996 Upgrades

[bobt993]

Steve,  I would spend some time with an advanced instructor that can give you feedback on both your car and driving style.  You can then apply this to the cars current potential with a plan to upgrade weak areas on the cars handling.  As Darren said, do the clutch etc when it needs one anyways.  Streetable, PSS9's , but for club racing you really need Motons or similar.   Brakes are  really good factory and altering them will move the cars class.

[smankow]

I'm viewing this as a "work-in-progress".  I'm looking to establish a game plan on upgrades while avoiding some of the pitfalls that others have encountered.

as for the brakes, I definitely agree, Bob.  It was an upgrade that was mentioned to me so I figured that it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[michael lang]

Steve, I like the way you are approaching this. I have seen alot of guys dive right in and spend a ton of cash on their car only to find out they should have gone in a different direction from the beginning. As far as what's best only the driver of the car can really determine that. Best bang for the buck for me has been in suspension. I know that can be a slippery slope so I'm being conservative in my approach, I'll do an upgrade and then get used to the modifcation. That way my car to me is much more predictable and I reap the benefit of understanding what each little upgrade has done to improve the handling of my car.  Alot can be said for seat time but I also believe understanding the dynamics of one's car goes a long way as well. Best of luck to you.

[Darren]

Steve you should post a picture of one of your corded front tires if you still have one.  If I remember right the rest of the tire looked almos new except for the coded bit on the corner.  You can pay for suspension in 2 sets of tires!

[smankow]

unfortunately, the tires were already changed.

[ZBlue996Kam]

The 996 is so good as is all you need is suspension and camber plates.

Don,t change anything in the braking system because the factory one is good enough. You will likely get slower lap time by making the brakes better than stock.

[smankow]

Kam, in changing the suspension I completed items #1 & #3 (JIC Cross Competition).  I had already decided against items #2 & #4.  #5 probably goes with #2 & 4, plus there really aren't too many viable options anyway.

That leaves #6-8.  I'm not planning on #6 or #7 until I really need to.  I will, however, keep exploring #8 (upgraded brake cooling ducts).

Here are 2 other items:

9. upgrading the toe steer link

10. replacing the rubber control arm bushings

 

thanks,

[Darren]

You COULD replace all of the rubber bushings, I think every bushing is available now.  Probably not such a great idea unless you want to make it a track-only car.  I put the rear monoballs on my car this year and it really stiffened the back of the car up.  Not great on a date if you go over the cobblestones down in Philly "What is wrong with your CAR?"  Hehe, they'll never understand....

I think you are in great shape for a while Steve.  Now you have to learn the car all over again.  If you keep changing things it will make things more difficult for you.

I think I'm finding that unless you sphericalize everything together, you reduce the deflection on some bushings, which HAS TO increase it on others.  Normally the load is distributed across all of them, and they were engineered to work this way.  If you reduce/increase it on random bushings, I don't think it was engineered to work that way, and I get a few odd wiggles in my car right now.

Add a #11 to your list for the future -- upgraded motor mounts.  They are easy to change and I can feel mine moving around a bit.  Depending on how stiff your springs are, this might be more of an issue.

What spring rates are you running?

[smankow]

springs are 393/564 (f/r)

I'm not sure of the settings, though.  Tomorrow, I'm changing brake fluid and maybe the front rotors.  So, I'll be able to check the front settings.  For the rear, I'll need to climb into the back of the car - a little more complicated.

The suspension was setup for The Glen.  I'll be able to back the settings down to "1" to establish this.  I'll use WGI as my "base" setting and adjust from there to get the street settings (need to be backed off a bit).  I know that I'll need to change the settings for SP next month.

what's involved to change the motor mounts?  cost, time, etc.

Steve

[Phokaioglaukos]

Darren wrote:

Add a #11 to your list for the future -- upgraded motor mounts.

Which would you do? Solid mounts or tehh Wevos, which seem to be between and betwixt solid and rubber?