springs or coilovers?
Contributing Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,383
From: Here and there, mostly here.
Originally posted by QR25DE
yea i really want flex! i need a job =0( all my friends are telling me to get groundcontrol with KYB
yea i really want flex! i need a job =0( all my friends are telling me to get groundcontrol with KYB
1.) punch all your friends in the face ground control haha meh!
2.) get new friends.
3.) Get a job.
4.) Get coilovers.
In that order.
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14
From: Barrie Ontario Canada
I own a few 240's and im not old enough yet to drive by myself...so i drive with parents....but even tho i dont know how the car handle i am not new to RWD.. my dad previously owned an supercharged mr2 and the thing was gutless...but iunno if i would be a different feel of a 240... and im not bad with the cluth...hope i dont get wrapped up around a pole.....Q?....if the car has the engine on the back and is a RWD drive would it handle differ from a car that has the motor on the front?
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 80
From: knoxville, TN
Yes, i belive it does affect it because you have to figure the engine is right over the rear wheels pretty much so the back end porbally wont want to kick around as much..better weight distribution i think - Brad
Contributing Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 6,587
From: Socal, 909/626
Originally posted by cooch
Yes, i belive it does affect it because you have to figure the engine is right over the rear wheels pretty much so the back end porbally wont want to kick around as much..better weight distribution i think - Brad
Yes, i belive it does affect it because you have to figure the engine is right over the rear wheels pretty much so the back end porbally wont want to kick around as much..better weight distribution i think - Brad
Contributing Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,383
From: Here and there, mostly here.
Originally posted by Jeffrey_Mont
Q?....if the car has the engine on the back and is a RWD drive would it handle differ from a car that has the motor on the front?
Q?....if the car has the engine on the back and is a RWD drive would it handle differ from a car that has the motor on the front?
MR will want to oversteer alot. They have a great launch because all the weight is on the tires. Fun cars though. Weight transfers will be alot more "fierce" since all the weight is behind you.
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 228
From: Claksville ,Tennesse
Im going to be as much tecnical as I can be with u on this :
There are two major characteristics of a drivetrain that impacts the performance of a car: the engine placement and the driving wheels location. The engine placement is a big factor to determine the moment of inertia and the weight distribution of car because many other mechanical/electrical components of a car are usually located close to the engine. The driving wheels location determines which wheels the transmission to send the engine-generated torque to. Due to weight transfer, you will soon find out that driving wheels location is a very important factor in car handling.
For simplicity purposes, car nuts classified different engine placements into three types: front-engined, mid-engined and rear-engined. Front-engined cars have their engine placed in front of the passenger seats. Mid-engined cars have their engine placed behind the passenger seats but in front of the rear driving axle. Rear-engined cars have their engine placed behind the rear driving axle. There is also a subclass of front-engined cars called front-mid-engined. In this subclass, the engine is behind the front drving axle but in front of the passenger seats. An example is the Nissan 350Z .
I will give you examples of cars that represents the seven common drivetrain layouts.
1. Front Engine, Front Wheel Drive (FF)
This is most common drivetrain layout. It is used for all the low cost economy car like Nissan Sentra/Altima,Toyota Camry/Corolla, Honda Civic/Accord, Mazda Protege/Millenium, etc.
FF cars are more front heavy. It can counteract with the understeer characteristics exhibited by front wheel drive cars. The overall effect is that it has slight understeer in all acceleration situations. This actually makes the car more stable in city driving.
The main reason for building FF cars is that it is cheaper to build. Steering, engine, transmission, wheels and so on are all very close by, there is no need to build long axles to transmit the engine power to the other end of the car.
2.Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (FR)
This is most common drivetrain layout for luxury sedans and low end sports car. Examples are Nissan 350Z ,240SX, Mercedes sedans, BMW sedans, Mazda Miata, Honda S2000 etc..One of the characteristics of these cars is that they usually have a almost neutral weight distribution due to the driving axle that traverses from the front to the rear.
Since the weight distribution is neutral, to attain higher acceleration potential, the car needs to be RWD or AWD (see the bottom for math-oriented people). For not powerful enough engines in passenger cars, RWD is good enough to exploit the potential.
RWD cars exhibit oversteer under mild acceleration and understeer under heavey acceleration. The oversteer characteristic allows an RWD car to accelerate after exits from the apex and hence attain higher speed when it enters the straight. For details, please refer to the Understeer and Oversteer section and the Cornering Line section.
2.(b)Front-mid-engined car like the Nissan 350Z or S2000 can turn faster than normal FR cars because it has a smaller moment of inertia.
3. Mid Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (MR)
This drivetrain layout is usually employed by high end sports car and most of the formula one race cars. Notable examples are Porsche Boxster, Ferrari Modena.
Mid-engined is the configuration that has the lowest moment of inertia and hence it turns the fastest.
Weight Distribution is a little bit biased to the rear and hence more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
4.Rear Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (RR)
This is one of the rare drivetrain layouts. Notable examples are Porsche 911 Carrera and the original Volkswagen Beetle.
