1. camber/castor. shim the linkpins (for king and link pin) for negative camber. you won't get much but it helps. Buy the fattest castor shims bugpack sells. this helps with turn in
2. tyre pressures, hard on the back, soft on the front. to give you an idea, I was running 40psi on the back and 20psi on the front. And the thinner the front tyre the better. I'd aim for a 165/175 wet weather type tyre with a soft compound or rally steer tyres like are used on the front of Mitsubishi EVO rally cars. Pick em up second hand. I've found they transformed the car on dirt.
3. Stiffen up the back shocks, soften up the front. STOCK OIL SHOCKS on the front. HARD GAS SHOCKS on the back. Also, brace everything in the back end with a kafer cup brace or similar barwork and put an 19mm antiroll bar on the back. 24mm rear torsion bars or similar. You want the back to let go before the front.
4. move anything that is heavy and not location-crucial to the front of the car. Battery, fuel tank, fuel pumps, driving lights, etc. Make a front bar up and don't skimp on the steel (but don't go too crazy or fill it with lead). Take hole saws to the back of the car wherever possible. Cut off any useless metal tabs or fittings. Be ruthless. Move your driving position forward a little.
All these things have worked for me. My car now handles well on dirt (what I set it up for) and not bad on the street.
Have a look at my build up and see what has/hsan't worked for me.
http://www.geocities.com/peterwood73/bu ... index.html
oh, and buy some turning brakes.
