I was thinking of setting up a Tc dedicated for track days, 30 minute races and Time Trials.

1. What setup do you think would get the most out of a Tc, in the 5-7k range including wheels and tires?

2. Would that be way too much or not enough?

TIA!

 

light wheels and tires... 2000
new suspension 1000
rear brace.. $175 - dezod.com ;)
front strut, rear strut front and rear sways.. under 1000

you'll be fine with 5k

 

Thanks for the resoponse.

What Light Weels and Tires?

Which new suspension?

Rear brace for what?

Which Struts and sways?

I am looking for stuff that I could order today and have by Friday for example. Not something that takes 6 weeks.

I honestly don't know much about the Tc so I am warning you!

 

If you want to do it right, it will take time. 6 weeks may be fast depending how well you research. You should do a lot of reading before you dive into this and drop thousands of dollars. There are countless options and combinations of parts that you can use, so you should look into each one and figure out the pros and cons of each set up. Don't rely on what people tell you, because that is most likely what works best for them; not you.

 

One thing to remember with sways is to keep the rear stiffer than the front relation wise. A stiffer front will make the understeer worse without stiffening the rear more aggressively.

Also take care in choosing your springs. Coilovers are a great option. For lowering.. too low can start having negative effects. I think Rick on these boards did some measuring and determined that going much past a 1.5 inch drop starts negatively affecting the geometry of the suspension on this car.

 

I agree one hundred percent.

I know there is no way to get all of this installed on a car right away but I don't know enough about the tC to know if the problem is ride hight, spring&strut combo, camber or what. I currently have a G35, lowered, 19s, bolt ons, sways, brakes, etc. blah its not a tC i'm over it..... AND its WAY too expensive to track as a 35 year old with 2 young kids and a mortgage. I've looked around and IMO its between a Tc or a Si to create a fast, inexpensive, reliable track car. Yes I know thats impossible but i am looking for the closest thing and think these cars could be setup and striped down to compete against other tuned FWD like the Cobalt or si or minis or .

What do you think if you were going to build a car over a few weeks and were going to go head to head with a tuned Cobalt or a setup SI on an a race track like mid ohio what would you do to the suspension? Sticking to bolt ons and minor modifications. I don't want to stitch weld the frame and glue the rear end. This is all hypothetical of course so don't let me waste your time if you want me to buy something.

 

I was thinking of going with a bit wider wheel width up front than the rear to help with understeer I was hoping I wouldn't have to experiment too much to get it right...hint...hint has anyone experimented with this. I would think super stiff in the rear, med stiff in the front sways, Front & Rear strut tower bars, and a roll cage. Adjustable camber plates front and rear with some toe adjustments. I don't know if any of that is adjustable from the factory, or what it can take, or if the aftermarket has parts for when you get to that as low as you can go point. I know all of this CAN be done but what should be done to make this car stick if you were spending your own money and had a few extra to throw around. This is all idle speculation of course.

Of course this is after stripping it down to bare metal and admiring the naked sheetmetal!

 

as for the stripping... it really isn't all that hard to do. there's a guide around here showing how to gut the interior completely (minus the dash and the headliner). using that it took about an hour to gut my tc down to just the drivers seat.

 

It would be a fun little track car if stripped down that way. You will want to play around with the different sized tires to make sure you still have good handling all the way around.

There is a car club here that sets up some events, so I am going to try and start autoxing it later this year I hope. But I am going to stick to a pretty streetable setup on the tC and just do it for fun.

I have a 96 saturn.. which weighs in at 2300 lbs BEFORE stripping it down, so I am highly considering stripping it down and doing some more serious suspension upgrades and a smaller turbo on it later on.. that would make for a very fun car considering I could easilly get it down to the 2000 lb point I think :D That is IF it ever starts having problems so I can justify not using it for my winter/commuter car That damn thing just doesnt die.

So the tC I am going to keep a good mix of street and performance for. .at least for now. I dont have any urge to make a strip car out of it.. I will get a RWD with a big nasty V8 for that later

But it sounds like you are looking in the right direction Check out these threads and the other stuff from this poster:

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...=61760&start=0

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...557&highlight=

Rick really knows his stuff and looks at things practically and logically. He is the one that points out that going too low is a bad thing. This should be common knowledge to many, but some are stuck on the pimped and slammed means performance boat

Anyway.. I hope this helps you further!

