AWD Fairlane...control arm locating

[BlueRoo64]

So I'm in what I hope is the final planning stages of my all wheel drive 64 Fairlane build but I'm struggling with determining where to put the control arm attaching points. Here's what I have so far:

-64 Fairlane is the base car of course
-Front chassis structure/subframe design will be in the vein of the early F-Bodies/68-72 Novas along with upper attachment points at the firewall
-C5/C6 knee assemblies
-18x8.5 wheels with +50mm offset
-245/40/18 tires

I know the weight of the drivetrain and such will compress the suspension and that's what's messing with me right now on where to locate the control arms. The research I've done leads me to believe that 1) The LCAs and outer tie rods need to be on the same plane to prevent bump steer issues and 2) the LCAs need to either parallel to the ground or angled outward and down at static.

How do I get there though? Is there a formula for weight and angle that I've missed? Or am I currently mentally burned out and missing something extremely simple?

[Larry Callahan]

Oh! I can't wait to see this!

[marolf101x]

Forget about the weight (for now).
Start the suspension design statically at ride height.
It's the springs job to hold the vehicle at that height, regardless of weight.
From ride height look at the static camber, static caster, instant centers, roll center, anti-dive, etc.

Then consider the suspension dynamically. What happens when the suspension compresses and extends?
Did the roll center move to where you want?
Did the pickup points you chose provide the camber gain you were after?
How about caster gain?

Somewhere in there you have to consider steering. I assume you are using a rack?
Can you source a rack that has the correct distance between the inner pivots for where you placed your control arm pickup points?
If not, can you move the pickup points to accommodate a rack you can source?
If you have a rack with the correct "width" will it hit anything when placed where it needs to be? (since this is AWD, the motor should be pushed back enough to clear the front diff so interference with the rack shouldn't be an issue).

Once you have most of that figured out, where are you going to place the shocks and springs?
There's a driveshaft in the way for traditional mounting, so are you going to use a push rod setup?

Many, many things to consider. . .and just as many compromises to make.

[TitanFox]

Here Is a Link (https://www.racingaspirations.com/apps/suspension-geometry-calculator/) to a suspension calculator that I used to help with seeing what happens when you start changing mounting points and arm lengths. There will be certain points that you will need to know that cant really change such as your ride height, frame width, track width, spindle specs etc. I think your biggest hurdle to overcome will be packaging everything and like Marolf said a lot to consider and you'll have to make some compromises. Steering I don't think will be to big of issue, you'll likely have to make a custom rack to make the pivot points all line up but that again will be dictated by your suspension mounting points. Having a good amount of adjustment built in will help also.