Rear-engined cars are similar to mid-engined cars but they have higher moment of inertia and are even more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
5. Front Engine, All Wheel Drive (FA)
There are two types of cars that employ this drivetrain layout. The first type includes cars that want to provide traction on all four tires such that you can move the car around in snow or unfavorable terrain. Examples are Subarus, Audis, BMW 330xi. The second type includes high power sports car. Examples are Nissan Skyline GTR, Mistubishi Lancer Evolution and so on.
For high power sports cars, the reason for AWD is to exploit all the traction of the four tires to attain the greatest acceleration possible (see bottom for the gory math details).
Most AWD cars are rear biased in which they allocate more torque to the rear than the front. Therefore they all have mild oversteer under mild acceleration.
6.Mid Engine, All Wheel Drive (MA)
MA car was built in the same spirit as FA cars but the mid engine configuration reduces moment of inertia and hence makes the car turn more quickly. An example is Lamborghini Murcielago.
7. Rear Engine, All Wheel Drive (RA)
RA cars are an extension of RR cars. They take advantage of the AWD to exploit full acceleration potential. An example is Porsche 911 Carrera 4.
Sorry bout the long post I was really bored!
There are two major characteristics of a drivetrain that impacts the performance of a car: the engine placement and the driving wheels location. The engine placement is a big factor to determine the moment of inertia and the weight distribution of car because many other mechanical/electrical components of a car are usually located close to the engine. The driving wheels location determines which wheels the transmission to send the engine-generated torque to. Due to weight transfer, you will soon find out that driving wheels location is a very important factor in car handling.
For simplicity purposes, car nuts classified different engine placements into three types: front-engined, mid-engined and rear-engined. Front-engined cars have their engine placed in front of the passenger seats. Mid-engined cars have their engine placed behind the passenger seats but in front of the rear driving axle. Rear-engined cars have their engine placed behind the rear driving axle. There is also a subclass of front-engined cars called front-mid-engined. In this subclass, the engine is behind the front drving axle but in front of the passenger seats. An example is the Nissan 350Z .
I will give you examples of cars that represents the seven common drivetrain layouts.
1. Front Engine, Front Wheel Drive (FF)
This is most common drivetrain layout. It is used for all the low cost economy car like Nissan Sentra/Altima,Toyota Camry/Corolla, Honda Civic/Accord, Mazda Protege/Millenium, etc.
FF cars are more front heavy. It can counteract with the understeer characteristics exhibited by front wheel drive cars. The overall effect is that it has slight understeer in all acceleration situations. This actually makes the car more stable in city driving.
The main reason for building FF cars is that it is cheaper to build. Steering, engine, transmission, wheels and so on are all very close by, there is no need to build long axles to transmit the engine power to the other end of the car.
2.Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (FR)
This is most common drivetrain layout for luxury sedans and low end sports car. Examples are Nissan 350Z ,240SX, Mercedes sedans, BMW sedans, Mazda Miata, Honda S2000 etc..One of the characteristics of these cars is that they usually have a almost neutral weight distribution due to the driving axle that traverses from the front to the rear.
Since the weight distribution is neutral, to attain higher acceleration potential, the car needs to be RWD or AWD (see the bottom for math-oriented people). For not powerful enough engines in passenger cars, RWD is good enough to exploit the potential.
RWD cars exhibit oversteer under mild acceleration and understeer under heavey acceleration. The oversteer characteristic allows an RWD car to accelerate after exits from the apex and hence attain higher speed when it enters the straight. For details, please refer to the Understeer and Oversteer section and the Cornering Line section.
2.(b)Front-mid-engined car like the Nissan 350Z or S2000 can turn faster than normal FR cars because it has a smaller moment of inertia.
3. Mid Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (MR)
This drivetrain layout is usually employed by high end sports car and most of the formula one race cars. Notable examples are Porsche Boxster, Ferrari Modena.
Mid-engined is the configuration that has the lowest moment of inertia and hence it turns the fastest.
Weight Distribution is a little bit biased to the rear and hence more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
4.Rear Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (RR)
This is one of the rare drivetrain layouts. Notable examples are Porsche 911 Carrera and the original Volkswagen Beetle.
Rear-engined cars are similar to mid-engined cars but they have higher moment of inertia and are even more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
5. Front Engine, All Wheel Drive (FA)
There are two types of cars that employ this drivetrain layout. The first type includes cars that want to provide traction on all four tires such that you can move the car around in snow or unfavorable terrain. Examples are Subarus, Audis, BMW 330xi. The second type includes high power sports car. Examples are Nissan Skyline GTR, Mistubishi Lancer Evolution and so on.
For high power sports cars, the reason for AWD is to exploit all the traction of the four tires to attain the greatest acceleration possible (see bottom for the gory math details).
Most AWD cars are rear biased in which they allocate more torque to the rear than the front. Therefore they all have mild oversteer under mild acceleration.
6.Mid Engine, All Wheel Drive (MA)
MA car was built in the same spirit as FA cars but the mid engine configuration reduces moment of inertia and hence makes the car turn more quickly. An example is Lamborghini Murcielago.
7. Rear Engine, All Wheel Drive (RA)
RA cars are an extension of RR cars. They take advantage of the AWD to exploit full acceleration potential. An example is Porsche 911 Carrera 4.
Sorry bout the long post I was really bored!
