one corner 'almost' done.... ;)

[fiero308]

finally had a chance to work on the car this wknd and last a bit and have made a bit of progress on the quest for unequal length A arm suspension all round.  As some may know, the rear McPherson struts are gone (partly to ensure that I keep going with the project....LOL )
So a few pix to update on what I have managed and found out and so on.  This is all part of upgrading the suspension - altho it won't be for everyone and might not be for me other than on the track - the shocks I am using are 3" of total travel with VERY heavy springs to control ride height adjustments and total compression on corners and bumps.
So first pic is the 3rd generation adapter I had to build to connect the rear knuckle (or upright) to the wheel and the car (shock, frame, 'new' upper A arm, etc).  Once I got that figured out the rest wasn't so bad; but the frame reinforcement was VERY fussy and time consuming work; not that it is done yet; as you will see, the shock is not mounted yet but it is almost academic at this point; there are not too many choices to make now; simply make a mount and weld it in place.
So: the 3rd try at a wheel/suspension adapter: (the one on the right; the left is the 2nd gen but I didn't like how it was going to work)

[fiero308]

now how it fits; you will see it attached to the upright and then the new upper control arm attached to the horizontal tube via heim joints or 'rod ends'.......

this is the right rear corner by the way; looking more-or-less rearward.

[fiero308]

this ass'y gives me a ride height as shown; that sets the upper control arms horizontally and the hub goes up and down perpendicular for the first bit of suspension travel (remember, there is VERY little movement in this suspension; it is going to be VERY harsh....)

[fiero308]

this is how the assembly looks at ride height.
so far, the theory is working out ok.........
 

[fiero308]

and this is at maximum compression; at this point (see next pic altho it may not be all that clear) I gain some nice camber that should help account for any little bit of body roll.  I am going to start out without any sway bars just to set things up and see how things go.  There are actually a number of autocrossers who go with heavy shocks and no swaybars so that isn't necessarily unusual thinking......

[fiero308]

yeah, so the photographer was leaning.........
the level (the white vertical thingie) is actually, REALLY vertical here; shows a few degrees of camber at max compression of the suspension.  At least things are leaning the "right" way......
amazing........

[fiero308]

and as an afterthought......... SHOCK absorbers...!!!!
oh yeah.
Not reallly, tho
it is just that I didn't show any earlier so I am sticking this in to give an idea of how it will sit in this setup.  Obviously no coil over spring in place at the moment; makes it a LOT easier (   :o ) to compress..........  ;D
but it all fits and goes up and down square and there is LOTS of adjustment.
So the shock mount is next then that corner is pretty much done.

Interesting point - the final heights were actually limited by not only the tire hitting the inside (uppermost part) of the wheel well/fender liner; more importantly, the AXLE was going to hit the middle frame member if I put the ride height TOO low (set the wheel ass'y too high in the wheelwell.  LOADS of other things I have found out...
But I am using a chev S10 bearing ass'y (4 3/4" bolt circle); IROC (camaro) 16x8 rims; "REARS" have more offset than "FRONTS" ??? (go figure); machined and modified Pontiac 6000 uprights or knuckles; my 91 Lumina Z34 axles look like they will be a direct fit as far as length goes.  (WHEW)
It has been a trial but I volunteered for it so I can't complain too much I guess,.....
or can I??
So will post again once the shock is in place.

[FieroBUZZ]

Hey Graeme, you really DO have a car!  We thought you just had some kind of suspension fetish.  

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that you are probably more insane than even I am. LOL!

[fiero308]

Yeah, Gary; absolutely NUTSO is for sure.  I won't do this again; too much down time and a LOT LOT LOT of frame reinforcement (which is necessary but REALLY boring and VERY time consuming); it might not be that obvious but there is a lot of extra steel welded in ..... almost everywhere and certainly concentrated at the areas where all the new stress points are going to be; I am showing just ONE (ok, maybe 2 or 3) of the areas that I beefed up and it is not done yet; I have to make a solid upper shock mount.

This pic is the middle frame member; the one immediately above the cradle; and I have put three long pieces of flat bar along this; 2" x 1/8" thick, welded continuously - AFTER welding the original frame seams up (underneath it now) to make it stronger than just spot welds would.  Then there were some miscellaneous spots - like an indented area that - wouldn't you know - was exactly where a mounting point was going to be that had to be filled with a piece of heavier plate as well (nest pic)

[fiero308]

here is where I had to fit and weld in a thick spacer to fill an indent in the frame where I was going to go over it with a reinforcement piece anyway.

OK, I guess I didn't keep that pic after all, but it can be seen at the LEFT end of the above pic; a shiny area on the bottom (why are they always on the bottom of the frame; it has been cleaned up to weld in a chunk of steel to fill it flush with the rest of that frame piece.  The pic I AM putting in shows the inside of that same piece (it gets a lot of attention) ready to receive a 19" long piece of 2" flat bar that was welded continuously in place.

[BootMachine]

nice job on that fabriction!

I thought the camber would be a lot more under compression but I guess not. WOW!

Cool stuff!