badbus

Lean is mean!

wojo

iTrader: (1)

Don't forget that you will probably need a few good gauges to go along with all these power making mods.

jbrennen

iTrader: (1)

I was planning a boost gauge... but what other gauges should I fit? Oil temp? Oil pressure?

wojo

iTrader: (1)

I am currently going through a similar decision process. My first question is have you decided on how many gauges do you want to spend money on? That's because in theory ALL gauges are useful, simply because the more data you have the better (perhaps with the exception of A/F gauge as it is only narrowband and therefore innacurate).

I think, I will end up with 3 or 4 gauges myself.

You already mentioned a boost gauge, which is a must.

Second, I would suggest an EGT gauge, which will allow you to monitor and be warned of potential leaning-out problems.

And lastly I would get an oil temp and/or oil pressure. Oil temp is important b/c if oil gets to hot it will break down and loose its lubricating properties. You also want to know when the oil has warmed up before you get on the throttle. Oil pressure will tell you whether there is proper lubrication across all engine components. These will be very important when running laps on the track.

I have decided not to get the fuel pressure gauge, since it is neccassary only when modfiing the original fuel system, which I chose not too (at least for now )

FT@SELGP

For the chassis settings are concerned, the A/R bars on the Evo are quite stiff in stock form in relation to the spring settings. As the A/R bars connect left/right suspensions, they are no longer independent and because the stock springs are soft, body roll is significant and hence the inside rear wheel lifts.

However, once you put coilovers with stiffer springs, and you will be suprised how high you will need to go, the body roll will lessen and the inside rear lift will most likely not happen. Now is that a good thing or bad?

If you ask me, it is bad. Those stiff A/R bars are one of the reasons the Evo understeers less compared to an STi. If this setup was for track usage, it would not be good, but for auto-x it is something you want to have. Since the target is SM, then I would suggest going with coilovers as you plan, perform some testing, measure body roll, and see if you need A/R bars. For SM, I would not recommend changing just one end of the vehicle but get a matched set front and rear.

Depending on driver, it can be a good or a bad thing to get double adjustable coilovers. If you will mostly rely on various charts that are published on the Internet about what adjustments need to be made to fine tune the chassis, then get single adjustables

Also, bound/rebound settings will not give you much over/understeer characteristics. They will help you adjust some, but not much. For such adjustments, you will mostly have to rely on A/R bar and tire pressure adjustments, short of changing springs. However, I am not sure of this but, in SM you may be allowed to use plastic or wooden blocks in between spring coils to change rates. That would be an option as well if it is legal.

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

I would avoid using dampening to adjust oversteer/understeer. I have been doing that for a few months, and to get the car almost balanced, I have to set the front shocks almost as soft as they go and the rears as stiff as possible, but because of the same spring rate, the fronts bounce a lot. And if I got a softer spring rate, I still wouldn't have a completely balanced car.

FT@SELGP

Yes, it is a very good point to stress against common misconception.

AutoXer

iTrader: (1)

Due to lack of participants in A/S and E/SP, I think that I will move to SM next year. I need to figure out what size rim/tire combination to go with. We need to keep in mind that lowering the car with coilovers will probably affect what size tires/rims rub. Any suggestions?

FT@SELGP

Well proper lowering is key with the Evo. According to some tuners and drivers in UK, lowering the Evo beyond 1.8 in front is counter productive. And they keep the rear about 3 to 4 mm higher in the rear compared to the front.

I believe with a 1.4 in. lowering in the front and matching the rear to 3-4mm higher to the front, you can use 9" rims. However, SM does allow fender rolling. If you roll the rear fenders, you should be able to fit 9.5" without any bolt conversions.

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

One thing to consider is that you're probably better off with a smaller diameter tire, which will allow you to stay with wide rims and tires without rubbing.

AutoXer

iTrader: (1)

Excellent point!

AutoXer

iTrader: (1)

Come on guys, help me out here. I want to get something ordered ASAP for next season.

jbrennen

iTrader: (1)

If I were starting out in SM, I'd get lightweight 17x9 rims and put on 245/40R17 Hoosiers. Which is pretty close to what I'm running -- I'm running those tires on lightweight 17x8 rims.

If you are willing to modify the fenders, you could probably fit Hoosiers in a 275 size.

You could probably run a Kumho 255 on 17x9 or even 17x9.5 with the stock fenders, but IMHO the Hoosier 245 is probably about the same "true" tread width as the Kumho 255. I haven't driven on Kumhos, but they seem to give up a bit to the Hoosiers.

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

Jbrennen is right. The Hoosier 245 are actually almost 265. My father is running them on his mustang right now. The trick apparently was Hoosier measured the tires on narrower than average rims, so when you put it on the right size rim, it's actually wider. They did this to get wider tires where there are size restrictions, giving you an edge over the competition. If my fenders had enough room, I'd take advantage of that in a 225 for STS class. But even true 225s rub

Greyman09

iTrader: (6)

Are any of you guys running a short shifter, if so what kind of SS are you using. Thanks for the help.