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double a arm front suspension?


Guest crazycustom240z

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Guest crazycustom240z

I searched for it and couldn't find anything. I'm going to be using the jegster chassis with a few custom mods. I need to know since I eliminate the front clip and there is no more mcpherson strut where can I find an unequal length double a arm setup with coil overs? my brain hurts from searching the web for hours with little to no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

Jeff

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Guest Phil1934

Street rodders are putting Mustang II under everything. Not the best geometry, but a lot of parts, even 5 lug Chevy or Ford rotors available. Stock is 54-1/2" hub to hub. I've got one 11" narrower so something in there should work. Other question is how narrow frame rails must be to mount various A arms.

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Guest crazycustom240z

I have looked into the mustang 2 front ends they are same thing as a jegster front end and after reviewing the geometry it wont work very good witht the tires that I want to use up front which will be 295 30 17s. I have found a power rack and pinion steering unit which I plan on using a quick ratio steering adapter. The suspension that I am looking for needs good geometry for racing and needs to be able to be adjusted easily for street use as well so I don't go through tires like crazy. I have in many books when a building a custom car select your tire size first then go from there. I would like something where the scrub radius is near zero to make it easier to turn. Like I said before my brain hurts from all of this. I'm thinking I might just have to build my own and use vette rotors since I'll have the vette rear end out back. Oh yeah does anyone know about kits used to convert vette rear ends from the mono leaf to a coil over system for more adjustability. Thanks guys i really appreciate it.

 

Jeff

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Jeff,

I not to sure on the scrub radius thing (will look it up) But when you think about it a mac. Strut might be the easiest thing to use. Just set it up with as much adjustment as you can get with camber plates and you can go from street to race in no time. I think the scrub radius is where a line would hit the ground if drawn through the top of a strut then trough the ball joint. You want zero and the normal would be negative (more towards the center line)with the standard set up. I guess the wider the tyre the larger the difference. There is a way around this however. You need to space the hub away from the ball joint so you can run wheels with the offset biased towards the inside. I did this on my 75 Corolla. It has bilsten struts out of a sentra and s4 rx7 hubs. Funny combo, but cheep. We just figured out where every thing needed to be and welded up spacers from the strutt to the hub.

 

Douglas

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I just don't understand the hot rod world's fascination with the Mustang 2 front suspension. Its better then leaf springs or I beams, but that's about all the nice things you can say about it. A friend runs a hot rod shop in the same complex as mine and I've looked at and measured about a dozen Mustang 2 installs and all of them have worse geometry then the stock 240Z front suspension.

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I just don't understand the hot rod world's fascination with the Mustang 2 front suspension. Its better then leaf springs or I beams, but that's about all the nice things you can say about it. A friend runs a hot rod shop in the same complex as mine and I've looked at and measured about a dozen Mustang 2 installs and all of them have worse geometry then the stock 240Z front suspension.

 

Thanks John for confirming what I have believed for years.

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Guest Phil1934

Interesting story on the Mustang II IFS. Seems there was a fellow selling repro Model A's with Pinto running gear and he had a large supply of the front ends and then went bankrupt. They were put up for sale at a fraction of cost and were snapped up by others in the biz. When supplies dried up, repros appeared as the market had been established. So it had nothing to do with geometry or size.

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One of the advantages of the Ford Mustang-II (come on! call it what it really is! the Ford Pinto) "package" is the low vertical profile and variable width it offers, without the height and width limitations of shock towers (required by MacPherson struts) that intrude into the engine compartment. It allows the builder to install a 460 in a Cobra, 4.6L in a '65 Galaxie...etc.. Not that any of these finished projects will be a slalom champ.

 

I'm sure the C-4 design offers superior geometry, but how many sources are there besides the wrecking yard or new GM parts counter? There are at least 6 manufacturers of aftermarket M-II pieces (arms, spindles, brakes) and complete systems (Heidt's, Fatman come to mind) for the Kit Car, Classic, and Hot Rod market.

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variable width it offers

 

And that's one of the big problems with the Pinto front suspension. Most installs I've seen use the standard rack which is too narrow causing bumpsteer problems. One install I looked at yesterday (on a 1967 Mustang) had the inner tie rod pivot 2.5" in and 2" above the LCA pivot.

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Why don't you do what a lot of racers do. Convert the struts into uprights and make a top and bottom a-arm. May not be as good as a dedicated piece but you can use the stuff you already have. Unless you have nothing and then you're free to put what ever you want on the car.

 

I'm with John on this. I don't know why you'd want to put Pinto pieces on your car and expect it to handle any better than a Pinto. To do this right you really need to design pieces to work with the rest of your car. Otherwise you end up with an expensive project that won't work any better than plain ol' struts.

 

Cary

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Guest JAMIE T

The front half of my car is tube chassis. I just made pick-up points on my chassis to re-use the Zcar parts. If you look at a Strut type front end on a pro stock drag car, it looks like they pulled the parts right off a ZCar.

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I am biased, but the C4 vette setup was my choice. It is not the ideal geometry, but darn close and alot easier than a full custome set up.. It also allows a lot of brake & wheel/Tire options. The suspension is also feather light, especially compared the the factory suspension. Rick

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Guest iskone

For a DCA setup just go with C4 parts. You can find complete C4 front ends for around $500 and less if you look. Or build your own

 

Want to spend more money? Call Wayne Due over in Marysville and ask him what he could do for your Z. http://www.waynedue.com/

 

Isk

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Guest crazycustom240z

Thanks everyone for the info it gave me some ideas that I'll run with for a while and see where they take me. I am going to stay away from the mustang 2 front end and go with some fully adjustable a arms. Trial and error and reading lots of information on the subject will take me in the direction that I want to go.

jeff

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