Macpherson struts, a-arms, front suspension brainstorm

[evilC]

I like the Macpherson strut design especially with long track contol arms as you have the potential with a super chassis. My current super has my own fabricated track control arms with 944 struts. The arms have camber adjustment at the inner end as well as the adjustment on the 944 strut giving at least twice as much camber adjustment as normal and twice as much thatt Porsche felt necessary for the 944 that is quite successful in racing. In normal circumstances if the suspension design is properly sorted the maximum amount of adjustment you should need is 2-3*, if it needs more then something is seriously wrong with the layout.
Whilst the double wishbone design is the ultimate it needs long arms that the Red9 design and some of the others don't have. Whilst you could fabricate a long arm double wishbone suspension in a bug forget having any boot (trunk) space especially if you go for a inboard horizontal monoshock unit.
I have been working on the design of a macpherson strut front with fabricated track control arm and a compression strut that will give adjustment for camber, caster, roll centre and anti-dive. That will perform as well IMO as any other system, be simple to install and still give a package that provides a reasonable amount of space in the boot.
The late Colin Chapman was reknown for his suspension prowess and the development of the 'Chapman Strut' that was a macpherson strut for rear suspension. Also, many of the very best rally cars over the last 5 decades have used the macpherson strut to win international events and world championships. Some manufacturers even adopting the strut instead of of double wishones for their cars - the Metro 6R4 comes immediately to mind.

Clive.

[volkdent]

You mean like this?



The whole build is here:

Project No Budget

I think this is the best thought out strut setup I've seen to date, but it hasn't seen the road yet so who knows.

I really enjoy mine, no complaints except I need to introduce sway bars. Both this setup and mine require major width increases to get decent length arms, as Clive sort of mentioned, the Red9 has REALLY short arms and is kinda useless IMO. My front end was built to be under 3" wider fenders and the Aussie guys is probably 4 or 5" wider.

Here's what Audi is using on the R8 just for some drooling...



Jason

[shuie]

Originally Posted by volkdent

You mean like this?


Jason

YES! That is absolutely insane. Thanks for posting it. That will keep me busy for a while