I've got an early '64 Sprite (quarter-elliptic & side curtains) that I
take autoxing a couple of times a year. I'm running 13x5.5 rims with
185/60 RE71R road racing tires on it and am using a 3/4" sway bar. I
have done a couple of mods to the car in the suspension arena, but still
need to continue development. I have installed delrin bushings all
around except for the sway bar mounts. I have softened the rear springs
by removing a couple of the leaves (big improvement with this on 1/4
elliptic cars). With the various bushings and such I am able to get 0.5
degree of static negative camber without a great deal of trouble. I
have mounted the battery in the passenger side of the trunk in hopes of
getting more weight onto the rear wheels (helped some). The shocks and
springs are all stock.
Now come the issue. Sharp right hand turns (an oh so typical autox
setup) cause my passenger side rear wheel to lift. Left hand turns
don't have as pronounced a lifting effect since my weight is to the
inside (~180lbs). Without a LSD ( I do have a used Quaife, but wheel
lift should be avoided with this unit or risk trashing it, so I need to
address the lifting issue _before_ I install the Quaife), I get huge
wheel spin coming out of right hand corners. What are your suggestions
about eliminating this problem while minimizing the cost? Here are a
couple of things that I am considering (in the order that I am
considering them), so anyone with these changes on their car please
comment on them so that I can figure out my next step.
Delrin sway bar bushings - not sure if this will help that much or not
340 lbs front springs - should help a lot, but wonder about its effect
on regular road use
7/8" sway bar - this may make the car understeer like stink
Rear sway bar - don't know anyone who has installed one with a panhard
rod on a 1/4 elliptic car
Others?
I have often considered going with a Frontline kit or something similar,
however I don't want to make the step into one of the SCCA Modified
classes with the superhot trailer queen cars since this is primarily a
fun road car. TIA
Jackson Zimmermann
jzimmerm@albemarle.org
'64 A-H Sprite
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