Hi folks, new here.
About me: Been hotrodding Toyotas since 1984, and racing them since 1987. I've been road racing a 85 Corolla GT-S for 17 years. I work for Toyota's US HQ, and we have a two car team running the "24 hours of Lemons" too. For fun, I decided to build a LS400 for Lemons events (google it if you haven't heard of it - its a blast).
Anyway, So I bought a decent 91' LS (air suspension) and have a bunch of questions. I used to drive one of these as my street car, but have little info if this thing can be hustled down a road race track. I'll try and post my various questions in the right forums, but here's my thinking for suspension.. Check me on my thinking.
- I'm gutting the SH&$ out of it. I've probably pulled 500lb out of it so far (all glass except windshield, all interior, dash, heat, cooling, much wiring, gutted doors, sunroof etc).
- I'm ditching the air suspension. I surfed the various after marked coilover kits and found a wide variety of spring rates. This is not a DTM car, but a Lemon on street tires, so I'm thinking about 700-800lb springs in the front and 450lb in the back, with it lowered as far as possible to keep 2" or so of bump travel.
- Sway bars have to be stock for now
- For now I have to run stock wheels (mine are the 16x7.5") and at least 190 treadwear tires. How fat have folks got tires on these things? I'm thinking 235/50-16? Might run wheel spacers to get a bit more track.
- Anybody have the stock alignment settings? Off the cuff, I'm thinking about -2.5 camber, 0 toe in the front, and -2.0 camber and stock toe in the rear. I'll probably corner weight it too. I really can't go more on camber since tire wear will be an issue (this is a 24hr race, and I don't plan to change tires over the course of the event). I know this suspension is better than struts, so maybe I can get away with less camber?
About me: Been hotrodding Toyotas since 1984, and racing them since 1987. I've been road racing a 85 Corolla GT-S for 17 years. I work for Toyota's US HQ, and we have a two car team running the "24 hours of Lemons" too. For fun, I decided to build a LS400 for Lemons events (google it if you haven't heard of it - its a blast).
Anyway, So I bought a decent 91' LS (air suspension) and have a bunch of questions. I used to drive one of these as my street car, but have little info if this thing can be hustled down a road race track. I'll try and post my various questions in the right forums, but here's my thinking for suspension.. Check me on my thinking.
- I'm gutting the SH&$ out of it. I've probably pulled 500lb out of it so far (all glass except windshield, all interior, dash, heat, cooling, much wiring, gutted doors, sunroof etc).
- I'm ditching the air suspension. I surfed the various after marked coilover kits and found a wide variety of spring rates. This is not a DTM car, but a Lemon on street tires, so I'm thinking about 700-800lb springs in the front and 450lb in the back, with it lowered as far as possible to keep 2" or so of bump travel.
- Sway bars have to be stock for now
- For now I have to run stock wheels (mine are the 16x7.5") and at least 190 treadwear tires. How fat have folks got tires on these things? I'm thinking 235/50-16? Might run wheel spacers to get a bit more track.
- Anybody have the stock alignment settings? Off the cuff, I'm thinking about -2.5 camber, 0 toe in the front, and -2.0 camber and stock toe in the rear. I'll probably corner weight it too. I really can't go more on camber since tire wear will be an issue (this is a 24hr race, and I don't plan to change tires over the course of the event). I know this suspension is better than struts, so maybe I can get away with less camber?