Advice on designing your own front suspension?

[formula]

So I am trying to help my buddy cheapthrillz figure out his suspension on his 65 galaxie, and we've hit a dead end on the front a-arms. Looks like we're going to have to design and fab them ourselves, as there is virtually no aftermarket whatsoever.

SO--to those in the know--what's the right way to go about this? I have access to simpack and solidworks for modeling, so I'm thinking it's probably best to just build a model in simpack and go from there?

Or....if anybody knows where the f*ck we can get some tubular a-arms for a 65 galaxie, we'd be eternally grateful.

[Bryce]

Take a look at what i built. What is the style of suspension on the galaxie? is it a strut like the falcon/mustang? i designed mine on paper. then modeled in CATIA at work (ssssshhhhh) HAHA.

I can help you with the parts i was able to buy and build off of.

good luck

[parsonsj]

Here's the short story how we did the front suspension on II Much.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0505phr_1967_chevy_2_custom_fabricated_suspension/index.html

An excerpt:

So how does someone go from an empty sheet of paper to a working suspension? Katz designs suspensions from the outside in, so we started with the tires: Pirelli 265/30R18 PZero Corsas and Kinesis K28 18x9 wheels, with 7-3/8-inch backspacing. We established their position, factored in the brake rotors (Wilwood 14-inch SRPs), wheel hubs (C4) and then placed the lower control arm mounting point and lower ball joint. With the "bottom" of the geometry located, he worked up to allow the tallest possible spindle (see why the tires and rims have to be chosen first?) and then over to complete the upper control arm.

By utilizing a large-diameter wheel with lots of backspacing, the new suspension is able to use longer control arms, taller spindles, and has a bigger sweet spot. "Good" geometry for handling means just enough camber gain to counteract body roll, a roll center optimized with springs and sway bar, minimal side scrub and a small scrub radius. The short (25-inch tall) tires are just reality in my Chevy II platform. I was not going to stretch the wheel wells, or relieve the fenders and a 25-inch tire is all that could be crammed under the car and still have sufficient wheel travel with a reasonable turning radius.

Establishing all of these pickup points sounds hard, but there is help available. In the days of slide rules and Brylcream, engineers would make mockup parts from wood and clay. Today, we have computer-aided design tools. Katz's tool of choice is WinGeo, which is designed for professional use with a price to match. You can accomplish much of the same thing with less expensive software, such as that offered by Performance Trends. Different geometries can be quickly fed in and their resulting behavior studied.

jp

[noobwrench]

http://www.amazon.com/Chassis-Engineering-HP1055-Herb-Adams/dp/book-citations/1557880557 Is a pretty good read for a basic primer in suspension fab. Worth every penny IMO.