real function of lowered spring ?

[Skunk Killer]

do most ppl lower their car just for look or for better handling at sharp corners ?
will it also help decrease air flow under car at high speed ?
possible to increase top(higher end) speed ?
I know spoiler will increase downforce, but higher = better ?
will body kits effect top speed ?or just for better look mainly ?

I know FR means Front engince , rear drive
wat da bout FC , FD ???
Front Engine Centre drive ???

thanks~~~~

[amicek]

lowering does help with handling as it lowers the center or gravity, but it also makes the larger rims that most people buy look better. the bottom of the celica is not aerodynamically engineered (as far as i know), so air flow under the car, would not change, only some spoilers increase downforce, most are for looks. body kits look nice, but almost always decrease top speed.

[chameleon]

Lowering your car will improve your cornering, so long as you keep it in spec with the rest of your suspention. To achive the good looks that a lot of people are going for, the car usually has to be lowered to far, which actually makes it corner worse. The Celica can handle about 1" and get improved handleing. Most people feel like they need to go at least 2" to get the look they want, and their cornering ability suffers. If you got other suspention components such as shorter shocks, you can lower your car 2" or more and still get improved handleing.

Higher spoilers are not necessaraly better. A higher spoiler will create more downforce on your car wich will make it handle better, but you have to be going really fast to create enough downforce on your car to notice any improvement. A high spoiler creates a significant amount of drag, wich will result in a lower top speed. When race car drivers are adjusting the arodynamics of their cars, they have to decide how much of a speed trade off they are willing to take to improve their handleing on the track. On the streets, even if you are a really agressive driver who races on the streets frequently, you will rarely see speeds high enough to take advantage of a really tall rear spoiler, and if you do, god help you if it isn't in a straight line. To be honest, the best spoiler for the Celica is probably no spoiler at all.

Body kits almost always have a negative affect on top speed because they almost always create more drag. I always underestimated the amount of effect that this stuff had untill one day I read on this board that a lot of peeps with body kits i/e, and big wheels could only get up to around 115mph in their GTS's. Pretty significant when a stock GTS should be able to get up to speeds in excess of 140mph.

Sorry, I cant help you with your last question Skunk Killer, but I have never heard the term FC in relation to a cars engine/drivetrain layout. FD just stands for Front Drive, it does not specify where the engine is on the chassis. I don't think that the C in FC stands for Center because cars with engines in the center of the chassis are describes as being Midship(not Center), such as MR(Mid engine, Rear wheel). So your guess is as good as mine.:p

[Skunk Killer]

THANKS for all inputs:)

seems like all body kits r mostly for better look only
wat da bout TRD 's product ?they should've made something for performance,how do u choose a body kit with less drag ?

mine stuck at 140 (5 spd with TRD drop in only)
is there anything to add on or take off to increase top speed ?
ie: chips , rev limiter....etc

thanks~happy new year~

[amicek]

injen cold air intakes are sold on this site. those can increase performance. trd exhaust helps a little. speed rated tires are always good, if not safer. umm, you can rip out seats to decrease weight. no turbocharger yet. good luck.

[Loves2Rev]

Body kits were originally made to add down force but mostly now are made just for looks. Other than really expensive cars (ie: lotus, ferrari, lamborgini etc. ) I don't know any car makers that use that much body kits for downforce. Mugen always takes a lot of aerodynamics and downforce into account when they make their kits.

I don't know where you got FC and FD from but because they are together this could make sense. FC is part of the engine code for the 2nd generation Mazda RX-7 and FD is part of the engine code for the 3rd generation RX-7. So, usually those cars are referred to as FC and FD. ( I might be wrong about the engine code thing but I do know for sure that these cars are referred to that way. )

[Skunk Killer]

THANKS again~
that's wat my question is
RX-7 used to call FD or FC but I thought it represents the driven wheel FRONT DRIVE or FRONT ENGINE CENTRE DRIVE

one more Q, LEXUS IS300 in North Ameria r FF(Front Engine Front drive) ?cuz I 've seen some Japanese drifting video done by IS300
is that possible to drift a front drive ???
or they made it FR in Japan?

wat's LSD for ???

thanks~

[chameleon]

The Lexus IS300 is rear wheel drive, both in Japan and all of America.

Your car has an open differential and it is located inside your transmition. What a differential does is allow the two wheels that are being driven to turn at different speeds. This is needed when the car is turning.

