Autox a 65-66 in ESP?

Rob,

Good luck on the repurchase of your old car, it sounds like you should never have let it get away from you.

As for the fiberglass composite leaf springs - http://flex-a-form.com/ - they are supposed to respond much quicker then steel, but I'm not sure how adjustable they are. Evidentally you are not supposed to use aluminium lowering blocks to adjust your ride height with fiberglass leaf springs. And I would assume a watts link or panhard bar would be mandatory.

Your set-up sounds similar to mine, but they slap me in CP, because of my T-5 (as if I would ever get to 3rd in an autoX event) and fiberglass trunk deck.

Good luck and hope you get your car back and get out on the AutoX / Open Track.

Tim

65 fastback,

I have to re-read the rule book to confirm, but I was pretty confident that the T-5 was legal for Street Mod. Have no idea about the fiberglass trunk deck.

though i dont auto cross, i drive'er like a stolen rental, and im real happy with the eaton gt comp springs in the rear of my 65... slightly stiffer than the gt springs, 1" lower. npd carries them in their catalog.

I talked to someone at Flex a form a couple of months ago. They save a ton of weight. I was told that the comp springs would not need a watts link or a panhard bar as they were just as stiff laterally as steel.

The one thing that kept me from buying them was that flex a form highly recomended that I use a set of cal tracks with their springs. If I ran a sticky tire, I'd get wheel hop. Wheel hop already was a problem. $400 for the springs, $300 for the cals plus shipping. It started to get expensive and the cals negated part of the weight factor.

I ended up with a set of maier race springs.

I read an article 6 months ago in PHR on a mustang II with a set of Flex a forms. It pulled over 1g. The guy was using it to auto x.

PHR tested it "as the fastest car" that they had ever tested at whatever track they use. The motor was still pretty stock but it had a set of wilwoods on all 4 corners and a set of auto x tires front and back. The front sup just had a different set of springs and shocks. It seemed pretty basic.

The guy only had $6000 in the whole project.

You might also want to check out Maierracing.com.

The owners autocross a lot and they've got a set of springs that are stacked to control wheelhop.

I don't have a set personally, but will probably in the near future.

I have a set of 200lb-in flex-a-forms in my 66. I haven't autocrossed with the car yet (next season as the car was being upgraded for most of this season) but the car is very predictable and the lateral movement is little to none. I also don't have wheel hop and don't have cal-tracs even with quite spirited, aggressive driving. If you can afford them and would like the weight savings, I'd recommend them.

The difference in ride was enormous, but to be honest I can't blame that all on the springs. I switched from worn out rubber and sagging 4 leafs to the flex-a-forms but at the same time added subframe connectors and poly "racing" shackles.

The ride now is firm but not harsh and the springs recover extremely quickly over bumps so that the car doesn't move up and down much when moving over rough roads. The rear end isn't as "live" feeling any more when one side hits a bump--I could almost feel as if I had an independent rear or at least a 3 or 4 link like the Fox bodies. When cornering on uneven pavement I used to skip sideways a foot or more as I bounced over the bumps. Now, over the same roads I don't have any of that "lane change" tendency. The stability is something I'm really enjoying and the car feels quite balanced now with the GR-2 shocks on both ends and the 480 springs up front.

As far as weight distribution, I don't notice any increase in understeer due to weight loss in the back. I'm not yet neutral or Corvette-like, but I'm not an oversteering pig, either. I still have a ways to go chassis and front suspension-wise before I'm up to that Mustang II's handling that was referenced above.

One minor disappointment I had was that the ride height was higher than I wanted. I asked for the "road race" style springs, which meant that I remained at stock height (27" from ground to lower edge of wheel well top). But... that's 2" higher than I wanted to be. I did drop almost an inch by reversing the eyes, but still want another 1/2 -1". Long story short, I would have specified a 2" drop. The 1" drop (after reversing the eyes) is an inch too high for me.

As far as lowering blocks, I'm going to compromise ride heights and experiment with 1/2" lexan or acetal blocks. Chamfering (rounding) the edges and using the supplied plastic (acetal) 1/16" spacers should be safe and not damage the composites nor create much of a moment arm that could induce wheelhop.

Daniel

Jimmys66 said:

I read an article 6 months ago in PHR on a mustang II with a set of Flex a forms. It pulled over 1g. The guy was using it to auto x.

PHR tested it "as the fastest car" that they had ever tested at whatever track they use. The motor was still pretty stock but it had a set of wilwoods on all 4 corners and a set of auto x tires front and back. The front sup just had a different set of springs and shocks. It seemed pretty basic.

The guy only had $6000 in the whole project.

Click to expand...

PHR's article.
Nice car!

That's the one. I paid $5 to buy it off the newsstand just to read that article.

With some more hp that would be a nice little track burner.