Front Wheel Traction Increasement, Looking for

[Ice Racing]

I would like to improve my front wheel traction, any suggestion will be taking more then welcome.

Please keep in mind that the only usage of the car is for ice racing, the car has already a LSD and drop coil spring.

I would like to increase front wheel down force to the ground.Any suggestion???

[ryan_Fuerte]

couldnt you go with wider tires like a 225/50 with studds. That would give you more bite. But would you want wide tires, i know there no good for winter driving, but ice racing would be diffrent i think.

-Ryan

[Ice Racing]

I can only go 70 series but you bring up a good point. We were always told that all the guys who tried 14" before never made anything good and all came back to 13. We were also told that, dyno figures for 1 inch taller wheel would reprensent about 15 whp. We tought it woulb be better in 13 (like 15 whp for free ) But maybe they did not had the torque to ride them crazy enough (all of them are 4 cyl) maybe the ZE is big enough for the job? I will sure try to try it myself if I can find those tires for a drive. Thanks

[ryan_Fuerte]

hey man 13'' rims dont fit on my car, they dont clear the front rotors.

[Ice Racing]

I have a front 323 OEM suspension and rear drum brake from 323 but MX-3 rear suspension (but i still have the original 14 suspension and brake)

[PATDIESEL]

Not that I know diddly about ice racing since we hardly even see below 32* in Georgia, but for what it is worth... I'm sure you've thought about lower tire pressure. I don't know the rules, but you could even get to the point where you screw the tire to the rim like a rock crawler or drag car to keep the rim and tire together under low pressure. You could also try stiffer suspension bushings to drop some wheel play. What exactly are the symptoms? push coming out of corners, push going into corners, no grip to accelerate. The novice way to play with push is changing tire pressure. Lower front and higher rear should help the car make the corner more easily. With cold weather I'm not sure how much would be needed, but on the tarmac it is not that much.(I bet you know this, but I thought I post it just in case).
The ZE matched with the low gear ratios of the G series trans equates for some really nice low end grunt so a larger wheel might help. It translates to more HP and less torque from what I know. Other than weight the diameter cannot increase both HP and Tq, laws of physics. Toe can play a decent factor in acceleration and deceleration, but I've not played with it. I think it is toe out for acceleration and toe in for decelration, but I might be backward. Then there is transfering weight with spring heigth or weights (if allowed). Simple math there, more weight on the front means more traction, but less braking and maybe a squirly rear end. I've also found that my MS LSD doesn't hold the power of the ZE and slips if I'm heavy on it in the first two gears (mostly first). I doubt you hammer it that hard on the ice, but you might need a double check on the LSD and its opperating properties, especially coming out of corners where one wheel is going to want to slip much more easily. The last thing I can think of is really drag car related, but you might think about stiffer rear springs to combat weight shift, keeping the weight on the front. However, I'd bet that it won't take much to unbalance the rear in the corners so that could be a tricky thing to play with.

[Yoda]

hey man 13'' rims dont fit on my car, they dont clear the front rotors.

it depends on the year of your MX-3 and the sequence it was produced Mazda's common production line. Some of the '91 to early 93's had the smaller calipers from the 1.6 and under 323 H/B otherwise if 13" wheels are really necessary then you could just swap to the 22V13 calipers.

[Yoda]

The last thing I can think of is really drag car related, but you might think about stiffer rear springs to combat weight shift, keeping the weight on the front. However, I'd bet that it won't take much to unbalance the rear in the corners so that could be a tricky thing to play with.

Stiffer rear springs (than in the front) in any Mazda FWD product is one of the first upgrades everybody makes to their car for racing on a road course as well if not more so. The general rule for racing on a circuit is that the front springs be 1/3 to 1/2 as firm as the rear. On ice and snow the car still remains well balances and very predictable. When I drove in a few of the SMCC winter rallies in the Laurentides, Montérégie and Outaouais the car would remain firmly planted to the course which could be anything from dry pavement to sheet ice. I also allowed to get a good pendulum going which will get you in and out of turn faster without loosing momentum. This is not really much of an option unless you are running coil-overs. If you have to stay with conventional springs your best choice will be to find a set of aftermarket (Moog, Monroe) Escort SW over-load spring which I don't think are been made anymore. Slip a length of urethane hose around the soft coils. (the coils closes together). When the coils bind (touch each other) the coil becomes a dead coil and the spring rate increases. The urethane hose reduces the distance each coil has to travel before touching and makes the transition more gradual than 2 steel coils hitting each other. Energy Suspension sells hose specifically for this purpose but there are many urethane manufactures in Quebec that could also supply you. I have also used the 1.5 - 2" thick rubber coil helpers commonly found at Canadian Tire to snub the stiffer coils as well. They look like a donut that you wedge between coils. I drill a couple holes through them and hold them to the coil with tie wraps so they don't fall out. This is not the best solution but will work if you do not have a coil over set-up