Originally Posted by mbepic
Re the tire rub and needing a tighter suspension. It would seem to me that a stiffer front stabilizer bar would do the trick. I don't think I would play with the spring spacer. I am assuming that you don't believe the spring is too weak relative to the right side. You didn't mention the right side and I guess the track characteristics didn't put as much demand on the left turns. I would look for a stiffer front stabilizer but sorry I can't help you re the source for one.
Being a short track. it sounds like the Xfire rear end gear ratio is too low. Those ricers probably have very high ratios just suited for the short tracks. Put them on a long track and it would probably be a different story. Does anyone know if the rear differential gears can be changed to suit the shorter track. I just had a look on the DC site to see if they showed the rear gear ratio specs and of course they don't. My very rough estimate is that the ratio is somewhere between 250:1 to 300:1. If that is the case, a ratio of around 350:1 would be more suitable. You'd be cooking in 5th and probably seeing 6th down the straight. With all this said, it's very unlikely that DC has optional gears for the rear-end but you might want to check with the MERC SLK320 people to see what they have.
Hope this is of some help. I would have loved to have been there with you.
MBEPIC: Thanks for the pointers. I agree with your assesment about the tighter front tortion bar. Oddly enough the right side just barely rubs during my runs, however, I took my GF out for a few laps during our lunch break and the minute I had her in the car, the right side rubbed much worse on the same corners. Her added weight of 110 lbs in the passenger seat brought the right side down just far enough to create the rub on that side. You can see that the tolerance is really close. I will search for a AM tortion bar which should resolve the problem.
As far as the gear ratio, I again agree with your assesment. Most of the other cars were set-up as drifters with very high gear ratios, as was obvious by the apparent sound of their engines running high RPM even in their lowest gears down the straightaway. I think I'm SOL in finding different gears for that rearend. Although I may know where to have some made here in So. Cal. I have the current gear ratios somewhere, but can't seem to find them right now...
Thanks Again