new to me ebay suspension

[tube80z]

Jon' date='

I couldn’t agree with you more when it comes to caster on the front of the Z, especially for transitional handling situations such as slalom racing and SOLO-II. Adding caster allows the car to “turn-in†MUCH harder and with more authority.

I have to eat some crow and agree with you that even if you do give up a little anti-dive to gain MORE caster with those pretty T/C rods, for someone building an Auto-X/street car, that is a compromise worth making. To modify the T/C mount to retain the pivot location does require quite a bit of involvement and most guys, justifiably, aren’t willing to hack on their cars to that degree.[/quote']

 

Hi Paul, good to see you back. I agree with most of what you wrote except for one thing. I don't think you want anti-dive on a solo II car. I've found it leads to understeer in tight corners at high lock. My current car has TC rods similar to the units you call "bling-bling" but I'll call them half blings since they aren't as pretty. The three reasons I chose this route was to have an adjustable mount to see if anti worked or not, make the car more controllable under braking, and lastly to reduce friction in the suspension.

 

I made three mounts to test this out. More anti (approximately 30%), less (15%), and as close to zero as I could get. Zero worked best. I say approximately because the software I have, while being 3D, doesn't take into account any compliance effects. And those I'm learning can be considerable.

 

Cary

[tube80z]

I'd love to come down to central Oregon and do some autoxing with you guys when I eventually get the thing done. There are some fast guys down there for sure, and I'm sure I could learn a lot from you all.

 

We like to think we're fast but you live in the backyard of one of FP's big dogs. Drop me a PM if you're interested in the Oregon autox scene.

 

Cary

[tube80z]

Personally, I would avoid TC rods that shorten the arc. If used in conjunction with a poly LCA bushing the front suspension will bind easily and you put a lot of stress on the shock shaft.

 

Hi John, how do you typically measure this. I've become very interested in compliance effects and friction as of late.

 

Cary

[johnc]

Hi John, how do you typically measure this. I've become very interested in compliance effects and friction as of late.

 

Bathroom scale between a floor jack and the LCA.

 

Remove the spring and anti-roll bar and jack the LCA up through its range of travel. I basically record the poundage on the scale after every pump of the jack handle and try to note any big spikes/peaks while I'm pushing the jack handle down. Not too scientific and you have to be consistent with how hard and fast you push on the jack handle, but it worked for me. It doesn't take into account any spring affects, but unless you're going to use the Hyperco hydraulic lower spinrg perch there's not much you can do about that.

 

Regarding anti-dive/squat in the suspension - I don't know enough about it so I try to eliminate it (or not add it). I might be missing something that can help but there's only so much my little brain can handle when trying to tune a suspension.

 

BTW... I tried to do a test with the springs and ARB installed and the car ratcheted down to my lift. Scared myself so I don't do that anymore.