interestedparty
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 02:35 PM |
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Suspension, strut rear, wishbone front?
If someone fancied making a mid engined car, would it be OK to use normal wishbone front suspension such as is found on most LSIS cars, but to use the
original struts at the back (the front struts from the donor, but with adjustable ball jointed links to set the toe, and suitable different brake
calipers)?
Would it be possible to get a car like that set up to handle well, or would the different suspension geometry front and rear cause problems that could
not be got over?
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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Liam
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 02:45 PM |
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Dont see why it should be a problem in principle - very many cars have completely different suspension systems front and rear. The only practical
problem if you want to use stock tintop stuts as is, they may be inappropriately sprung and valved. Then again they may not be.
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Miks15
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 02:58 PM |
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i would have thought that youd need to be careful how you fix it, because they are meant to turn, youll need to fix the steering arm somewhere, if you
do it in the wrong place you could effectively have your rear wheels turning as you suspension moves up and down
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phelpsa
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 03:04 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Miks15
i would have thought that youd need to be careful how you fix it, because they are meant to turn, youll need to fix the steering arm somewhere, if you
do it in the wrong place you could effectively have your rear wheels turning as you suspension moves up and down
Tis called 'passive rear wheel steer', used on many production cars! 
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Liam
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 03:08 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Miks15
...youll need to fix the steering arm somewhere...
Yep - exactly where the donor car steering rack pivots are would be a good place to aim for (assuming the donor car doesn't suffer from
disastrous bump steer). You could even try and be smart and design in some passive rear steer  but that's probably a path to major headaches.
And future car crashes.
EDIT: beaten to it
[Edited on 5/1/11 by Liam]
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interestedparty
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 03:41 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Liam
quote:
Originally posted by Miks15
...youll need to fix the steering arm somewhere...
Yep - exactly where the donor car steering rack pivots are would be a good place to aim for
That's what I was thinking.
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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Stott
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 04:13 PM |
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It's very possible. One of my mates 205s was blade engined with front lower wishbones and a subframed rear that took the diff and lower wishbone
suspension.
It had mk2 escort front turrets and front struts all around due to the massive choice of inserts etc that are available for them, handles extremely
well.
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interestedparty
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| posted on 5/1/11 at 06:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Stott
It's very possible. One of my mates 205s was blade engined with front lower wishbones and a subframed rear that took the diff and lower wishbone
suspension.
It had mk2 escort front turrets and front struts all around due to the massive choice of inserts etc that are available for them, handles extremely
well.
Are we talking about the same thing here? What I am wondering about is a situation where there is upper and lower wihbones at the front, just like a
seven, and struts at the back, but from your post it looks like your friend's car has struts all round?
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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TheGecko
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| posted on 6/1/11 at 01:37 AM |
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Well, that's what I'm building (middy with wishbone front and strut rear)
For further "endorsement" of the layout, look no further than the Lancia Stratos.
I think it's a very rational way to re-use common donor drivetrains without inventing a rear wishbone layout (and finding room for it around a
transverse engine).
Dominic
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Stott
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| posted on 11/1/11 at 09:30 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by interestedparty
quote:
Originally posted by Stott
It's very possible. One of my mates 205s was blade engined with front lower wishbones and a subframed rear that took the diff and lower wishbone
suspension.
It had mk2 escort front turrets and front struts all around due to the massive choice of inserts etc that are available for them, handles extremely
well.
Are we talking about the same thing here? What I am wondering about is a situation where there is upper and lower wihbones at the front, just like a
seven, and struts at the back, but from your post it looks like your friend's car has struts all round?
No you're right it's not quite the same thing. My friends has front struts all around, I was just trying to say that you can do a lot of
wacky combinations of suspension providing it's been thought through and set up correctly. So I reckon it would be fine (front double wishbone,
strut rear.
ATB
Stott
[Edited on 11/1/11 by Stott]
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johnH20
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| posted on 16/1/11 at 08:12 PM |
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Lotus used this combination in the early days, certainly the original Elite plus, I think, the 16 and 17.
Problem with strut type suspensions is that is very difficult if not impossible to design in any camber recovery in roll so you could end up with more
positive at the rear than at the front in cornering with consequent degradation of rear cornering power. Not exactly what you want especially with a
rear weight bias. Having said that if you are aware of the limitations I am sure they can be mitigated. The Dax Khalama had this layout I believe and
by all accounts handled very well.
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