Norm Peterson

If the holes are drilled slightly "off", or if the brackets themselves are not carefully installed, relocation brackets will affect pinion angle. I know of one instance where only one bracket was "off" (partly through installation error), and byenough to require an adjustable LCA just to get the axle square in the chassis.

Edit #2 - as a question for Smokem, do you expect to use this car more for hard cornering or for dragstrip running? I will note that the compromises for hard cornering are a little more ride-friendly in one respect.


Norm

Smokem

To all when I Lower the car I will get the panhard and relocation brackets and all necessary hardware. Right now I am looking for the proper set up keeping in mind 8 months from now when it gets lowered and a new shaft. I am sure whatever I do will be a huge improvement over stock but some of the combinations of set ups are confusing me. Why do they offer so many?[&:]

Norm - I probably experiance more hard cornering then track time. Occasional track visits, occasional street visits, and some hard cornering mixed in there.

Norm Peterson

Because different usage really wants different setups.

Mods that improve your dragstrip performance typically tend to make your car oversteer, and may also give an unecessarily stiff-legged ride over one-wheel bumps.

The relative importance to you of ride vs handling can affect whether you choose softer springs and stiffer sta-bars or vice-versa. That's somewhat separate from choosing the front and rear springs so it won't ride like an old pickup truck with dead shocks and nothing in the bed.

The name of the game is different when you're cornering. At that point, it's not about equalizing RR vs LR traction or keeping squat from getting out of hand. Balance, as in front vs rear, is what you're after.Lots of things suddenly become inter-related.

Just as one example, it's about here that you have to start thinking about how those poly bushings actually work in their as-installed condition(during cornering they add a fair amount of roll stiffness all by themselves, which shifts the lateral load transfer balance rearward, which tends to "loosen" the handling). You can "tune around" this to a limited extent with softer rear springs and/or sta-bar, but understand that that is a band-aid fix rather than a true solution.

A good introduction to this sort of thing is Fred Puhn's softcover book "How To Make Your Car Handle". It'sbeen around for a while, but the info is still good (and I think it's still only ~$20). It's detailed enough to get you started, without containing so much math that you throw up your hands, pitch it into the closet, and never look at it again.

Norm

VWILLO

I did #3, adj poly/spherical rod, upper and lowers. Not for pinion angle adjustment but eliminate any bushing binding between the body and the axel in hard cornering. I do autocross and the sphericals always allows the the poly to remain unbound