78 wagon build for road course race
xcmtbjason
Band Wagon
Hello all,
I'm building a 78 wagon to run on a 2.1 mile paved road course. Prepare yourself for the rest of what I'm going to type (or just stop reading now) as this car is not getting restored to drive everyday...
My parents bought this car new in 78, we overhauled the engine in the late 80's, but never drove it again as the mice got into it and it just didn't smell that good. Since we had it sitting around yet, it seems like the perfect car to fix up for this road course race, the rules are based on 24 hrs of LeMons and ChumpCar events. I just finished gutting the interior last night and getting rid of anything that was not functional for racing, we'll be putting a cage in it soon. (BTW, I actually dis-assembled the interior so I'll be posting that stuff for sale or trade at a later date)
This post is part II of the big questions I have about this car. Has anyone done anything like this with a wagon (or any civic) that can point me in the right direction for tuning the suspension? I'm planning on converting to 4 x 100, newer/bigger disks and calipers on the front, but after that I need help on spring rates, shocks, and is there a rear swaybar available or one I can use from another car. Our "race shop" has some pretty good fabrication abilities so I'll consider nearly any suggestion. As an example: front shocks appear to be the biggest concern right now, I'm considering fabricating new strut casings to be able to mount an off the shelf shock cartidge in them, or maybe I can just modify the existing struts, but it sounds like all that is available is Koni red inserts, which may not have quite the performance I'm looking for (but certainly better than what I have now...)
Due to the type of race this is and the cars I'll be competing against I don't really need an all out race solution, just a solid setup to get this thing around the corners a little bit faster than everyone else, with a reasonably cheap price tag.
Thanks!
I'm building a 78 wagon to run on a 2.1 mile paved road course. Prepare yourself for the rest of what I'm going to type (or just stop reading now) as this car is not getting restored to drive everyday...
My parents bought this car new in 78, we overhauled the engine in the late 80's, but never drove it again as the mice got into it and it just didn't smell that good. Since we had it sitting around yet, it seems like the perfect car to fix up for this road course race, the rules are based on 24 hrs of LeMons and ChumpCar events. I just finished gutting the interior last night and getting rid of anything that was not functional for racing, we'll be putting a cage in it soon. (BTW, I actually dis-assembled the interior so I'll be posting that stuff for sale or trade at a later date)
This post is part II of the big questions I have about this car. Has anyone done anything like this with a wagon (or any civic) that can point me in the right direction for tuning the suspension? I'm planning on converting to 4 x 100, newer/bigger disks and calipers on the front, but after that I need help on spring rates, shocks, and is there a rear swaybar available or one I can use from another car. Our "race shop" has some pretty good fabrication abilities so I'll consider nearly any suggestion. As an example: front shocks appear to be the biggest concern right now, I'm considering fabricating new strut casings to be able to mount an off the shelf shock cartidge in them, or maybe I can just modify the existing struts, but it sounds like all that is available is Koni red inserts, which may not have quite the performance I'm looking for (but certainly better than what I have now...)
Due to the type of race this is and the cars I'll be competing against I don't really need an all out race solution, just a solid setup to get this thing around the corners a little bit faster than everyone else, with a reasonably cheap price tag.
Thanks!
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