qucifer

Does anyone, by chance, have a rear sway bar laying around that I can borrow (or rent) through October?

I am chasing tenths in AutoX right now as I contend for Novice Championships in two different clubs. I just bought my AutoX car for 2011 (1991 MR2) and thusly am tight on cash and cannot really justify the sway bar for the Evo since it will cease regular race duty at the end of this season.

I figure this is a long shot, but I really have nothing to lose.

Thanks,

-Bryan

nperkins

What class are you running Bryan? And what tires/mods do you currently have?

qucifer

I am classed as STU. I am running Star Specs, Perrin intake, and I have a tune (with the stock boost map).

The car is otherwise stock.

I am informed that my inside rear tire is constantly several inches (or more) off the ground in slaloms and when cornering hard. I have been able to manage it most of the time, but I recognize it does make me a bit slower than I could be if the car were stiffer.

I am really just looking for a stop-gap for the rest of the season. I bought another car mostly because I didn't want to spend a fortune setting up the suspension in the Evo to be competitive in the STU open class next year.

I am really tempted to just by a Perrin RSB and flip it in a couple months...anyone want to buy a lightly used sway bar in the future?

-Bryan

nperkins

What do you run for tire pressures, and what tire sizes? Have you tried chalking your tires yet to see what your roll is like? maybe you just need a higher pressure in the rear..

qucifer

I typically run 40-42 psi in the rear and 37-41 in the front, depending on the course and the day. I am really not consistent enough to make a big difference in my estimation.

The tires are 245-40r17 on stock wheels. The rear tires aren't rolling, the fronts do roll a bit, and I keep an eye on the roll in the front, it usually isn't too bad.

I am pretty confident that the best and least expensive solution to the problem is changing my driving (not preloading the front suspension before cornering so the car doesn't pitch all the weight onto the outside front tire and getting a rear sway bar to stiffen the car up a bunch to further reduce that effect, and to keep 4 tires on the ground longer.

I am by no means an expert, but I am willing to try anything under a couple hundred dollars to pick up a tenth.

-Bryan

silkey00

iTrader: (12)

ill prolly take the sway bar off your hands.

qucifer

That's all I needed to hear, although I am sure there is sufficient demand for aftermarket Perrin sway bars anyways.

We'll talk in November.

-Bryan

nperkins

Go lower on the pressures... When I was running my 235/40/17 RA1's on my STi, i'd run 38-40 front, and 34-36 rear...

Are you trail braking or left foot braking? That right there can help you out ALOT and help keep the car flatter..

qucifer

Hmmm, I have been using the extra pressure in the rear to help rotation, the car pushes a little less with the increased rear pressure. Tomorrow is an event I am going to for practice so i will play around a bit.

I can't left foot brake...I end up upsetting the car way too much because I don't have the fine motor control of that foot like I do the right. I am working on the trail braking now to get better at it.

japan101

iTrader: (1)

^Need to start drifting a cheap 240sx for refinement of those finer techniques. Those were the two main techs that I was working on before I moved up here and when I still had my 240.

nperkins

Dragging the brakes works VERY well for me... Especially at CART courses as they are so tight, its nice to always have the pedal READY to stop the car, and their courses are so short it doesn't really heat up the brakes... You can even get away with it at FCSCC stuff too..

04EBevo

iTrader: (11)

A new evo at bldg 518! There is an AS IX MR that is bone stock. He used to drive an RSX and I always told him he would eventually get an evo as all rsx owners do lol. Anyways he is down for some meets so I got his number.

EVOJR$

iTrader: (47)

I used to be a Honda guy too. Like the agent said to Neo in the Matrix,......"it's inevitable." once you drive or ride in the evo once, your hooked...

nperkins

lol.. funny you guys say that... My GF drives an RSX, and is IN LOVE with our friend Laura's Evo X MR...

qucifer

I am sorry to make this tread about me and my issues, but I am having some serious clunking noises coming from the front end of my Evo that is getting progressively worse with every AutoX event I go to (big surprise). The noise presents mostly when driving slowly, starting, and stopping.

I just had the Firestone in Enfield (one of the better places in Enfield IMO) go through it for 90 minutes and they gave up trying to diagnose it. Everything seems to be solid, bushings, front sway bar, struts, etc. They don't think its the axles either.

Can anyone recommend a good shop around here that does suspension work who you trust? Anyone want to venture a try to figure it out yourselves?

Given my time constraints I am trying to avoid a trip to Norwalk to have The Shop or Bethel for EFI to have a go at diagnosis. Anyone hear one way or another if ECS would be helpful in this kind of situation? I know they are reputable for swapping Subies, but I haven't heard much on their suspension competency.

I don't really trust dealerships for the most part, there are none really close to Enfield, and I am sure they will see the aftermarket head unit in my car and decide to void the warranty.

Anyone have any great ideas of what might make clunking noises or what might be an obvious thing to check. Unfortunately I don't really have the ability to properly describe the problem in words and thusly searching has not really yielded any new ideas...

Thanks for reading.

-Bryan

Continuation: As soon as I post this I have the epiphany that it it could be the CV joints. Can I inspect those easily or is that a job for someone smarter than me?