re: 116 suspension tuning

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

At 3:06 PM -0500 2/20/03, Anthony White wrote:
> 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.
If you just want to make the car tend more towards oversteer, the 
easiest thing you can do is dial in a little more castor.

I'd be cautious with the 75 swaybars.  75's have very small rear 
bars.  I'm not sure about the 116 Giulietta, but I know on my GTV6 
the stock front bar was the same size as an '85-87 2.5L 75, and 
smaller than that on a '88-91, but the stock rear bar is much larger 
than that on any 75.  My assumption is that this was because the 2.5L 
75 had power steering, so the factory used more caster and less rear 
bar to neutralize the handling (making the inside rear wheel less 
likely to come off the ground).

Swaybars aside, if you do what you're planning and stiffen the rear 
slightly by cutting the springs, you might find that the handling is 
precisely what you want.  But in my experience, that chassis gives 
you a lot of control over the oversteer/understeer characteristic 
with the castor adjustment.

Joe Elliott
'82 GTV6 <--fastest one in Class D autocross at '01 convention
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided