97 Saturns wrote:
QUOTE:
1. How much and why in the Saturn- A Different Kind of Race Car is it recommended <gulp> some toe out in the rear for the autocrossers?
Well, let's start with the 'why' part. I think the theory is that you are trying to create a poor-man's 4-wheel active steering. If you had a real active steering system, then your rear wheels would turn opposite from the front - as in, the outside rear wheel would toe out and the inside rear wheel would toe in.
"But," you might be saying, "if I am toeing out both rear wheels, then aren't they working against each other?" If they are both on the ground, then yes. But I think that the assumption is that you will be in a state of severe body roll to the outside, so the inside wheel is virtually unloaded. So you are cornering on just 3 wheels and all three are acting to get the car turned in the correct direction. So in a state of severe roll, only the outside rear wheel matters.
One other assumption here is that your region is setting up tight slow courses that favor the smaller low-HP cars. If your region is like mine (Western OH) and sets up their courses to favor the heavy high-HP cars with long sweeping turns and fast straightaways, then rear toe-out might not be a good idea - since you might seldom be in a state of severe roll.
As to how much, I don't know an exact number. Not much, that's for sure. Fractions of a degree. There is a guy in these forums, Eric, who might be able to share his experience with real numbers. Browse the user list at the bottom of the main forum page and find Eric with the helmet photo and send him a note through his user profile.
97 Saturns wrote:
QUOTE:
2. The 10mm extra track width. How are you doing this?? Wheel spacers or ??. Where to get them.
There are 2 ways to increase track width. One is to use less wheel offset. +45mm offset wheels on each side will yield 10mm of additional track width compared to the stock +50mm offset. But I suppose that this is probably not legal in H Stock.
So yes, we used 5mm wheel spacers. +5 on each side = 10mm total.
SPS used to sell them back when we were dumb enough to think there was a future in selling Saturn parts.
For the front, you can probably still get the wheel spacers from H&R. And these will also work in the back if you have rear drum brakes. If you have rear discs, then you cannot use the wheel spacers. We used to sell a hub spacer kit for the rear discs, but are sold out. Maybe look on ebay to see if anyone is selling their used SPS hub spacer kit. Make sure that it includes the caliper washers!!
97 Saturns wrote:
QUOTE:
3. I read the article about the sway bars, and I know that the single and twin bars are differt. Why are they different??, and what about using a single cam front sway bar ?? We can only change the front bar.
The SOHC did not come with any rear bar at all. So it also used a softer front bar.
The DOHC used a 15mm rear bar combined with a stiffer front bar.
Why? Because the SOHC was targeted toward price conscious buyers who did not know the difference. And the DOHC was targeted toward performance-oriented buyers who were willing to pay a premium for a car that drives right. (No offense to SOHC buyers - my wife is one of them - but the extra $1000 for the DOHC was a no-brainer for me.)
You could theoretically install the SOHC front bar to reduce the understeer balance. But in my opinion, I think it is a stupid thing to do - because you are increasing body roll in the process and thus reducing your overall traction threshold. There are other ways to affect the handling balance such as air pressure. Set the fronts to be optimal (you will have to run a series of tests with pyrometer to find the 'optimal' pressure) and then either set the rears too low or too high. That will reduce rear traction without affecting front traction.
You could also reduce the rear camber to reduce rear traction without affecting the front. (You are probably already running more negative camber in the front than you are in the rear.)
By the way, (this probably goes without saying, but I was thinking about this while running errands this afternoon) changing the rear toe will reduce understeer holding all else constant. So if you are going to experiment with the toe, then don't screw with bars, pressure, or camber until you test your new toe settings and establish a new baseline.
