yearly updates......

[rubbinsracin]

ok guys. we have a couple of races left for the year, then its time to update some stuff on the car for next year. we have always ran standard ball joints, upper and lower on the front, and standard bars and hiems on rear.

what type of difference will i feel going from this "standard" stuff to low friction front upper/lower ball joints and outpace bars on the rear?

also, we are trying to get the car down some weight for next year. i'm going on a diet myself(i could stand to lose about 50-75lbs lol) how much weight could we save by going to an aluminum bellhousing as apposed to a steel one?

[Matt49]

The low friction ball joints let your shocks work better. The standard ball joints are providing a dampening of their own that interferes with the shocks ability to do their job. Your car will have a better, more consistent "feel" to it with the low friction ball joints. It just makes the car fell a lot more drivable in my opinion.
I'm not sure that there is any advantage to the Out-Pace stuff from a "freeness" standpoint. I think the main benefit is ease of maintenance to your rod ends. If there was an advantage to be had from a handling standpoint, every top team would have them and they don't. They do have low friction ball joints though :-)
The best thing you can do to keep your rear end moving right and letting the shocks work is use bearing birdcage.

[rubbinsracin]

we do use bearing birdcages. they made a 1000000% difference first time out over the junk steel ones that were on the car when we got it. were definitely going to get some low friction ball joints for the front. probably just keep the rear bars we have if the outpace bars dont provide any real advantage other than you grease them. were probably going to update shocks and front ball joints this year as our main priority.

[talclipse]

we do use bearing birdcages. they made a 1000000% difference first time out over the junk steel ones that were on the car when we got it. were definitely going to get some low friction ball joints for the front. probably just keep the rear bars we have if the outpace bars dont provide any real advantage other than you grease them. were probably going to update shocks and front ball joints this year as our main priority.

I know a few big guys on the regional scene that get paid a lot of money by weekly racers to fix their ill handling cars. The things they ALWAYS start with is reducing drag/ bind (low friction ball joints, wheel bearing issues, checking for heim and shock end bind). Those things can and will make your car an inconsistent ill handling nightmare to work on.

On one of our cars we run the outpace stuff, the other we run the teflon lined heims. They both seem to work pretty well. I am on my second season with the outpace stuff and I am starting to see zirk fittings fail/ become stripped. In the future I doubt I will go that route since the teflon heims are only marginally more expensive and are maintenance free aside from the normal cleaning.

The low friction ball joints also offer the benefit of being rebuildable and much stronger than the production type ball joints.

Just my $0.02

[Matt49]

Good point about the strength of the low friction stuff, talclipse. We had a wreck earlier this year that bent both control arms and a frame rail and both ball joints were fine. These were QA1 ball joints.

[leadorfollow]

we've toasted everything on the front end of our car this year except the ball joints. uppers and lowers. we went with the qa1's as well and they are rebuildable if you do decide to go that route. You can adjust tension on them if you wish. The car steers a lot easier especially when on the track. I don't see any use in the outpace rods because they can get dirt in there just as easy as anything else. You asked about weight difference with a steel and aluminum bell housing it isn't going to be a lot of weight, maybe 10 lbs. We went to a low friction rear this year from dmi and it puts winters to shame and their quality is above all. You asked about updates and if you haven't updated your shocks recently then you're really living in the past. Find a good local shock builder and get a package together because that will give you a complete different feeling.

[rubbinsracin]

what kinda money are we talking for a good shock package. twin tube non adjustable, no canister.

[scrub_fan]

not sure what you are looking to spend but to shed some weight you can get a 16v lithium-ion battery it is about 9 pounds

[talclipse]

not sure what you are looking to spend but to shed some weight you can get a 16v lithium-ion battery it is about 9 pounds

I hadn't heard a lot of good things about those light weight lithium ion batteries. I know before speedweeks this year they were all the rage. But I had heard guys were having issues with them discharging/ not being able to handle the environment? I have no experience with them myself; are you currently running one?

[rubbinsracin]

yeah, havent heard to many good things about those batteries either.

[mango774]

Guzel Paylasim Tesekkurler..

[rubbinsracin]

so no one knows what a good shock package is going to cost?

[Matt49]

It really depends on:
* What you consider decent
* What hardware you start with
* How much you get charged for custom valving

For twin-tube non-adjustable you could get something along the lines of Afco new for about $800 (that's 5 shocks) and then you'd be in it for about another $200 to $400 for customer valving on all of them. Developing a good relationship with a good shock guy is VERY beneficial. Most of them are more than willing to help you with other areas of your program as long as you are spending money with them.

[supercomet32]

my opinion

[rubbinsracin]

im really disapointed we have to run twin tubes. i have found many good sets of monotubes but we are required to have twin-tubes. if i thought there was any way i could get away with it, i would have them on there. but i just know we would get busted first night out.