Chassis Tuning Advice and Techniques - Chassis Tips

Question traditional setups.When I raced Go-Karts I was at the IKF Nationals in Minnesota on a small dirt oval, and the first night of races I was absolutely shocked at how horrible my Kart was handling during the A-main. The Kart was so loose that I was hardly turning left at all. With those under-powered vehicles, that is never a good combination. I ended up finishing second in the A-main and almost won the thing. After I watched the tape of the race, I noticed that the top three were in a class of their own. But the odd thing was that every one of us was loose as could be, while the rest of the field wasn't loose at all. Sometimes those traditional setups need to be questioned and you might need to run a little more radical setup. Be forewarned, though: The radical setup won't handle as good as the traditional setup. Jeff Gordon once said he was the fastest when he was on the edge of control.

Rearend straightness needs to be a top priority.Each time you weigh your car, run a string to double-check how straight your rearend is underneath the car. I can tell you, I noticed a huge difference when I moved mine a mere half an inch. Not to mention how much the time improved on the stopwatch. The big thing to remember is that not all rearends are equal lengths on both sides. My quick change is a half-inch longer on one side compared to the other. You need to remember this when straightening your rearend. Talk with the manufacturer and determine the rearend measurement.

Swaybars and the load applied to them is crucial.Your choice of front swaybar is vitally important to your success. Again, I wish there was a magic number for the size swaybar you need for success, but each track will more than likely demand a different one. More importantly, it's crucial to attach the swaybar on a level surface. With the swaybar attachments, you can choose to run a little preload. This will put pressure on the swaybar before hitting the track. I always start mine with no load, where the swaybar is connected without any preload. But, if the car is just a little loose, I crank some in for practice just to give it a try.

Travel in the front or rear can wreak havoc on a setup.As your car transitions from the straightaway to the corner, the front and rear will travel greatly. On our car, we can expect somewhere between 3 to 4 inches of travel in the front end. The thing to remember on asphalt is you don't want the chassis to bottom out on the pavement, as this will cause the front end to shoot up the track.

Upper control arms can find speed.The upper control arms control the camber and caster of the car. Having a choice of upper control arms and shims to move the control arm is crucial for speed.

Vise grip the steering down anytime you are working on the front end of the chassis.One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not "clamping down" the steering while working on the front end of the car. By taking two vise grips and attaching them to the steering column in a way where the steering wheel cannot be turned either direction, you are assuring that while you are setting the toe your steering position is not being moved.

Weight position is key whether racing on dirt or pavement.The chassis I am currently racing was purchased from a pretty successful team. The thing I noticed right off the bat was that every bolt, no matter what use it was serving on the car, had been bullet drilled, or hollowed out. On asphalt, you want as much weight as possible in the framerails to assure a low center of gravity. However, on dirt it isn't as crucial because you want that weight to transfer quickly and make the car rotate quicker on the different surface.