wow, just noticed this thread. I've got a friend who's a suby fanboy and he talks about you guys all the time. Glad to see you guys on the Z boards and for spreading this car onto the road courses.

ChiShi

 

Brian Lock and Dave Brown were testing the car this weekend. They actually were impressed with how well the Z works with soft(er) springs too.

We weren't trying for times though, in fact we had our rev limit set ultra low(6200) and were running a bone stock motor. This weekend we were familiarizing ourselves with the chassis, but based on the drivers feedback, we won't have to spend much time here. They just loved the car. Next test it is going to be run with our other engine(grand-am spec cams), and a higher rev limit.

 

Brian Lock and Dave Brown were testing the car this weekend. They actually were impressed with how well the Z works with soft(er) springs too.

In the interview Unitech Crew did with Sport Z magazine a while back, they mentioned that a lot of people run too stiff of a suspension in the Z and that a little softer actually works better.

 

+1 I have found that to be somewhat true on these cars. The only real issue on these semi-heavy cars, is body roll. The softer spring / heavy sway bar method I (so adamitley preach about) couldn't be any more obvious on these cars. Depending on your tire/wheel width and compound, it is (unfortunately) sometimes necessary to increse spring rate just enough to help the cars tendency to body roll. BUT....I would much rather go softer springs and way more sway bar. Usually the more bar I can run in these cars, the better.

 

What do you all define as "soft"?

 

I couldn't put a xxx #/in figure to define soft since suspension geometry is different in other cars. It's subjective, so my "soft" could mean someone elses "stiff". My 500# springs front and rear with Koni SA still feel soft compared to many of the mildly prepared track cars. The last e36 M3 and Elise I rode in practically knocked my fillings out. Riding in the Elise, in particular, made me car sick after one lap...and I usually don't feel car sick until the end of a session.

 

The subjectivity of "soft" was exactly what I was getting at... I'd just like to see some numbers thrown out there by the Z community to get a good baseline reading...

 

In that case, I'd say my car feels about right for it's dual purpose useage (90% daily driver, 10% track; by mileage). If it was a dedicated track car, I might consider a stiffer ride...possibly using the T2 springs. If it was only a daily driver, I'd go WAY softer...200#/in (like a lexus).

What's really interesting is that the current ride quality on public roads did not degrade much from the hotchkis/stock shocks package, and both suspension configurations were vastly better than the stock springs and shocks combination that came with the early '04 car. The stock springs and shocks combination was so poor that the car actually felt like it was on ultra-stiff springs.

BTW, Chris Lock, when are you guys taking the car out again in Northern CA? I'd like to check out the car in action again!

 

We have about 2 weeks worth of work planned on it right now, including a frame checkup, new engine, and getting it's new livery. It will probably not be out on track before April. The best chance it will be at a public track day would be the Norcal NASA event April 14-15 at Thunderhill.

Here's a pic from last weekend's test. Pretty much just looks like a Z . That changes this weekend.