You can picture it like two people running on a track. Picture the two runners running on the straight length of the track at the same pace. Picture one of the runners running on the inside lane of the track and the other runner running on the furthest outside lane of the track. Now the runners are approaching the turn of the track. If they want to complete the turn in the track so they arrive at the end of the turn at the same time, what must they do? The runner on the outside lane of the track is going to have to run faster than the runner on the inside lane of the track because the outside lane runner will have to run a greater distance than the inside lane. This is the same thing that happens whenever you turn your car, only your wheels are now the runners. The wheel that is on the inside of the turns radius will need to rotate slower than the wheel on the outside of the turns radius. This is because the wheel on the outside of the turn has to travel a further distance in the same amount of time as the inside wheel.

An open differential allows this to occur. There is a problem with having an open differential, however. When you try to launch your car as fast as possible, for example, it will result in one tire spinning. This is because the open differential gives the tire that has lost traction more power so it can spin faster, because it thinks that it needs to in order to complete a turn. But you aren't turning, you are trying to accelerate, and your differential is giving the spinning tire more and more power while the other tire just sits there, getting less and less power. You could obviously launch your car faster at much higher rpm's if both tires received the same amount of power so you could gain traction from both tires. The answer to this problem is a LSD.

A LSD(Limited Slip Differential) allows the tires to rotate at different speeds for turning. When a tire begins to spin, however, it locks the two wheels together, forcing them to turn at the same speed. Viola, instant traction from BOTH tires.

If I didn't explain that well enough, just let me know what confused you and I will try to clear it up. I hope I didn't lose you with my little "track runner" analogy.:D

Oh, and sorry for the long post :sad

[CelicellGTS]

Lowering springs will help in cornering and handeling. The rear spoiler however is just for looks. The Celica is a front wheel drive car, and the purpose of a real Spoiler is to use wind at high speed to force the back wheels down for more grip and power. This is only on rear wheel drive cars, like the supra. But I recommend the springs. Dont waste your money on a huge wing on the back.

[Skunk Killer]

geeeeeeeeez....thanks for that encyclopaedic explaination
:) u should've been teaching engeering program in collage~
now I got wat a LSD is for...but is it like a traction control on Lexus or Subaru ?
so adding a LSD to a FF won't make it "drift" like a FR rite(without using handbrake) ?

now pls excuse my next kid's question...

wat will a lighter PULLEY do ??increase HP ???significantly or slightly change ?ie: will AEM Pulley do anything on our CELI ?

and wat will a triple Clutch and Flywheel do ?
ie : TRD clutch and Flywheel ...worth $$$ ???

thanks again......

[chameleon]

You are right, adding a LSD will not make a car "drift". If you are interested in tuning your car so the rear end slides out when you are taking a corner hard, you should look into modifing your suspention. I would suggest a rear sway bar and rear strut brace with nothing added to the front of the car. This might stiffen the suspention balance to the rear of the car enough to make the rear end slide around a corner. To be honest, I don't know if it will be enough to have that effect or not, but it is the only thing I can think of to make a FWD car "drift".

A light weight pulley will not increase the amount of power your engine makes, but it will increase the amount of power that actually reaches the road. Light weight pulley's take less effort for your engine to turn, which means more available power to turn the wheels. AEM's pulley is for the air conditioning, and it is pretty much useless on our cars. If you want a good increase in power, you need a crank pulley. A crank pulley will give you at least as much of a power gain as you would get from an aftermarket exhaust, and it costs half as much. Unorthadox Racing has made a crank pulley for our cars, you can read about it in this thread...

http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4993

A Flywheel gives you power gains in the same way a light weight crank pulley does. The reduction in rotational mass allows the engine to turn the flywheel more easily, which frees up more power to turn the wheels. Clutches will also give you a power increase because they have more gripping power, so less power is lost in the drivetrane. Plus, as you mod your car more and more, the stock clutch will not be able to hold the power and will wear out prematurely, so an aftermarket clutch like the TRD is a good idea if you are modding your car. I noticed a massive increase in acceleration when I installed my flywheel, LSD and clutch and I would definately reccomend the combo. Definately worth the money IMHO.

[Mirwolf]

Do automatics have flywheels?

[chameleon]

No, only manuals have flywheels.

The closest thing to a flywheel in an automatic is a flex plate. If you replaced the flex plates in an automatic with light weight ones, the car should respond the same way a manual would with the light weight flywheel. You should get a faster revving car and more hp to the wheels.

[oldster]

Originally posted by chameleon
No, only manuals have flywheels.

The closest thing to a flywheel in an automatic is a flex plate. If you replaced the flex plates in an automatic with light weight ones, the car should respond the same way a manual would with the light weight flywheel. You should get a faster revving car and more hp to the wheels.

Haven't been into a Celica trans but the ones I am familiar with (domestic) the flex plate already weighs next to nothing, the torque convertor acts as the flywheel.