Hi there im new to this site and i have just bought a 2006 Tiger Cat, its fully built with a 2.0 pinto ready to go.
What chassis mods are about for this car that will improve its handling.

How do you know the handling needs improving if you haven't driven it yet?

Sorry misread your post - thought it said ready to put a pinto engine in.

How does it handle at the moment? what feels wrong? What setup do you have?

[Edited on 12/11/12 by emwmarine]

Not sure but i have a tiger (Fat Cat ) and it has a disadvantage over most 7s as its got a heavy rear end as it uses full sierra axle

Exactly, is there lighter arms that can be used or would i have to replace the entire lot.
It feels a little heavy on the rear end and im not keen on all of the sierra parts used.

Oh yes , it uses Sierra trailing rear arm unit complete doesn't it.

I guess you get what you pay for in a way (not very Locost like) as the Cat was marketed as a budget version that could be on the road at a lower cost.

Other than getting the best dampers you can afford and maybe upgrading all the bushes to poly then it would be a big job to engineer a change to de dion or independent rear suspension as most other sevens have.

Modifying significantly would also, probably, make it harder to sell.

If you are not happy with the handling then it would probably make more sense to sell and buy an R6 if you like Tigers or an MK, Striker, Fury etc.

Having said that I have done some track days in my Elise following a Tiger Cat and it went very very well. What specifically feels wrong with the handling?? Have you taken it on a track - would be the best way to learn how to drive the car and also set up tyre pressures and damper settings etc.

Its prob not set up right im going to give it a full check over this afternoon, i should had checked over it before driving 330 miles home last week!
It could just be me, ive had a few drives of my mates bike engined locost which is 300kgs lighter maybe im making a comparison.

the cat doesnt have the best design there is, but it will perform very well, just ask stewart fenton who regularly races and often wins in his supercat. the best mods are polybush all round, quick rack, lsd, better dampers and most of all is decent tyres, that will make a big difference, 17psi cold R888s in the dry and proxys in the wet.

tiger do a wider rear tub (called super cat) and front arches that allow the fitting of the wider 205 tyres, this helps the handling and looks good as well, cant argue with that.

HTH

Ed

I would recommend driving the car a fair bit before anything drastic

My cat was factory built it has spax suspension and still is as set up by them I think its mostly the driver tbh i run toyo proxies at low psi i kept pushing my cat in the bends harder and harder and every time i thought i was on the limit i managed to take it abit further it took me a long time to find the absolute limit of what it was capable of more than any road car ive had or stock car ive had ...

it did feel slow with a stock 2.0 zetec on twin 40s i admit ...

i then fitted a blacktop with cams on fuel injection with 186hp under the hood i thought the car was fairly quick ...


Ive currently blown my engine but ill carry on seeing what improvements i can make when fixed ..

Cat man mentioned a quick rack i would recommend on and is on my to do list

I have just had it on the ramps and the one of the offside trailing arm bolts was a little loose, the handling is much better now.

The car has been polybushed all round and is running spax shocks.

I need to get it on a track as you said to find out where the limits are.

although a quick rack would suit it.

I think the problem is that i have just got it and im itching to get it stripped down and sorted for the summer.

I can understand.

Personally, I am not a fan of Spax - so maybe you could look at some nice shiny new damper options.

Gaz mono tubes are really good but around 1K.


Lots of other options there. Is the front suspension polybushed? Along with the steering rack bushes?

You could make a camber and castor checking device and check the camber and castor angles. That would be something to play with. As others have said, tyres and tyre pressures will make a huge difference. Get a tyre thermometer - that will help you get the settings right.