 

You have to keep in mind that the car has a complete cage in it which is going to change the way the car handles as well. You forgot to mention that.

 

You know thats a good point.

Hmmm. So do I have to build the car with the cage stripped then test it? What would that kind of stiffness do to the TC. Back to the drawing board ehh.

I still think it would work as we have listed above but would probably just be solid as a rock. Some of the braces might be overkill. the STB rear jumps to mind and so does the front one after looking at the car closely with no engine.

I think in principal it could be super light, very balanced (with the right suspension tune), and reliable all for 22,500$ brand new. Now that just can't be right can it?

 

Uhh, that cage is gunna be a pretty penny, because you'll have to get it custom made likely.

Also, if you want to make a cheap track car... go buy an old miata and do the same. You could easily pick up a fully "race prepped" miata, trailer, tools, and multiple sets of wheels for maybe 14k. That's just my thoughts.

-Tide

 

He owns zpi now u can afford it... just use some money...

 

 

The way the cage affects the car really depends on how the cage is built in. Does it simply attach at the floor points? If so, you are still getting flex throughout the rest of the structure. The number of mounting points and how it is mounted makes a huge difference. Many bolt in cages do very little to stiffen the chasis.

As far as ricks work, I was referencing his work on the suspension, but he also has done a cage, custom CF roof, etc. So he has a lot of info on this car if you need.

 

For reference.

 

hardcore.

 

you missed some sound deadening in the rear seat area

but seriously, that has got to be LOUD. I drove around for a couple of days stripped (not as much as that) and the exhaust sounded like it was right by my ear.

 

the most important factor to setting up any track car is adjustability. you want adjustability with swaybars, camber/toe, ride height, compression/rebound, tire pressures, ect. i will list the parts of my setup. they are track proven and im happy with the results.

swaybars- i have Hotchkis front and rear. very stiff with 2 settings up front, 3 in the rear.

springs/struts- i have Tein Super Streets with the pillowball uppermounts. this is a coilover setup which includes the strut and the spring in one assembly. the advantage of this over just getting springs is that the ride height is adjustable with coilovers. the struts included in this package provide you with adjustability in the valving so you can have control over your compression/rebound. and the optional pillowball uppermounts not only give you a stiffer mount, but provide you with camber plates in the front so you can adjust your camber. if you want more than stock adjustability of camber in the rear you can buy aftermarket camber links, i think hotchkis makes some. the other bonus to going with tein is that they have a selection of spring rates you can choose from and you can always order different springs and swap em into this setup. like i said adjustability is key.

wheels- my wheels are overkill. they are very light and durable but also cost about half your budget. an 8" wide wheel with about a 35mm offset is a perfect balance between road contact and fit in the wheel well. but like they always say you get what you pay for. if you want a good light wheel your gunna have to spend a bit. you could just run the stock wheels, they arent all that bad, but i would prolly get some spacers to push em out a bit.

tires- i run a very sticky street tire because i still need streetability. but if your setting up a dedicated track car i would go with some Hoosier R comps. they make a size that would fit on the stock wheels. these provide about the best grip your gunna get from a tire, but are also a bit expensive and wear out quick which is why i am not running them...i cant afford to. a street tire is cheaper and will last longer but they wont have the same traction or heat resistance and will become very greasy.

LSD- every FWD track car needs a good limited slip differential. the fact that it turns and puts the power down through the same set of wheels puts this platform at a disadvantage in the form of wheel spin and understeer. im running the quaife unit which is the best money can buy and in my opinion is the most important part of my setup. its worth every penny i spent on it.


all in all these mods should get you on your way for a capable tack setup. but you have to remember that nothing about racing is cheap. you will need to upgrade your brakes as well (atleast pads, dot4 fluid, and ss lines) and you will go through tires and brake pads like its noone buisness. i still drive my car on the streets so i still have to consider streetability. sinse you have a car for the streets i would steer you away from the tC and recommend something cheaper, older, and better setup from the factory for the track. a Miata has already been suggested and makes a great track car with lots of aftermarket support. an older Civic or 3 series BMW also makes a great track car and does well in SCCA touring car classes. another great track car that flies under the radar is the ACR Neons. they are very camber friendly and affordable. the tC is a fun car on the track but is not the best choice if your looking for something competative.