4 link mounting positions

[JamesM]

I just finished welding in my brackets to run equal length trailing arms in my ae86. what i want to know is where i should drill the holes to mount the top arms off on the body side. i was thinking to have 3 or four different placed holes so i can alter the angle of the arm. shold i have the diff sitting in a neutral postion (completely horizontal) and then have the arms in there middle position (they are adjustable) then drill the holes from there? anyone got any good links to this on the net?
hope you can understand what im on about..
have posted on other forums also

thanks

James

[fangsport]

not only do you want the upper links the same length, but they also want to be paralell and as close to the wheels as possible.

the works group 4 Escorts had the hole centres 5 inches apart, and the top links set back 2 1/2 inches, and who can argue with the way an Escort handles

[blitza]

assuming youre still running the panhard bar, why not run the top bar parrell with the ground and lift the lower arm slightly at the front to give a little anti squat?
depending on the length of arm you are using, you may not have sufficent 'fineness' of adjustment to have a choice of mounting points, for example, (considering the lower arm only) if you mount it too high in the front, you will generate brake hop, too low, you will encourage squat. Without having a slot /serrated plate arrangement, you holes may be too far apart. bearing in mind I don't know how long your bars are, or much aboot your car.

[JamesM]

thanks for youre replys.
basically i have a hilux diff with the mounts from ae86 with panhard rod.
i have not changed the mounting positions on the diff yet. i am thinking to weld on longer brackets on for the lower mounts on the diff so that i can lower the position of the arm.
i have made all four arms the same length as the standard ae86 bottom arm. and they are adjustable shorter about 15mm and longer 15mm.
fangsport: do you mean i should have the mounts for the top arms as far out as possible? damn if this is so..
have attached pic of what i ahve at the moment.

[fangsport]

fangsport: do you mean i should have the mounts for the top arms as far out as possible? damn if this is so..
have attached pic of what i ahve at the moment.

ideally, you want them as close to the wheel as possible.
when i decide which car gets the chop, i will form a turret that is tied to the cage for a top-mounted coil over (eliminating the need for the spring perch), and have both top and bottom bars directly in-line with the existing bottom bar (or as close as the bodyshell will allow)

[blitza]

looks good man.

[JamesM]

cheers
nearly finsihed.
i think i will mount it so that the bars are parallel with 2 holes above of 5deg increments each and 1 hole below of 5 deg. then il add some traction brackets to the lower arm brackets to allow me to adjust the angle of those arms.

i have been reading a little bit. and it seems that increasing the top arm angle(forward) to about 10deg increases traction (diff tries to drive under the body)but increases loose roll steer. keeping the lower arm parallel to the ground or slightly angled down helps to coutner the loose roll steer.

so il start both paralel then go from there.
anyone got suggestions from this?

[wde_bdy]

One thing to be aware of, a mate had "issues" with getting his cage homologated with suspension mounts attached to it. Got there in the end but took some arguing so may pay to check on that before you go too much further (assuming of course your mounts will be attached to the cage). Leon seems to be the man around here with the Motorsport NZ inside info.

Callum

[JamesM]

thanks il ask him about it

[fangsport]

why would you need to run a traction bracket with your intended set-up?? as far as i have read into them, they are primarily for 'correcting' the standard set-up, which is what you are doing by extending the links forward and making them adjustalbe.

what was the 'issue' with tying the link boxes to the roll-cage?? i thought it was standard practice, and have never heard anyone being pulled up for doing it.

Leon...........enter stage left, if you would.

[JamesM]

hehe
http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/4link.shtml

have talked with leon. i can possibly paste the pm's on here if he doesnt post on here. basically to do with the safety thing if i was to have a crash with the impact on the diff.. which is connected to cage via my brackets which is connected to harnesses.... could pull harnesses very tight.. (however my harness are connected to the horizontal bar at the back between the the two towers.. )
its good to clear these thigns up

[wde_bdy]

Yep that was the issue, I believe the resolution involved pointing out the arms or bolts would break before the cage moved but don't quote me on that.

Callum

[fangsport]

your harness should never be mounted anywhere near the link boxes as they would create an angle of more than 30/45???degrees from horizontal.

[JamesM]

grr.. its turnign into a bit of an issue.
its commonplace for the cars built a while back to have mounts off cage.. and because they were homolgated before they are ok now. but new cars arnt really allowed them.. ai... currently trying to sort it out with tech officer now.

[Mr Revhead]

seeing as you really want them further out board why not just redo it and not attatch to the cage?

[wde_bdy]

Its a funny area really. You can't mount direct to the cage but you can brace suspension points to the cage. So you build nice strong mounting points, then put a bar off the cage to beside the mounting point.

Callum

[JamesM]

Callum: what do you mean brace? u mean a bar out to the mount but not actually connected to it?
Warwick: redoing everything is a major. to have the arms out wide would mean i have to run coilovers. something i dont wish to do at this point.
also i have viewd a couple of endurance cars. one being a ae86 that runs consistent 1:05laps at puke on 1.6l NA.. he runs the arms in the standard position (near the middle) and has a box section built into the floorplan. i thought i was goign one better by connecting it to the cage

another thing.. what about cars that have space frames?? they have no option but to mount suspenion of the cage... so how can they have different rules?

cheers

James

[Mr Revhead]

what if its a space frame car?

bah just build a NASCAR style frame

[JamesM]

sweet. can you give me a hand