,
On a McPherson strut car, like the EVO, if the car is lowered so that the lower control arms are at an angle of more than 90 degrees to the strut itself, the suspension will gain positive camber under roll. This is terrible for grip and handling. The Whiteline kit helps reduce this effect, further improving handling. Unfortunately changing the location of the pivot in relation to the tie rod ends can create a lot of bumpsteer. Well, Whiteline has cleverly included some tie rod ends with longer shanks in the kit to keep the tie rod location in line with the new lower control arm pivots. Now you can do this former race car only mod for a surprisingly low price. What used to require over a thousand dollars of specialized parts and custom fabrication to accomplish is now a relatively inexpensive bolt on. If all of this sounds confusing and you don’t understand how suspension geometry works, quite simply, the roll center adjustment kit will reduce body roll and improve front grip without increasing the spring or sway bar rates.
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| The Whiteline roll center correction ball joint in place |
Once we installed our revised suspension parts, we once again took Project EVO to West End Alignment to have Darren Nishimura work his magic. Darren set our front camber at 2.5 degrees negative, and the front toe slightly out. The rear camber was set at 1.5 degrees negative with zero rear toe. Darren also set the corner weights for zero cross weight with 200 lbs in the drivers seat
Driving project EVO was interesting. Our car is now clearly track biased in its manor. The ride can be punishing but it gets better the harder the car is pushed. Fast rough turns are now gobbled up with loads of wheel travel; even at the cars low ride height. Before the car would wallow and hop, now it stays planted and the power can be put down hard.
Even though the Hyperdamper Pro suspension has a more frontward bias in the spring rates than the Hyperdamper II or even the stock suspension, the car has less understeer than before. This is better for getting around a track quickly. The old suspension would also touch the front snubbers when pushed real hard in a turn. This would make max effort cornering end in grinding understeer, a safe mode for beginning drivers but not the fast way around. With the Hyperdampers ample travel and stiff spring rates, this does not happen and the front wheels seem to find traction better. With the higher rates, we find that detectable body roll has disappeared. With the elimination of bumpsteer, the rear of the car is very easy to catch and hold in long beautiful slides. We also like the fact that the dampers and the sway bars are baseline good when set right in their middle settings. This is a good help for tuning the car for specific tracks and conditions. We have a lot of adjustment leeway to go either way.
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| Whiteline roll center correction kit ball joint in place. |
The only aspect of our new suspension we don’t like is the rough daily driving ride. Don’t get us wrong however. We are complaining because our old suspension was such a good combination of ride comfort and handling that was hard to beat for a daily driver. The race ready Hyperdamper Pro still rides better than some poorly set up street EVO’s we have ridden in, like the type slammed with lowering springs on stock dampers!
HKS can special order these JDM only parts for you with a 4-6 week wait. If you are a weekend warrior, its worth ever bit of that wait.
Take me to the track, Now!
To see the other segments of Project EVO, Click Here!
Sources
Track Hyperdamper Pro race suspension, Hyperdamper II street suspension system
HKS USA
www.hksusa.com
(310) 491-3300
Cusco Swaybars, Dual Disc clutch
Nukabe Automotive
www.cusco.co.jp
(310) 977-6327
Whiteline Anti- bumpsteer Kit
Global Performance Parts
www.globalperformanceparts.com
(616) 399-9025
Forge Compressor Bypass Valve
Matrix Integrated Inc.
503.443.1141 Phone
503.443.1142 Fax
888.249.0013 Orders
www.matrixintegrated.cc
Exhaust system, Brake pads, braided steel brake lines, EVO performance consulting,
High volume fuel pump, ECU Tuning and Exede Piggyback ECU
Vishnu Tuning
www.vishnutuning.com
(925) 924-9800
4WD Dyno, Dyno turning
XS-Engineering
Phone: (714) 698-8300
www.xs-engineering.com
Tomei Procams, valve springs, titanium retainers
Tomei USA
(949) 855-6577
www.tomei-p.co.jp
Underdrive pulley set, adjustable timing gears
Unorthodox Racing, Inc
(631) 586-9525
www.unorthodoxracing.com
Cold Air Intake
AEM
www.aempwer.com
(310) 484-2322
RE30 forged superlight wheels, Project Mu rotors and brake pads
Mackin Industries
www.mackinindustries.com
(562) 946-6820
EngineLubricants, Gear Lube and Brake Fluid
Motul
(800) 926-6685
www.motul.com
Suspension Bushings
Energy suspension
www.energysuspension.com
(949) 361-3935
Body work
After Hours Automotive
www.afterhoursautomotive.com
(714) 220-2030
G-Force KD tires
BFG Tires
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com
West End Alignment
Best Damn Chassis Shop in town
westendalignment@cs.com
(310) 808-9233
Rear Rotors
Stillen
www.stillen.com
(714) 540 5566
