Like so many people that were kids in the late 1980's I've always wanted a 3dr Cosworth, and now I've finally taken the plunge and purchased one. Its a Moonstone Blue with only 29k miles on it, so in really nice condition .

The car isn't my daily driver, and most of the miles I'll do it will either be driving to and from a race track, or around the track. The car is more or less standard now (3" exhaust, stage 1 tune, Bilstein coilovers), but I want to take it a fair way down the race car path, but not so far that I spoil a classic car. For example I will put in a race seat and harness, but the rest of the interior will stay standard.

So anyway, to the point of this thread... I fitted up some Toyo R888 tyres and took it for its first competition outing yesterday to see how it would go. It was OK, but as expected for a fairly standard car was not very satisfying on the circuit. It felt too soft and not really precise, but on the plus side it was quite well balanced. My 'usual' race car is an early shape WRX RA with quite a few improvements, so thats what I'm comparing to. I was about 10 seconds a lap slower (1:45 vs 1:55), so I have some work to do!

Given that I have quite a bit of experience with Subaru, but none with Sierras, can anyone give some advice on the best track setup to get the car handling nice. I'm looking for some high quality advice from someone that has been there and done it, knows what works and what doesn't. Also I want specifics - for example what front and rear spring rates, camber, caster, toe, roll bar types and settings? What adjustability is worth building into the suspension? How bad are the stock bushes? There must be lots of people that have this expertise, but its hard to find on the net. Mostly it seems people are only focused on getting more BHP, for which there is plenty of advice.

Also is there anyone out there with experience with factory brake setups on the race circuit? I'd like to stick with the standard brakes under 15" wheels for as long as I can. I've done this with my WRX RA and get quite a lot of satisfaction by beating cars with 17" wheels and huge brake setups! With the Subaru I use DBA motorsport rotors and Ferrodo DS2500 pads, plus a water sprayer to suck some heat out of the rotors. I'd love to hear from anyone thats pushed the Cosworth brakes to the limit and found what the best setup is.

 

If you can afford it get a 6 degree aftermarket rear beam set-up with adjustable toe and camber. Maybe try the Ahmed Bayjoo track springs with new Koni adjustables or even go to coilovers perhaps? A Sapphire 4x4 or Escos rear arb and make sure you have the front H14 ARB on yours ( a degree of extra caster ) along with an uprated diff mount and if you search for Mike Rainbird's posts he has some suspension settings that worked well on a Sapphire so might be a place to start and experiment from as a base set-up.
I think Charlie on here used to race his Sapphire with 15" wheels but switched to a bigger caliper that he said was better ( might not fit under 3-door wheels though...I don't know ).
Ferodo DS2500s with Goodridge hoses and Castrol SRF/Motul RBF600 fluid bled through. Polybush the car as well to tighten it up

Depends how far you want to take a 29k nice road car basis though



ETA - just seen you've already got coilovers so ignore my bit about shocks and springs

 

I took this info from one of Mikes thread i think it was

Front:
Camber: 1.5° negative
Toe-in: 2mm overall
Caster: As close to 3°30 as you can get.

Rear:
Camber: 1.5° negative
Toe-in: 3mm overall

Often wondered about the H14 arb for mine but i 've seen others and the wheel sit's further forward and looks odd - saying that the 500 was supposed to have the 14 and they don't look odd.

 

I think the late 3-doors also got them and they also retro-fitted it for owners if they complained about straight line stability

 

when i tracked my 3dr i had std front discs with ferodo ds2500 pads all round - was good with no brake fade but slowing down from 100+ mph it can be quite hairy lol.

I would go for bigger brakes if you are tracking it mate as you know you can brake much later and harder than previously

 

Here's C har1ie's post about his brakes

https://passionford.com/forum/ford-s...th-wheels.html

 

Mine is road legal but I only use mine for track days, I run front and rear coilovers, 700lbs fronts, 400lbs rear spring rates, great for the track but really far too hard for the road,

Uprated diff and engine gearbox mounts, poly bushed, 888 tyres, grooved and drilled standard sized discs, EBC yellow stuff pads, goodridge stainless brake hoses and DOT 5.1 brake fluid,

Ive had no problems with braking yet and its get driven hard on the track!!!

 

how low have you gone with yours steve ,or do you lower it futher when you get too track.my track car will be track only so was wondering how low will i be able to get without up setting geometry,it will be 2wd so no probs with shafts .

have you experimented to get to your spring rates ,or have you gone on recommedations mate?

 

Not to low now James, as last time I ripped a large hole in the floor getting it off the trailer on the 15's,

Ive raised her about 30mm, but now running 8x16 front and 9x16 rears, so hoping I dont have too much trouble with rubbing in the arches,

The spring rates were recomended of here, and so far the spring rates work really well on the track, but its piss poor on our bad roads!!!!

 

cheers for the info steve ,its all being noted for my build.

what roll bars have you got fitted mate ?

steve are you running abs ?

 

Std roll bars, but poly bushed, uprated engine and box and diff mounts,

And yep, running abs.

 

cheers mate

 

Thanks for the info and advice everyone . To start with I'll put the polybushes in (Powerflex seem the most popular?), and set the alignment as per Mikes suggestion. As it turns out I've moved to China for 3 months so things are on hold a little, but when I'm back I'll be right into it. I'll post some pics of the car and let you all know how I get on with getting the lap times down . Regarding the H14 ARB, how do I identify if this is fitted or not? Are they marked or otherwise different to look at?

 

Easy way if you've had the geo done recently is to look at the caster setting you've got. Close to 3.5 degrees it 's very likely an H14 ARB, 2.5 degrees is much more likely an H13.

If you look at the bar itself you should be able to see the "13" or "14" on the upper surface as it goes into the TCA area on the right hand side