Tiga FFA suspention setup

[sjhearn]

I have been racing my '78 Tiga for a few months now and have been playing with the setup, but have not quite reached a point I am happy with. Would any of you Tiga experts out there be willing to share a baseline suspension setup with me.

Thank you,

Sean

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi,

Had some success with my 78 Tiga using the following setup with Hoosier R60A Club Ford tires:

Front Toe = .045" toe out per side or .090" total toe out
Front Camber = 3/4 degree negative camber
Front Bump Steer = .005" toe out at 1.75" bump travel

Rear Toe = .060" toe in per side or .120" total toe in
Rear Camber = 5/8 degree negative camber
Rear Bump Steer = .002" toe in at 2.00" bump travel

Front Ride Height (measure at front bulkhead) = 1.25"
Rear Ride Height (measure at lower a-arm mount) = 1.75"

Front Spring Rate = 400 lbs/inch
Rear Spring Rate = 375 lbs/inch

If I wanted to change the understeer/oversteer characteristic; I would change the rear right height rather than adjusting the anti-roll bars. I used the anti-roll bars to control chassis roll and found the the car responded better in terms of understeer/oversteer to rear ride height adjustments.

I hope that helps.

Joe Marcinski
formerly Tiga FFA 78
currently Royale RP24

[Chris Forrer]

I've been the happy owner of Joe's Tiga for the past three seasons. Have maintained pretty much the same setup. However, how the car will respond depends on what tires you're using. Vintage (now Hoosier treads) or Hoosier slicks for SCCA. At least for the East Coast.
If you're using slicks I'd suggest you keep with Joe's suggestions also with 16 psi in front and 18 psi in the rear.
If you're using the Hoosier treaded tires for vintage use 13 psi in front in 15 psi in the rear. Also bump the spring rate to 500 lbs. front and rear.
As Joe noted there is more response to rake than swaybar adjustment. Really. Pay attention to rake.
In both cases the car will be pretty much neutral with a good amount of feedback.
Have fun.

[DaveW]

...As Joe noted there is more response to rake than swaybar adjustment. Really. Pay attention to rake....

That was the primary tuning tool for my 1980 Zink Z16. A 1/16" rear ride height adjustment made a significant difference in understeer/oversteer. In the dry I kept raising the rear ride height until I got a bit of wheel-spin in the tightest corner. I then backed off until the wheel-spin just disappeared. For the rain, I lowered the rear ~1/4".