[trax]

I hate threads like these, but I feel compelled to ask. The car has a lot left to go as far as parts. It still has stock wheels, tires, brakes, rear axle and front suspension. I'm still in school and have about $3K-$4K to spend on the car per summer after I take care of other expenses.

What it has so far:
Suspension
STB, DSL, Spohn Rod/poly LCA's and PHR (Front/Rear LG swaybars and SFC's sitting in the garage)
Engine
Heads, cam, boltons... will probably bump up to a new cam and bigger injectors, but the motor in general is pretty much done
Drivetrain
T56 swap, Street Twin, stock steel d/s and 4.10's

Here's what I want to do as far as parts. I think I'm going to buy things by the group (e.g. all the suspension stuff, then all the safety stuff, etc. as money becomes available). Groups are listed by priority.


Drivetrain
LS1 Driveshaft

Suspension
Coilovers
Torque Arm
A-arms (depends on what the LG K-member needs)

Chassis
K-member

ZR1 Wheels / Tires
C5 Brakes

Safety
6 or 8 point bar
Recaro Speed / SRD seats
Sabelt or Sparco 6 points

Misc
Canton RR pan (after talking with Jordan Musser and others about this I think I'll take my chances)
VFN bolt-on stock hood (18 lbs)

Any comments?

[trackbird]

No offense taken Sean. You raised some good questions that I probably should have mentioned... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

1. I'm building the car up for open tracking with weekend summer-only street use. I would like to try and keep it to where I could take it out on the street and have some degree of creature comfort (read: dash and carpet).

2. As far as correcting problems, I can't speak from experience since I have never autocrossed or open tracked before. "Better handling" is obviously a very broad term. I suppose all I can say at the moment is that I want to decrease body roll and make the car brake better, but that's a very vague response. I'm sure with a little time at the track I would be able to make a much more clear definition of what I'm looking for.

Coilover wise I'm looking at the LG set, which seem to be pretty well-liked (I wanted to avoid saying brands for fear of another coilover thread from hell).

1. Creature comfort, though a stiff (stiffer?) ride, is still possible (depending on your definition of comfortable). That can be done.

2. For open track, I'd lose the 4.10 gears (first things first). (and something other than an LS1 D/S is a good idea, try lingenfelter or others).

As for "never autocrossed/open tracked before". I would "stop the presses" and quit buying parts (for now). Fix the driver. Get some track time/autocross time under your belt. There are several reasons for this.

1. Seat time is the best way to learn how the car reacts, how you react and if your modifications have made the car easier or more difficult (should be easier) to drive (and drive quickly).

2. With heads and a cam already on the car, it will be fast (should be) and the more power you have to play with, the better your chances of "doing something stupid" (it's easier to overpower the rear tires while exiting a corner and backing into a wall, etc). The more changes you make to the car, the more chance you have of making it difficult to drive (accidentally). This may steepen the learning curve (and add cost).

3. As for brands. I don't suspect that we will see another "coilover thread" anytime soon. So, you are free to discuss whatever you want. There are lots of options that are "pretty well liked" and some are less expensive than others (I have Koni DA's and love them).

These are my thoughts, others may vary.

Have fun!