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116 suspension tuning
I'm about to start undertaking some suspension tuning on my '85 116 Giulietta, and would like to benefit from the combined knowledge of people who have improved the handling of their Alfettas. I'm pretty good on the theory of suspension design and mods, but would like to hear from people with practical experience with the 116 chassis. (I've already done as much as can be done with tyre pressures.)
My goals are:
-- more neutral handling bias. At the moment it tends towards understeer when pushed hard, and I want this more balanced. If it's sound to think of balance in terms of percentages, I'm looking for 49% understeer, 51% oversteer.
-- better roll resistance.
To this end, I'm looking at lowering all four corners of the car by about an inch and a half, or 38mm. At the front, I'll keep the stock torsion bars for the moment (on an '85 Giulietta, they are already a lot more solid than earlier Alfettas). At the rear, lower and stiffen by cutting off the appropriate number of coils.
I understand that lowering the front will dial in a little negative camber. Can anyone help with the camber a 38mm drop in ride height will yield?
I think I want to aim for an initial front negative camber of 1.5 degrees. On a 116 chassis, can this be achieved using the standard Alfa lower a-arm spacers used to adjust camber? Does anyone with a 116 car have any other suggestions for front camber? Or for front castor?
I think that will complete the first step.
For the second step, I have tracked down a pair of anti-roll bars from a 2.5 litre 75. I think that I'll install both front and rear with urethane bushes, and see what that does. I can see the potential for reverting to standard front anti-roll bar if I don't like the results.
Does anyone have any comment on any of the above mods? Alternative ideas, potential pitfalls? Any help would be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Anthony
'85 116 Giulietta
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