[snaponbob]

Originally Posted by empirekevin

I do not like the understeer deal. It is a real party pooper when you approach a corner and you have to drop down to speeds that my Dodge Durango can maneuver.

Snapon, I notice that this post was before the adjustable shocks and some of the springs but I was wondering what your final outcome is and what it is. Anotherword, What do you run now?

When I was at the SCCA Nationals in Topeka last week running A/S. (Thursday was NOT pretty but Friday was very good. Overall sucked. But NEXT year WILL be better.) In speaking with the Pontiac factory autocross guys they confirmed my long held suspicion that GM designs in understeer with a minor focus on liability. Also, all of GM's performace cars are being chassis tuned at the Nurburgring. Thus the results are NOT geared to autocross. But I can tell you that the GXP Z0K is very good over and above the GXP/Redline but is NOT a magic bullet. And with about a 1.5 to 2" drop, daily driving is a challenge. While at the Nationals it was clear that car set ups were all over the map. So, what have I done? Here goes -

I have absolutely no fear of sharing my set up, unlike some people. When all is said and done, the best driver most likely will win even in a borrowed car. The driver is the best mod in a race car. (And I am still working on my driver - ME.) I will first address set ups OTHER than SCCA A/Stock. All the GXP Z0K pieces will fit on and Kappa. This includes a beefed up rear frame member, spring, and sway bars. The car will be lower and stiffer than both either an FE2 or FE3 car. With a factory alignment the car will understeer at it's limit. For Street Prepared classes these pieces can be used and it's legal. Aggressive alignments and adjusting tire pressures can get under/oversteer under control. Single adjustable Koni's are MAGIC. They absolutely transform the car. By setting the rebound you can get the car to do whatever you want.
Now, SCCA A/Stock notes. Since my post in April (or whenever it was) I have changed to an FE2 front bar (legal since only the front bar can be played with in stock class) and back to the FE3. A good experiment but it failed. Pictures showed that at the limit the car was leaning too much even with the FE3 front bar and so I hoped that increased front roll stiffness (counter to conventional techniques) would control overall body lean and keep the rear camber loss at a minimum. I punched new holes in the front sway bar forward of the existing holes (thus raising roll rate of the FE3 bar) and it did help. This was pre-Koni. Tire pressure was used to adjust the handling a bit. With that success under my belt I ordered a Saner front bar that is about 40-60% stiffer than the FE3 bar. Once I got it mounted it did what I wanted - flattened out the car. It demands proper technique as terminal understeer is a bit worse, but not nearly as bad as one might suspect. The car got quicker. A couple events before the Saner showed up I finally killed my 245/35X18 Hoosier A6's and replaced them with 295/30X18's. BETTER!!!! After the Saner bar was run for a few events my Koni's showed up. I also did another alignment to 2.8 negative front with max available caster (about 6.7 degree) and left the back at 1.8. The factory rear caster is 4 degrees. Keep as much as you can, and if the shop does not have the special GM caster tool, well, you got what you get!! With the Konis installed I was able to adjust the car to do whatever I wanted. I have the Saner in the middle position, the rear shocks full stiff (and it IS stiff!!) and I trim the handling with the front shocks (which were set at 1 1/4 turns firm). Tire pressure was all the way down to 33/31 at Topeka with even temps on all tires and no excessive rollover. Caution: Topeka has low traction so be careful at you home events. At home in KC, I have been running 39-35(+/-) but with the bar, Konis and final toe settings I may be able to get away with less. Generally the higher the available traction the higher the pressures. We have more traction pads in KC. Now - to settings. Earlier someone mentioned toe IN for the front. That is the factory recommendation. Conventional autocross wisdom dictates front toe OUT for better turn. It's true, and it helps loosen up the rear. Conversely, rear toe IN helps settle a loose rear end. Well, I have been running about 1/8" toe out front with zero toe rear all year. The difference is quite noticeable no matter what else is done to the car. But it's hard on the tires on the street. So I make the adjustment when I change tires at the events. At the Nationals I played with rear toe in on the Sunday practice and liked it a lot. Thursday I ran 3/16" front toe out and 1/8" rear toe in. It was too much at both ends. Too MUCH front toe out can screw things up, and it did for me. Same in the back, and it did. Friday I set the car with 1/8" front toe out and 1/16" rear toe in and the car was great. I have two more events locally and that will be the set up. I have not run the car the same way more than twice this year, including three changes at Nationals. But I found the sweet spot - for me. Yours may be a bit different. But most Kappas are set up about 2.4-2.6 neg camber front, about 1.7 degree negative rear, and play with the tires from there. Setting the toe is fairly easy with a Longacre toe plate set (about $60). You'll need a 22mm and a 13mm wrench. If you want the method I use PM me. It's pretty easy. After the final event I will spend the $70 to re-align the car to stock for the fall and winter (all that camber is starting to show a little bit on the front tires) and set it back to "full kill" in March.

PM me for details on acquiring Konis for cheap. I know a guy that knows a guy sort of thing. Now, here is a bonus with the Konis. GXP Z0K springs set the GXP about 1.5" lower. But so do the Konis on a non Z0K GXP or Redline. Why? Konis are low pressure gas and the Bilstiens are higher pressure!!! I had my car car parked behind a Z0K converted GXP on Sunday and a lot of people were looking under my car for the Z0K parts. Why? It sat JUST LIKE a GXP Z0K. Surprised the hell out of ME!!!!

So, there you. I am not saying that my set up is THE set up, but most of it is fairly common. Just like the S2000's seem to have settled into similar set ups, Kappas will eventually find their "happy spot". The big money is tires, but for less than one set of R-comps you can get a Saner or Pontiac GXP Z0K front bar, a set of Konis, and a half dozen alignments. The toe adjustments can be down track side. Air is free. And Evolution Schools can make all the money work better.