new car decisions

[ari666]

Other than lowering your centre of gravity and changing your roll centre height for the car at its ride height the only thing that changes is the stiffer spring rates mean less roll and pitch in the car. The job of the spring/shock combination is more about ensuring the tyre has the best possible contact patch with the road at all times rather than generating grip if that makes sense.

uh huh, uh huh. ok and then by making the spring and rebound rate stiffer, youre increasing the amount of time the tyre has its contact patch?

 

[Dr HaxZaw]

uh huh, uh huh. ok and then by making the spring and rebound rate stiffer, youre increasing the amount of time the tyre has its contact patch?

To a certain extent yes: the stiffer spring rate does mean the suspension will respond faster to different loadings which helps the tyre keep an optimal contact patch. However you can go too stiff which means the tyre will see a lot more "peak" forces which will disrupt it. The stiffer spring rate does help with your dive, squat and roll characteristics of the car in some ways but your suspension design is what determines these basic characteristics in the first place. For instance if your rear suspension is designed with 10% pro-squat for extra traction if you want to reduce that the stiffer springs will help but your still fighting an extra 10% of the force due to the nature of the suspension. In a race car situation they would change the suspension design to be 10% anti-squat and then figure out a spring rate for that.

 

[notthekingswood]

whoa this thread took off,
anything yank is out of the question and what ever i get has to be manual
no auto's for me this time i'll pay more to get a manual
if i track a car i won't be racing as such just driving fast legally with a touch of competition
was looking as a HQ racecar but after investigating track times they are slower than my stock mazda 323 around wakefield park
the hyundais can do a 1.17 with just suspension, tyres and exhaust which is very slow but when all the cars do between a 1:17 and 1:19 thats pretty good racing even if its in an excel
not into jap cars as i have mates with them and they just chew the cash if i track a car i want it either locally made or a piece of sh1t that cheap to replace
was looking at MX-5's too but they are still not quick and cost alot for an old worn out car, my work just sold an NB 1.8l 5sp for $6500 but it was f'd being a pool car
one day i want an R32 GTR but only to stick in my garage, 1 engine failure and thats $10k gone
those old R31 coupes are too exxy now

 

[dumpedvs]

Wait so am MX-5 is not very quick but an excel is still an option? Mmmmmmk.

If your considering an excel, why not choose a Ford TX3 turbo?

 

[ari666]

that r31 coupe is 5k....? you said 15

 

[notthekingswood]

show me an R31 for $5k that is drivable?
the only reason i liked the idea of an excel is that there is a race series for them and its cheap to be competitive plus there are off the shelf bolt on parts to make it a race car for cheap

I was tlaking to a guy that bought a part from me, he just bought an R31 coupe for $7k, was rusted, motor out of car and no trim
he sold his last one for $15k

i'd rather an R32 GTS't but after seeing kiwi prices i don't want to pay aussie prices, last time in NZ i could have bought a good GTSt for $2500 and over here they are $8k plus for a thrashed sbox
then again i could have had a ver5 STI coupe for $12k in NZ

 

[vkberlina]

If your looking at a track based car there are a few partially finished MkVII Bolwells that just need finishing off that may be in your budget, 10-15k to buy an almost complete one. 800kg with a 186s, 202 or a V6 buick they really go, to keep it period I think the rover v8s or ford v8s would probably work & fit.
The Nagari with a 351 is insane win a 800-1000kg car but they tend to go for a bit more money

Scott

 

[Dr HaxZaw]

I payed 14K for a neat r-34 GT-T with 120,000km on it. Are they legit kms? I dont know but i went off the condition of the car not the number of kms on it. If you look hard enough (took me nearly 6 months of looking) then you will find something for a decent price. Also dont be afraid to lowball people cause a lot of them are simply trying to get back what they paid importing the car 2 or 3 years ago which is somewhat delusional but there you have it.

 

[notthekingswood]

anything turbo or V8 are hard to move and the owners think they are worth more than they can actually sell them for.
my 2002 AU3 XR8 220kw in blueprint with leather and all the options i bought for $6k 2 years ago while an identical one was forsale for $13k and advertised for 12 months
sold it for $7k after 2 months advertised and 1 phone call and the guy bought it without test driving
but now $7k will get a 1999 or 2000 model 200kw XR8 thats worn out....crazy

 

[notthekingswood]

ended up buying a BA GT with 5 speed manual, got it for a good price can't complain and the condition was much better than any XR i looked at.