senor honda

[h=2]Diving into SCCA’s new Solo Spec Coupe autocross class[/h] Wednesday, 18 April 2018


By Jason Isley (words and images)



SCCA's Solo Spec Coupe (SSC), the SCCA's first spec autocross class, is coming on fast and furious, as is evidenced by SSC suspension kit sales surpassing initial expectations. Like many of you, we couldn't help but get sucked in – so we decided to build a car.

Rather than spend our own money, however, we found D Street (DS) autocross competitor and past SCCA Solo National Champ Richard Hayter was very interested in converting his 2013 Scion FR-S to SSC trim, so a partnership was formed.
"A Spec class where everyone is using the same car, tires, and equipment is extremely appealing from a no-excuses, just drive point of view," Hayter explains of what drew him to the class.
The DS FR-S is not Hayter's first experience with the platform, having previously built a Subaru BRZ for Street Touring Xtreme. The SSC class bridges a large gap between Street and Street Touring, and does so at a potentially large cost savings.
"Having previously built an STX twin, I knew I did not want, nor could afford, to go to that extreme again," says Hayter. "It's great fun racing, but not so much a great daily driver."
With a car lined up for our build, we sourced our SSC suspension kit from Tire Rack. Priced at $1,767 shipped, the kit includes pretty much everything you need to covert a 2013-'16 FR-S or BRZ for the class.
In the kit, an Eibach Pro-Kit Plus includes the required springs, which nicely lower the car and increase spring rates over stock for improved handling. Additionally, replacement front and rear sway bars, which are adjustable, further allow the driver to fine tune the handling.
"Our Pro-Kit lowers the FRS/BRZ one inch in the front and rear with a progressively wound 25- to 40-percent increase in rate over the factory springs," says Mark Krumme of Eibach.
"The anti-roll kit offers an increase in bar diameter as well as fine tuning through two-way adjustability. The front bar is a 25mm tubular bar with a 256-percent increase on the holes furthest from the center of the bar and 317-percent increase in the holes closest. The rear bar delivers a 100-percent increase at the furthest and a 200-percent [increase] on the closest settings."
The kit also includes components from SPC, which allow additional front camber, as well as a full range of adjustment to rear camber and toe – which is lacking in stock trim.
One piece unique to the kit is the Koni Sport dampers, which were built with performance driving in mind.
"When we first did the development for the FT86, long before we knew SSC was going to exist, we knew that this car was going to be expected to live in the autocross community," says Koni's Lee Grimes.

"So, when we did the actual development for the car, we had autocross in mind to begin with. We developed it to be driven on the street in full soft, and have that 100-percent adjustment range up from there for your personal tuning. It was intended to be autocross-friendly."
Koni was approached by Tire Rack to develop a cost-effective, performance-oriented damper package for SSC, and since the Koni Sport for this platform was engineered with performance driving in mind, it was already a good fit. To help control cost and ensure equal competition, Koni developed a program from which it could use a production-based damper.
"Every Koni shock is dyno tested at the factory; they have a baseline they have to meet," says Grimes. "When we get [the SSC shocks] at Koni USA we dyno test them to a tighter tolerance than the normal production, to make sure these are better matched than a normal off-the-shelf situation. When they meet the more refined standard, we do the tamperproof seal.
"There are about seven steps these shocks go through before they become SSC shocks," Grimes explains. "We use a tamperproof sticker we previously had used in an oval track series, and are putting other hidden markers in place, so we will see if someone has worked on the shock."
The SSC program is currently consuming the bulk of the FT86 platform shocks being built by Koni at its Holland manufacturing center, but future plans should streamline the process, aiding turnaround time and helping control production costs.
"We are getting probably 80-plus percent of these shocks that Koni Holland is making," says Grimes. "Everything that comes into the country we are immediately testing for SSC use. We are trying to keep the cost down; we want to keep it as cheap and consistent as we can. Eventually, we will have them coming out [of Holland] labeled SSC instead of Sport. They will be doing the testing at the factory, and then we will seal them, this will help speed up the process."

senor honda

No matter what trim or state the car you start with, the process for building an SSC car is largely the same, and it's a project that can easily be completed in an afternoon in your driveway with a basic set of hand tools, less a few specialty items. You will need access to a coil spring compressor and potentially a ball joint separator, both of which can be sourced easily or rented.
In our case, we opted to take advantage of a fully equipped shop when FR Sport graciously offered the use of the bay at its Fountain Valley, Calif., retail outlet. FR Sport also has a state-of-the-art alignment rack, something we knew we would need once the installation was done, as well as tire changing equipment.
With the FR-S on the lift, we made quick work of the front sway bar swap. Dropping the subassembly that secures the sway bar to the chassis makes the process much easier. In DS trim, the car already sported an adjustable sway bar and adjustable end links, but they would give way to the Eibach unit and OE end links. Similarly, the car already carried a set of standard Koni Sports dampers, which gave way to the SSC sealed units shod with Eibach springs.
Of note is that when installing the front dampers, the SPC alignment bolts go in the lower strut mount, while the upper gets filled with a 14mm OE bolt. If you are starting with a completely stock car you may need to source a 14mm strut bolt separately, as the standard part is a 16mm unit; the smaller bolt is authorized for alignment adjustment in the factory shop manual.
The rear toe link installation requires minor manipulation of the parking brake cable, which is easier if you release the parking brake to reduce tension. A ball joint separator may be needed to remove the OE part; in our case, a few blows with a hammer did the job.
New rear lower control arms offer a range of camber adjustment that was lacking in stock trim. Due to the angle of the bushing installed in the rear knuckle, the assembly process is easier if you start with the outer attachment point and work your way toward the rear subframe.
Some users have reported issues when attempting to attach the sway bar end links to the rear Eibach sway bar on its softest setting, but this was easily avoided by waiting to fully tighten down all of the installation hardware until all of the new parts were fitted.
Because the car was previously used in DS competition, it was already fitted with a number of components that could be utilized in SSC. The drop-in replacement air filter, Hawk HP+ brake pads, and a Tanabe exhaust system were retained, saving a good bit of time.
The final piece of the puzzle was the wheel and tire package. The Falken Azenis 615K+ was chosen as the spec tire for the class, sized in at 225/45-17 and priced at a very reasonable $113.22 each at Tire Rack. The 615K+ offers a great balance of performance and value.
We had FR Sport wrap the 615K+ around a set of TR Motor Sports FF10 wheels, which meet class specs, and can be sourced at Tire Rack for $169 a wheel. Our set was one of the last batches offered in the +45mm offset, so we will run 5mm spacers to maximize strut-to-tire clearance for dialing in camber. Future TR Motor Sports FF10 wheels will come with an SSC maximum +40mm offset.
All told, the installation process took about three hours, helped in large part by the well-equipped service bay at FR Sport. With all the parts fitted, the FR-S was rolled across the shop where Mark DeShon, production manager at FR Sport, worked his magic on the alignment rack.
What should have been a quick and easy alignment job for DeShon might have been hindered by some shoddy installation work on our part. This can happen when the two people working on either side of the rear suspension fail to communicate, installing items like eccentric washers that set the camber opposite to one another. This is also when it was discovered the 14mm bolts should have been used in the front struts rather than the 16mm units. Note to self: Read the instructions next time.
Once DeShon addressed those oversights, the setup began to take shape. Thanks to the wide range of adjustment offered by the SPC alignment products included in the SSC kit, ample camber and toe is easily obtained.
The only thing left to do now is get the car on course for a little test and tune, the results of which we'll share soon.