Guest Anonymous Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 Would it be possible to swap out the entire front suspension with a unit such as made by Chris Alston's ChassisWorks? (ChassisWork's Front Suspension) They make these for various racers, 'rods, and kitcars, they're available in like 14 different widths. I'm just wondering if it would be possible without too big of a headache (I realize anythings possible with enough cash, time, etc...I think you all know what I mean by "possible"). Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 man people are crazy, but thats cool. we take a great car and make it this ridiculously bad ass machine, but you gotta remember why people like the car , it handles like a rat wearing sneakers when you fresh up the stock suspension and do some very simple tweaks to it, it will respond very well to new parts, that retain stock serviciibilty. people go nuts and go with trick control arms and crazy this and that, but has the stock suspension failed to impress you? is that it? are you ready to drop the whole front off youre car and work maybe a year or more to get this done. now if youre into extreme autox or drag and need some trick stuff to outdo the opposition, theres no limit to what you can in terms of modifying the z to get it to do what you like, thats another reason why people love these cars, its very accepting of such modifications, but at the heart of it, the z is a great handling car and the suspension can be made to handle extremely well for about 1000.00 worth of parts and some time on your back, just depends on what you want out of your z car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 Yes its possible. But there are a lot of issues you need to research. A big thing to consider is the front vs. rear suspension roll centers. If the new front suspension has a higher roll center than the existing rear suspension you'll have a nightmare on your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 It was a fanciful idea, anyhow. I was looking for a way to increas the track of the car. The rear is simple enough - was going to swap in a Ford 9". However, I got a response from ChassisWorks who said it would require plating the Datsun framerails and a full cage, nose-to-tail, to get rails to support the loads the crossmember will need it to. Essentially is one of those - yes it can be done, how much money ya got? Thanks for the response, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 John, theoretically, what is an ideal situation? Should the front and rear roll centers be at the same height, or should the rear be higher? I have read that the handling will be very erratic if the roll center is below the ground. If I remember correctly, the roll center is determined by the intersection of two imaginary lines through the lower control arms. Is this correct? Also, how would you determine the roll center for a solid rear axle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 Its a total fab job, and unless your good with such things, why bother. The strut suspension is'nt perfect or my favorite, but its servicable and realitively cheap compared to what your talking about and handles reasonably well. What are you using the car for and how much time are you welling to put into its construction, thats some of the questions you need to ask yourself along with how many dead presidents reside in your bank account. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 1, 2002 Share Posted August 1, 2002 The roll center of short-long arm (SLA) 4 link suspension is found by extending the suspension link axes until they intersect to form an instantaneous center (usually somewhgere outside the car in space). Then a striaght line is drawn from that center to the contact patch center of the tire opposite the instant center. The roll center is where this straight line intersects the vehicle centerline. The roll center of a live axle car is usually a few inches above the rear axle axis but this can be changed with track bar adjustments (if so equipped). Get "Tune to Win" by Carroll Smith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted August 2, 2002 Share Posted August 2, 2002 Doing the five lug conversion also increases track a bit. I think it is between 1/8 and 1/4 inche per side... That coupled with adjustable control arms would assist you... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZROSSA Posted August 2, 2002 Share Posted August 2, 2002 OP1, How much do you want to increase the track buy? Adjustable lower control arms will let you increase the track a bit. You will also need to move out the tops of the struts to get the camber back in control, but its easyer then fabing a whole new front end and your roll centers should remain the same. You will get a little less camber change with the wider set up as well. Anther way is to get the adjustable lower arms and then get a newer strut that seperates from the upright. Put the track where you want it and then make new mounting tabs on the strut where it mounts to the upright so that you can get the camber in order. I run series 4 rx7 struts on my race car and have done all of the above. This gives me easy big front brakes as well plus the stud pattern would match the ford rears. Food for thought. Cheers Douglas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlsoRanFPrepared Posted August 3, 2002 Share Posted August 3, 2002 I would steer clear of one of those setups. The issue of roll center locations that John brought up are the main concern. As are the very short control arms and a possible lack of easy roll center height adjustment. When designing the tube frame chassis for my E-Mod 240Z I had briefly considered using a pre-made front suspension such as this. I chose not to because of the limited adjustments available. In my situation I will be running very very low ground clearance for autocrossing and will have the chassis set higher for the occasional open track event. With a setup such as the one in the link re-adjusting the roll centers for different ride heights appears to be difficult. This is also not considering the camber curves with a suspension such as that. Really ask yourself why you want to modify the suspension and what exactly you want out of it. The Z can be made very fast with augmented stock style suspension. Increasing the track can give you better performance but the modification should likely be towards the bottom of a long list when modifying a road car. -Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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