OlderThanMe Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 this hit me like a brick wall the other day...why even have a coil over the strut? why not relocate it via pushrod (heavy duty) inside the vehicle or even mounted to the outside of the control arm? this way you could use 6" of backspacing with really fat tires. Just a thought that came across me when I was installing my coilovers...the purpose was to increase tire clearance and add adjustablity and cheap springs...why not go all the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Well, I'v seen something like that a few years back in the SPORTCOMPACTCAR magazine, about the same time that the ford focus came out. They decided to build a rally focus that could go against an european market foci. A particular problem they came up against was wheel travel so, in order to fix this, they added some transvers bars to the cage and horizintally mounted the coilovers in the car. The two shocks where bolted head to head on a pivot so they could move up and down and the other end was bolted to an triangular kinde of a rocker arm with 3 holes in it hole1 is bolted to the same bar as the shocks's heads, 2 is bolted to the shocks's feets and 3 is bolted to a push rod. This may soud complicated at first but really simple: The push rod is in place of the original shock on the spindle, when the wheel hits a bump, it goes up with the pushrod, witch in turns pushes on the rocker arm and make it pivot aroud the point of the triengle bolted to the bar, so, in turns pushes on the shock and VOILÀ, an inboard suspention. I'll try to look trough my old magazines and finde the pics, it's realy neat and I'v tought about the idea a few times myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 15, 2006 Author Share Posted May 15, 2006 yep...the only problem is that the strut insert has to take forces of accelerating and decellerating so I don't think that it would be acceptable as a suspension member. Plus since the push rod attaches to a rocker bar then camber would change through travel...oh wait...I just had an idea to fix any camber change throughout full travel...hmm... it would be complex though... I think anything you do to get the springs off of the struts would help. It would be hard to do the front suspension though. Rear would not be that hard. You could fit 15x9s under stock rear fenders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Yes, forgot to mention tha tthis was done only to the rear suspension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest d3adp00l Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 Fox which is more know for offroad shocks makes air shocks(no like the ones people use for load compension or to make cars jump) that can be re-valved and tuned for street apps which would/with mod/ replace the whole bulky thing altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Air shocks???? more info, you have any web sites? Are these the same system that another company designed for the WRX??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 yeah...used in a lot of baja 1000 vehicles from vw bugs too trophy trucks...mostly in buggies though. check out www.race-dezert.com I think that is it...it is the major site for offroad desert cars...say the hybridz of desert racing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 The thing is that with off road suspension (maybe On3Go could cut in here, since he seems to know about sand rails) there is alot of BUMP damping, but almost no rebound, cause the car spends mutch time in the air, you want he shocks to deploy at full lenght as fast as possible to have the most compression travel at landing, so, i guess it would'nt be good for tarmac. Am i right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 they are usually fully adjustable shocks for BOTH compression and rebound... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Well thanks, I'll go to sleep smarter tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 hmm...maybe something will come of this idea...at least a way to stick inhumanely wide tires under a stock bodied Z... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 ...the only problem is that the strut insert has to take forces of accelerating and decellerating so I don't think that it would be acceptable as a suspension member. what do you mean by that, I don't know if my explanation was clear but, go on Sportcompactcarweb.com and do a search for A RALLY FOCUS, I'll try to do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 well the strut is a suspension member so you would need something to act as an upper suspension member. If you cut off the strut tube and use a pushrod that goes to a rocker arm then as the suspension moves through its range of travel you will have dramatic changes in camber since the pushrod will change its angle the further it compresses the inboard suspension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 I see that they used a rocker arm that wass longer on one side. Since that vehicle needs a lot of travel that will work. I am just thinking that for a car that is designed to drive on pavement the camber control is very important. I can see that car having negative camber at full droop and negative camber at comperssion. With the offset rocker arm and some rediculously high spring rate that would work fine but I would not design it that way. there just needs to be a way to keep camber the same through the entire range of travel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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