Spyder Suspension set-up

The originals were race cars. They would have been set up differently for ride height, alignment, etc. depending on the course. They'd have a very different setting for the Targa Florio than they would for a circuit like Spa for example. I doubt very much that there was "A Setting" or that it would be applicable to our replicas in any case.

Not to mention that they also take the driver's weight and driving characteristics into account when setting up the car's suspension.

Most people on here just set up their cars so that the stance looks "right" to each owner.

Thanks for your responses. Surely the car must have had a default 'factory' setting even if the suspension was tuned for racing ?

Does anyone out there have a replica spyder and could suggest a starting setup - just so that I can get the car on the road ?

@DannyP

Danny is "Spyderman"!  He even has corner scales that can be used to tune the suspension.

Front suspension: First, set the desired ride height if you have beam adjusters. Most run 0 to 0.5 degrees negative camber(I run -1.5 degrees for a much more aggressive setup, this is at the expense of some tire wear and slight braking disadvantage). I use aftermarket camber adjusters to achieve this. Always set camber first, then toe-in. I run 1/16" total toe-in, car is very stable up to 125mph. Most run 1/8" toe-in.

Rear: Set ride height first, this equates to 3 to 3.5 degrees negative camber. My car is raked VERY slightly forward, just a touch lower in front without bottoming or rubbing the front. The rear NEVER rubs, maybe the exhaust tip once in a great while on extremely angled driveway entrances. I run 1/16" total toe-in in the rear.

I run a custom-made(by me) front anti-sway bar, made from an old Porsche 911 bar. It's 15 or 16mm. I also run NOS Koni oil front adjustables and QA1 double adjustable(compression and rebound) coilovers out back. I also have 4-pot Wilwood front calipers, single piston rear with drilled solid discs all around.

My car is very stable up to the limit, and tends toward understeer transitioning to neutral. If you cross the line it WILL oversteer but I'm very happy with the setup.

As others have said I set my car up on scales, it is corner-balanced which is THE way to set them if you drive hard. If it's just a cruiser it's not as important.

The weight distribution is 45/55 F/R, pretty perfect for a mid-engine car.

These cars can be made to handle pretty well, and can keep up with modern sports cars MOSTLY. The limits are certainly lower and the suspension cannot equal anything modern. Not to mention that you've got maybe half(probably less) the contact patch on the road. There I'm running Vredestein Sportrac5 tires which are pretty sticky(unforunately NLA).

Remember, the originals had a pretty flexible frame with 4" wide bias-ply tires and drum brakes. The original settings these cars had are really not applicable today.