]

ok so I've got a question for ya low_psi. I'll try to make sense with this...lol. Say you replace the lateral arms with adjustable arms (something like you have) and get/make some camber plates for the rear struts could theoretically move the whole hub/strut assembly closer to the body of the car thus giving more room for rubber in the rear? I'm also thinking you would need heim endlinks for the trailing arms so there wouldn't be the lateral stress on mounting points. Main question being would this screw with the suspension geometry to much. I mean it wouldn't be anything substantial maybe .250"-.5". (would really be limited by the camber plates and how much camber you would want to run) Fender lining would need to be modified also but that's not a big issue. Hopefully that makes sense. I'm assuming you have some knowledge on the subject hence why I'm asking. I appreciate an insight you could possibly give, thanks.

 

[dandan2]

ok so I've got a question for ya low_psi. I'll try to make sense with this...lol. Say you replace the lateral arms with adjustable arms (something like you have) and get/make some camber plates for the rear struts could theoretically move the whole hub/strut assembly closer to the body of the car thus giving more room for rubber in the rear? I'm also thinking you would need heim endlinks for the trailing arms so there wouldn't be the lateral stress on mounting points. Main question being would this screw with the suspension geometry to much. I mean it wouldn't be anything substantial maybe .250"-.5". (would really be limited by the camber plates and how much camber you would want to run) Fender lining would need to be modified also but that's not a big issue. Hopefully that makes sense. I'm assuming you have some knowledge on the subject hence why I'm asking. I appreciate an insight you could possibly give, thanks.

and he is also has a aligment rack and the perfect track prep shop to do it at. lemme know if yall are ever hiring.

 

[low_psi]

Yes, you could decrease track width. As you guessed, you would need all adjustable arms and camber plates. I can't remember how much room there is between the inner fender well and the spring but that space would be the first limiting factor to narrowing the rear. You might also want to offset the trailing arm to keep things from getting funky.

 

[MakeMeGoFast]

ok thanks

 

[MSPM1cheLe]

are you still running your stock sway bars?

 

[low_psi]

Yep. I added a stiffer adjustment point to the rear bar but haven't played with it yet since I haven't made it out to the track.

 

[low_psi]

Well, the Protege is getting retired as a track rat. I'm putting the interior back to stock in attempts to keep it a reliable & comfy daily driver. Of course, as soon as I decided this, the front hubs/bearings went out and the diff broke. So throwing a new trans, hubs, bearings in and doing the 100K service soon to get it back on the road.

Looking to pick up a FC RX7 shell to start building over the next few years. The Protege will probably see the track a few times a year during that time as I still need to enjoy the coilovers and finish a few little projects like the lateral arms.

It will be nice to build a car I'm not driving everyday

 

[LinuxRacr]

It will be nice to build a car I'm not driving everyday

Ain't that the truth!