If You Had To Choose 1 Oem Susp Which?

[BRIAN]

There are tons of aftermarket suspension but if you had to choose any one OEM rear suspension which would it be? There are so many aftremarket parts for Mustangs and G bodies I was just wondering why not just use one and adapt the frame to accept it? Not a totally aftermarket kit but rather OEM with some bolt on parts. Every post asks what is best for a specific car. I know there are variables so just pick what you feel is the best and why? No bind? Ease of set up?


Not a new concept but I was just curious what set up the suspension genious crowd would choose? Chevy truck arm?, GM 4 bar? Ford 4 bar?

Just trying to get some interesting discussion that doesn't start with; "What is the best susp for my Camaro"

[Stu Seitz]

C5/c6

[Ralph LoGrasso]

A few years back, Steevo had an idea for (and I may mess up the name) a decoupled torque arm setup. It would be made from an existing 4th gen F-body torque arm rear suspension. I might be butchering the name, but the explanation he gave me on the way it works, and design, was pretty cool. I'd probably try something like that to be different. Or maybe the new mustang's 3-link.

[BRIAN]

I guess what I was getting at is there are so many OEM set ups that work with little modification yet everybody jumps on the newest trend product. Not that some of them are bad but for guys that are trying to save a couple of bucks? Mustand rear with arms $500? $150 in metal and bkts and you are a go? Obviously a little more involved but that is the basic idea I was getting at.


I want to see the Pro rat touring cars with killer modded oem suspensions. Low buck cars where the diver makes up the difference?? If this site is full of drivers, where are they???

[Ralph LoGrasso]

If this site is full of drivers, where are they???

Out driving?

[B Schein]

I am going to be designing and building a decupled torque arm for my car next year as my senior design project in school. I believe this is probably the only rear suspension designee no one has perused yet for a first gen.

Ralph you can read all about it the Herb Adams book I believe he is the one who came with the idea.

[Mean 69]

I believe this is probably the only rear suspension designee no one has perused yet for a first gen.

This will be a ton of fun. We thought about this setup too, there is a company down our way called Unbalanced Engineering that makes a setup for the later Camaro's that works pretty well from reports I have heard. The main issue that shyed me away from this relative to a three link is the transitional behaviors from throttle to brakes, etc. If there is a pretty tight "couple" between the different kinematics (brake - throttle), it might work pretty well, but the more complex one makes things, the more of an issue there "may" be in practical application. Regardless, this would be a fun project, good luck with it.

One good source for info would be the circle track folks, there is a large number of folks that use decoupled setups pretty successfully, but here again, keep in mind that they are mostly sprint racers. As a result, the transitional issues between throttle and brake, for them, isn't really an issue, it's either full brakes, or full throttle.

Herb's book has a pic of a third Gen Camaro's setup if I recall, one thing to note, and should be strongly considered in an design of such a system, is the "cushion" link for the braking behavior. I'd think that some form of this, or a damped sprung setup would be worth considering, but I'd make it on the stiff side (high resonant freq) in order to prevent oscillations.

As far as the OEM setups and which would be the "best," it is a tough question. A lot is going to depend upon the specifics of the particular car, i.e. wheelbase, track width, weight, center of gravity, and power output. A setup that would work really well on one particular car might not work so well on a different car. For a generic answer though, I'd look pretty stongly at the Viper's. It is an IRS setup, but still offers a lot of anti-squat from what I understand, which is important for the huge power that many PT cars make. Those cars (like the Corvettes) though, are really wide, really low, and have big time motor setback relative to a typical 60's muscle car, it really isn't as easy as just dropping it in. Once you move even one suspension pickup point, all bets are off, it becomes something other than the original design, small changes can have a HUGE impact on the overall performance.

Great question though, I'd like to hear more opinions!
Mark

[vanzuuk1]

Brian

Sorry to go a little off topic, but all drivers should report to the racing events thread. :drive:

[Ralph LoGrasso]

I am going to be designing and building a decupled torque arm for my car next year as my senior design project in school. I believe this is probably the only rear suspension designee no one has perused yet for a first gen.

Ralph you can read all about it the Herb Adams book I believe he is the one who came with the idea.


Brian,

I now remember you were tooling up some jigs for the torque arms when I was at your house a few (2-3?) years back. Keep us posted on the setup!

[B Schein]

Mark, I will have to be in contact with you guys before I start this. I need to get the numbers and such for my front end from Katz. And hopefully you guys will be willing to look over the numbers I come up with.

[B Schein]

Sorry to get off topic here but to get back to the original question. I dont know any thing about the ford suspensions mentioned. But C5/C6 (they are basically identical few minor changes) is not for the faint of hart this requires and extreme amount of modification time, equipment, and skills to do. I know this because we have a C5 rear clip at 21century street machines that we currently only offer installed at our shop only do to the complexity of its insulation. I would say the C4 setup is the easiest of the independent rear setups for a first gen if that is what type of car we are talking about here ( am getting confused) Wayne Due sells all the brackets for it and it requires minimum amount of fab work compared to the C5 setup.

To say which one is best, I don’t think that is possible they all have the benefits and drawbacks.