asz016
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Front Suspension
Front Suspension
‘Well, here we are at one of the more challenging parts of the bui
the most discussed, argued, and beat to death subjects in car building. My
goals were simple. 1) Pick the attributes that are most important to the type of
driving I will be doing. 2) Arrive on a design that puts the geometry in a way
that meets the criteria for goal #1. 3) Design plenty of adjustability into the
system so that changes can be made easily.
Here are some of the values that I chose:
Roll Center - Roughly 1.75" above ground (static)
Equivalent Swing Arm - Set at 105" Can be adjusted between 80" and 150"
with shims on the upper control arm
Caster - Adjustable between 0 and 8 degrees
Camber - Adjustable from +2 to -5 degrees
I chose to redo the front suspension for a variety of reasons. The whole front
track needed to be widened by 5" to match the rear track from the original kit
pieces. The original geometry had excessive camber gain through the
suspension travel. Another reason for redesign was the fact that I chose
Mustang II spindles and had to compensate for their dimensions. Finally, I did
not care for the bracket/mounting system that was designed into the kit. It was
a little weak in spots and limited the adjustability of the suspension.
..and here is the after...
Both are being viewed at what I am planning as an initial ride height.
Here are a few more shots of the whole thing. Keep in mind while viewing that
everything is just "mocked up" at this point not all the final fasteners are being
used, Some things are missing or the wrong size. That will all be taken care of
at final assembly.
Hnipdlunderweod-racing comvront suspension. Him 1eazo18 Front Suspension
‘Some things of note:
The shock mountings have been moved a little further outward. I did this for
several reasons. 1) Putting the bottom mount for the shock further out on the
LCA puts less bending stress on the LCA and helps keep the spring rate more
effective at the wheel. 2) Putting the top shock mount further out keeps the
angle of the shock from getting extreme and increases it's effectiveness
throughout the suspension travel. 3) T intend to run this car without swaybars
initially and use the spings and shocks only to tune the handling, If you notice,
Ihave made provisions for swaybar links on the LCAs if this does not work out
well.
Another thing to notice about the upper shock mounts is the fact that I made
them extend all the way to the diagonal braces in the front part of the frame.
This was done to counteract any bending forces that would be put on the upper
rail as a result of moving the shock mounts outward.
Another notable is that all the new (or existing) mounting points for the
suspension are now fully boxed, The lower fronts are not yet, but will be. The
reason for this is that the "original" style brackets are cantilevered on either
side of the 1" frame tubes. The loads from the suspension arms are being
transmitted over the cantilevered part. Over time this could lead to the failure
of those brackets. Better safe than sorry here.
1/20/07 - Inexpensive DIY Front Alignment.
Since the car is nearing completion, it seemed like a good time to get the front
end into the initial alignment settings that I wanted. I was able to set
everything up except the toe, but I need to take some material off of the tie rod
links to get it adjusted where it needs to be. The whole alignment process was
done with a $10 angle finder that I bought at Lowes.
hnipdunderweod-racing comvran, suspension. Himasz016 Front Suspension
1) Make sure that the chassis is level both fore and aft. I guess if it were not,
you could write down the offset value and add/subtract that to the actual
camber/castor measurements.
2) Jack up the suspension to the static ride height position. For me, static is
having the lower control arms parallel to the ground.
3) Set the camber to the desired angle. I started with -2 degrees. The magnetic
angle finder was simply attached to the hub face for setting camber.
4) Set castor to the desired setting. My starting point here was +4 1/2 degrees.
‘On the Mustang II spindle there is a convenient bolt surface near the top that is
exactly vertical.
5) Go back and recheck all measurements to make sure that one adjustment
did not affect the other.
Done!
Hnipdlunderweod-racing comvront suspension. Him 3asz016
Hnipdlunderweod-racing comvront suspension. Him
Front Suspension
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