RMills944

After starting to auto-x, I want to set the car up right.

My 944 lives in winding back roads and autox's now, and I'm doing a couple things to it. Most importantly, I'm doing the manual steering rack as many 944 drivers have switched to (saves weight and better road feel). When I do this I'm going to need it aligned too. Since my brother is my mechanic, I'im paying 1 hour labor for both (not too bad). I want the car set up for mainly track/autocross.

What kind of camber should I use on it? I'm thinking -1.5-2 up front and -1 in the backs. Is that about right? I want it a little conservative for track, but agressive for street.

Slantnose!

Hello.
What class?
Not sure the manual rack is the quick set-up for autocross.
Anyway, as long as tire wear isn't a concern, put in as much negitive camber as possible...your specs seem fine.
You would want more toe out 1/16th to 1/8th for autocross vs. stock to toe in for track stuff up front.
Good luck.

RMills944

HOly **** that's a lot of cars!

I ran the SCCA autocross in STS last time. This class says "no porsche", but it was the closest competative category we had.

The manual setup is the way to go from what I've heard from other 944 guys. The setup loses about 35Lbs. up front and the ratio isn't that bad. The problem is that right now I have a leaky rack and pump and no power steering to the right side cause the gear in the rack is shot (the whole system was only 2 years old when it started leaking again. I ran an sutocross like this and it wasn't too bad, but having a non-working power steering is harder than steering manual steering. no more pump or lines to fix for me!

Slantnose!

Yeah, I get attached to 'em, heh.
I guess if it's a wide open course it would be fine.
Sometimes down here we'll have some tight slaloms and it would be tough.
In fact, last weekend my powersteering went out and I ended up putting the car on the trailer in the middle of my runs.
So I certainly understand where you're coming from...
On the track, I imagine it would be the preferred way to go.

Rich Sandor

Hey Ryan, I actually run the auto-x for my PCA region. (I'll pretty much echo what Marc said)

I run a stock-ish '86 951 with a stock suspension. (except 968 m030 sways) The last alignment I had done was to the conservative factory spec. My rear tires wear perfectly on the street and track, so I haven't messed with them. The fronts are a totally different story. I was wearing the outside shoulders of the front tires very badly and understeering heavily. I've gone under the car and dumped in max negative camber (about -3.0 deg) at the knuckles and it has totally transformed the car from an understeering pig into a nimble trixy. On the track & autox I get perfect treadwear on teh front tires. The only problem is that I've got too much toe-out for the street - it wears the inside of my tires too quickly, but that toe-out helps make turn-in much quicker. The only solution really are camberplates, so I can easily adjust between street & track.

As far as power steering goes, I've been there, done that. My suggestion is, keep power steering for AutoX. I simply cannot recommend a manual rack (i have one) for an autoX car. If you read your history books, you'll find out that even some of the Rothmans turbo cup cars were retro-fitted with power steering because it was easier for the drivers, and that was on huge road courses! I would suggest removing the whole system and fixing it properly so that it doesn't leak again. (Rack, Pump, and all lines too!)

RMills944

Good to hear.

If I don't like the manual rack, I may rebuild the old stuff and swap it back. it just really pissed me off when less than 2 years after I had the whole system replaced, it started leaking again. We'll see how it feels when I get it back. I really didn't have a hard time at the autocross last time and I had no power steering to the right, and that's even more of a bitch that having manual steering!

From what I've heard, I'm going to do about -1.5 up front and -1 in back with pretty much 0 toe

RMills944

I had it set as stock rear settings.

Fronts have 0 toe and -1.5 camber. My brother tried to see how much he could dial in stock, and you can aparently get -2.8 out of the car easily with stock suspension!

The manual rack really isn't much more effort than the power rack. The feel it gives is just amazing.

chris951

I have understeer and tire edge problems with my 951, so I am going to have the front end put at either -1.5 or -1.75 for front camber. Is this alright for a street/auto-x car?

Slantnose!

Sounds great.
Is the steering ratio the same?
Does it turn fast?
Anyway, goodluck at the next autocross!

Slantnose!

Hello.
That is fine and not excessive at all.

RMills944

I love the feel of the new setup! It's easier than disconnecting the power steering pump and trying to steer. The ratio is about 1/2 turn lock-to-lock more. I love the feel it gives though!

Slantnose!

Great to hear!
Yeah, I had to put my car on the trailer myself last weekend after the powersteering went out in the middle of the autocross course, during a slalom...
Not fun at all.
Will definately keep what you did in mind.

M758

FOR THE TRACK.... I run a manaul steering car in autocrosses. Worked ok, but there were places I needed to manhandle the car. Even on stock suspension & street tires the steering was too slow in fast sloloms.