Rebird Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 I'm looking to install a rear subframe in my z to mount some 335's or so and a ford 9" rear. After searching a while i stumbled onto the art morrison website as per one members suggestion. Has anyone purchased one of their "welded" rear frames (or another builders prefabbed rear frame)? If so, what width frame rails did you purchase and was it actually easier to go with the prefabbed frame vs. doing a custom fear frame yourself ("unwelded kit")? I am also considering what "Mike kZ" did to his z... looks real nice and pretty straight forward.... Have any other members built the "Mike kZ" rear clilp? Thanks in advance!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 13, 2006 Author Share Posted August 13, 2006 P.S.... the z will not have any flares on the car so i would imagine the art morrison (or whoever built it) frame would have to be on the narrow side. i'm new to z's so if these are stupid quiestions, please excuse! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 my car has been home backhalved. just cut out alllll the floor inside the rear fenders. the guy who i bought it from did the frame rails to close to the outside IMO and i can only fit a 315 tire in there *me pissed off* i wanted to run a 335/15 inch MT drag radial, but so much for that plan. i hope to get a bunch of pics here soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 13, 2006 Author Share Posted August 13, 2006 Would love to see pics.... thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Hey Rebird, nice Camaro avatar! I have a '68. I'm going to be putting a Ford 9'' live axle rear in my 240-Z as well. Big tires are a must, but I'm going the flare route to fit them myself. Are you planning the car to be a stright-line racer? From my understanding, the Art Morrisson setup uses their drag-oriented ladder bar or 4-link setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 14, 2006 Author Share Posted August 14, 2006 hey john, thanks for the compliment... i actually just sold my camaro a few weeks ago.... i will put my z in the avatar when it becomes "pic worthy"!! although i would like my z to handle well, it will just be a cruiser and will never see a track or roadcoarse while i own it. from your response, it sounds like the 4-link is the preferred method vs. a ladder bar on the street and handling? thanks for any info!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 The 4 link is also more drag-race oriented... but if you're just cruising it probably will work fine. Actually, I think Art Morrisson is now selling a triangulated 4-bar setup that is supposed to be a better corner-hugging design. This has the upper two arms converging in plan view at the pumpkin like the 5.0 Mustangs of the 80s. I plan on going with a satchell link rear suspension myself. It is a little different than the triangulated 4-bar described above. It is like a 4 link except that the lower two arms converge in plan view towards the front of the car (rather than at the differential). This setup allows lots of anti-squat while maintaining some roll understeer if desired. It isn't as popular in the road-racing world as the 3-link, but there are a few guys running it. We'll see how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 15, 2006 Author Share Posted August 15, 2006 Great info.... thanks a bunch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 for now thats the only pic i have of the backhalving. i have some more pics of it now that i have the car completely stripped. what you are looking at is a 4 link and a ford 9 inch with QA1 coil overs and a stock LS1 gas tank. im not sure exactly how im going to do the floor pans... but i guess ill just start and go from there haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 16, 2006 Author Share Posted August 16, 2006 The pic does not show up.... box with red "X" in it.... i sure do see that a bunch on here.... am i doing something wrong to not be able to see all of these pics? goofy question but i'm a nubee!!! thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 there, i fixed it i dont know what the deal was, when i posted it before it was there, i edited it and it looks fine now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lason Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Im in the process of doing a backhalf on mine and will be running 15 x 10's with 28x13.50 ET Streets and 28x10.5W slicks. Here is the most current pic I have of my progress. I have a 8.8" out of a 94+ mustang with disk brakes that Im going to narrow and put 9" ends on it to eliminate the c-clips along with a chassisengineering 4 link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 just as a point i want to say that cardomain SUCKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 just as a point i want to say that cardomain SUCKS Use these guys: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/login.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebird Posted August 18, 2006 Author Share Posted August 18, 2006 lason, that looks like a huge job.... looks real nice for the early stage though. who's kit are you using? lsi, that is funny..... i thought i was doing something wrong.... ha ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lason Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 No ones kit. Just went and bought some 2x3 .083" square tubing, a chop saw and started cutting and welding. I need to go get some more 2x3 so I can go ahead and finish the frame and frame connectors going to the front of the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 LS1 240Z and Lason, good job! I'll be joining you guys in the near future... my rear axle housing is being delivered on Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 240Z Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 i cant take credit for the backhalving, someone else did it. like i said, if i did i would have made it clear wide ass tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lason Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Only problem with REALLY wide tires (like a 33x14.50) is you have to cut and stretch the wheel well opening to clear anything larger than a 28" diameter tire. I chose to leave the stock outter wheel wells in there and just go as wide as I can with 28" tires. I figure if I cant hook on a 28x10.5W and a 4-link then I have other issues, lol. Other issues I have come across doing this is also the seating area. Normally using the chassisworks 4-links they recomend 18" long links on the 4 link. I put my crossmember up against the rear seat mount and that means I will have to run a 17" link. Not usually a good thing since adjustments will be more sensative and it will make it a little trickier to dial in. With the chassisworks kits they use smaller bolts and more holes tightly together so Im sure that will make up for the shorter links. As is though, it will be a tight fit in the seat with the stock column and dash but Im 5'6 so Im hoping it wont be that big of an issue. Ladder bars would have helped that and been easier but the front mount would have been right around the front seat mount so the seat would have had to be raised up enough to clear it. One solution to the short links and seating space goes back to stretching the wheel well opening. If you stretched the opening to accomodate a 33" tire (stretching only the rear half of the opening) then that would move your main crossmember back 1 1/2" and you would be able to use 18" links. That would be the best solution. Not to mention it would lengthen up your wheelbase and that would make for a more stable car on the strip. I hear these datsuns are a handfull running 5's in the 1/8th with stock wheelbase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Lason, Regarding trailing arm length, you have the option of moving the axle mount rearwards (actually behind the axle) to make your links longer. This gives you the same benefits of having your frame link mount further forward. So, for example a link that is 18'' long that connects to the axle directly above the axle centerline and 18'' ahead of the axle CL (assuming a link with no slope) will act the same as a link that connects to the axle 3'' behind the axle CL and only 15'' forward of the axle. Another option (which probably won't work without using big fender flares and moving the wheels outboard slightly) is to run the links outboard of the seats. To accommodate my links, I'm actually going to run my upper links outboard of the passengers... so basically my upper links' upper mounts will be next to me while I sit in the car. With my frame design, I could theoretically acommodate as long as 60'' upper links... but that is a little absurd. I've been modeling hundreds of iterations of my rear suspension design on the computer to try and optimize it. For anyone attempting to design a suspension from scratch, I would suggest downloading the free demo (10 days free with complete function) of Suspension Analyzer from Performance Trends (google will find it). Plug in your coordinates and it will spit out all the outputs you can think of and show you how they react in bump and roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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