Effect of Torsion Bars on Shifter Chassis Setup

[nighthawk]

;D Hi Again,

How effective are torsion bars as an aid to chassis setup? Especially on tight tracks like Stockholm with the two hairpins. Assuming a heavy driver (me!) should I start my basic chassis setup with the rear torsion bar flat or full up? Or should I just leave it off the kart like it is now? Yea, I know more dumb questions! ;D
Thanks for any advice.

[tommcdaniel]

Hi John,
They're all good questions. What chassis are you running? Does your kart have a removable front bar? The best thing to do is to make sure your kart has a good baseline set-up. Install the seat per the manufactures measurements. At the rear, Medium axle, medium hubs, axle down(chassis up), 2 seat struts per side, 54.5 rear width. At the front, neutral caster, no camber, 1mm toe out, spindles height in the middle position, front width in the middle. Leave the front bar install if its an option, as for the rear bar either leave it off or install it Flat. The best thing to do is to try it both ways and see what works best. Bars add grip, and depending on the rest of your set-up, you wont really know what works best until you try it. For some reason I had to write all that before saying a word about the torsion bar.
Hope that helps,
TOM

[lance9]

Write down in your notes where you start at. Then adjust track width, then mess with tire pressure. I would first start at wallmart and buy 4 cheap scales, NOT the digatal ones, but the kind grandma used to have. where you can adjust the "0". Have a small child stand on them all and get them all the same. Get your 4' level and find the level spot on your kitchen floor. set the kart on the scales and get in. Have small child tell you what they say. try moving seat to get about 57% on rear wheeles. side to side should be close to even. don't worry about 5 lbs but if it's 10 or more check for bent spindle etc.

[nighthawk]

;D Hi All,

Thanks guys for the response. Tom, surprisingly enough your baseline setup is just about what I got from Curtis at KGB. The only difference being; they insist on toe-in only, no toe-out. Your the second person who has said toe-out so that is the way I will go. Also, because of my F.O.G. physique, I will need to change the seat out as one of the first steps in setting up the kart for me. Unfortunately, KGB didn't send the seat measurements with the chassis setup info. I think Pat at SMP is going to help me with the seat swap so I'm pretty sure he will have a good place to start for me. Lance, thanks for the scaling info, I had been looking at a set of digital freight scales on line but they are pretty spendy! Also, could I borrow the small child you mentioned to read the scales? I don't seem to have any of those laying around. ;D I will check Wally World for the old style scales and see what they have. Again, thanks for the responses. Every little bit of info I can get now will save me time and frustration down the road. I'm actually starting to get excited about all this!

[Mark Enderlein]

John,
We have digital scales and the leveling rack here in the shop. Give me a call if you are interested in renting time on it. Mark

[nighthawk]

8-)Way Cool!

That sound's great Mark. I will contact you shortly with my weekly pesty questions and setup a time to scale the kart. Maybe if you or Chris have the time, you could do my baseline setup as well. I really need to learn this from someone who knows what they are doing.