AE86 suspension set up, Drift

[The Big Yin]

alright Looking for some advice on what suspension set up to use for a Drift hachi

currently the car runs TRD Blues at the rear with springs
Front is Coilovers, Unknown make
I do not know the spring rate of either as they were fitted when I bought the car
Adjustable panhard rod
Front strut brace
And Fully polybushed.

car is pretty low suffers from bump steer, and feels pretty unstable

Any advice on improvements appreciated

[SharpTDI]

If you don't already have them, get a set of RCAs for the front. That should help with the bump steer. As for spring rates, 10k fronts and 7k rears is a pretty balanced setup, especially when matched with Tokico HTS shocks. Other than that just check all your bushings and make sure they are in good condition. Then its time to start practicing

[connection]

10kg and 7kg is pretty wack on a 900kg car......

my advice largly depends on how much coin your willing to blow...

i have found 8kg at the front to be very nice (although i reckon 7.9 would be slightly more win, especially if you like to do the odd mountain run)
for the rears, 6kg is a popular choice and it works very well.

now for front inserts...
as the guy above said, the tokiko HTS inserts are very decent, but somewhat overpriced. the HTS102 inserts are ~45way adjustable and you can have every possible type dampening you'd like, but be warned, they are not cheap, and are very hard to find new (from what i know, they are no longer produced).

Another alternative, is the KYB AGX inserts, they are 4 way adjustable and suit very well with 8kg springs (they're fine for ranges 6kg to like 10kg). the AGX inserts are about $400ish new from memory, and in all honesty, they do 95% of what the tokiko HTS102's will do... and they are 40% cheaper.

for the rear shocks...
keep your TRD blues, they are an excellent shock absorber (so long they arent screwed, leaky etc)

finally, get some RCA's... that will reduce the bumpsteer, and if your car is a ground-scraper, raise it so the inserts/shocks are in their working range.

i could go on forever about swaybars, 4links, rebuilt steering rack/ends etc.. but i think that will get you going

also, buy your stuff from people who are actaully enthusiasts (ie: people who acutally drive / develop their cars) rather then gimp's who are just out to make a quick buck (sniff sniff AJPS... they are snakes)

cheers

[The Big Yin]

Cheers for that gives me a few things to look at.
I have been considering the greddy type s suspension as i came across it at a pretty good price.
I also forgot to mention the car already has rca on the front.

It needs its camber, Toe and castor set as i just fitted the poly bushes.

I am based in scotland so suppliers for parts for the hachi are few and far between over here. Can you suggest some suppliers in Aus i could try?

Cheers andy

[SharpTDI]

my apologies if the spring rates I mentioned don't sound suiting for the application. Just speaking from what I have experienced 8k front just seemed a little soft for my taste (not that I am a pro or anything, just my personal taste). High speed transitions feel more stable with a little more spring rate up front and with the HTS shocks the ride is still quite nice for normal driving. I am planning to try out 10k fronts matched with 8k rears and HTS for my next setup.

As for the AGX shocks, maybe I have just had bad luck with them but I would not recommend them. I ran them on my car with 8k fronts and 6k rears for some time and their life seemed quite short. Performance wasn't too bad, but IMHO the HTS shocks are worth the extra 250 or so. I do however know many people who love KYBs, so I encourage to give them a shot if you don't want to spend the $600 or so for HTS at the time.

Good swaybar bushings and either poly 4-link bushings or solid heim joint style ends will make the car respond more quickly to your imputs, but are not a requirement to start drifting.

But the important thing is that you go out there and have fun! Cheers

[Intense]

I run 6kg/mm front and 4.5kg/mm rear but std sway bars so it rolls a bit. I think with stiffer sway bars it would be great. 40mm rca's on the front and want to get strut brace front and rear as well as camber tops and I'll call it a day. You don't need a huge expensive setup, just something that works

[The Big Yin]

I was goingt o fit TRD or CUSCO front and rear ARB's but someone said they offer up far to mch grip for drifting, any truth to this?

[oldcorollas]

surely a rear bar to reduce rear grip would be effective?

[connection]

look at it from another way... from factory, most cars are designed to understeer before oversteering (to my understanding anyway), so by adding a larger ARB (i assume you mean swaybar?) then it brings it to become more neutral.

so from this,we can also gather that by adding a larger rear ARB/swaybar it would increase oversteer. note, apart from reducing body roll etc, its effect on grip are little in relation to the rest of your setup.

for me anyway (i own/slide an ke70.. practically same car) a larger swaybar made the car easier to initiate angle (and a larger angle too), and helps heaps on transitions. other then that i found no increase/decrease in grip levels.

[takai]

Uh, an AE86 needs no rollbar at the rear for oversteer, due to the un-equal length and non-parallel rear trailing arms its inherently less stable and prone to oversteer.

Run a rollbar and it will go sideways quite quickly.

None of the GrpA cars ever ran rear rollbars.

[The Big Yin]

I forget that the uk is the only place that calls it a anti roll bar haha. Yeah swaybar. Running standard just now. Car has a pretty basic set up just now. All i need is track time to improve my driving. And a couple of improvements in the chassis department and i should be laughing. Looked at trd and cusco. Both good and reasonably priced. Whiteline do them as well dont they?