Custom coil-overs. 2 down, 2 to go!

[olympic]

I got the rear coil-overs done. It wasn't as much of a nightmare as I thought it would be and man did they turn out nice! Below are some pics.

What I have done is took some stock Taurus struts, removed the knuckle brackets and welded on the brackets from my Topaz struts(no Koni's available for Tempo/Topaz struts). The top hat is 100% custom made and uses a teflon lined spherical bearing to hold the strut shaft, just like IPT's coil-overs. I designed the hat to allow maximim possible bump travel, that's why the bearing is mounted on top of the plate. The Taurus struts are slightly longer than the Topaz struts and I also want to lower the car a bit so I need all the bump travel I can get. The bearing holder is simply bolted together. So if I ever need to replace the spherical bearing, it's easily done.

The threaded collars are from a generic kit I bought off ebay. I'll also be using the upper spring perches that came with this kit on the front struts. Factory bump stops will be re-used if there is enough travel available.

I've already started on the fronts which will be almost the same. Just designed slightly different because the spring and strut have to be able to turn with the steering.

Anyways, on to the pics! The springs pictured arn't the ones I will be using but you get the idea.

<small>[ June 09, 2003, 04:06 AM: Message edited by: olympic ]</small>

 

[Jaxon]

Good job, I would have to say they look great. You did great work. Also, LOVE the SHOpaz, wish I could see it in person.

 

[cRaZySHO.]

I remember you saying you had dual sway bars up front. How does that work with understeer/oversteer?

By the way, the coil overs look awesome! You should get an award for all the custom work done to that Topaz!

 

[PROPHET]

I agree on the award. thumb

 

[crizzaSHO]

The topaz is one of my favorite cars on this forum!!!

 

[olympic]

Thanks for the compliments guys! When I started with this car, I had no intentions of going this far with it. But I find the challenge of scratch building parts a real personal joy.

cRaZySHO.:
I remember you saying you had dual sway bars up front. How does that work with understeer/oversteer?

By the way, the coil overs look awesome! You should get an award for all the custom work done to that Topaz!

It's not bad actually. The stock front swaybar on my car is different from a Taurus(see pic below). The swaybar doubles duty as the strut rod as well. Where your strut rod bolts into the control arm, that's where my swaybar bolts in and it wraps around the front of the engine bay to the other side. The arms on the bar are quite long and because the bar is connected to the control arm and not the strut there is a greater leverage effect on it. So it's not as effective as it could be for a 30mm swaybar. The aftermarket 3/4" addco bar installs easily and goes around the rear of the engine bay.

The rear swaybar is 3/4"(19MM)and seems to be sufficient for a small car. I'm going to try and pay more attention at the road course this year to see how it performs with the coil-overs and tubular control arms. If it understeers too much, I can simply remove the addco bar from the front. I also have a Quaife diff so the car can handle more swaybar without pushing through the turns.

Here you can see how long the arms are on the stock swaybar. That's why it has to be quite large(30mm)

The end links addco supplies are pretty cheesy. I replaced them with a Taurus end link and bolted it directly to the strut.

<small>[ June 10, 2003, 05:48 AM: Message edited by: olympic ]</small>

 

[shojuan]

Gee, last month it was Jose in Florida, this month it's you Bryce! You both are two guys I am REALLY glad are here! thumb

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in your shops, lol! I'm sure I'd learn a helluva lot! (Or as Tyler would say, I'd learn hella good about making stuff )

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

oh_my hail

 

[noSHO]

Man you should have seen the car, too. It was my favorite one at the convention last year! Sure supercharged guy's had the badass factor just because they have like 400+ horsepower, but far and away the SHOpaz was the best thing there. It mooooves, too. hail SHOpaz

 

[olympic]

Camber plates are are done! I think they turned out quite well, atleast not too bad for only costing $3 in grinding wheels...lol! . The edges are still a bit rough but I'll smooth them out and paint them and they should look sharp.

These will be mounted in the engine bay, suspended about 1" above the strut tower on 4 bolts. That'll maximize bump travel for the strut and make camber adjustments a breeze. Tomorrow I'll finish up a few miscellaneous things and install these along with the struts. Then I can measure up what I need for springs.

P.S- I have 3/4" of adjustment in each direction. Anyone have an idea of how many degrees that is?

<small>[ June 12, 2003, 06:09 AM: Message edited by: olympic ]</small>

 

[billyshoe]

P.S- I have 3/4" of adjustment in each direction. Anyone have an idea of how many degrees that is?


lengh of a inch .017 rise = 1 degree

 

[TimZ]

olympic:
P.S- I have 3/4" of adjustment in each direction. Anyone have an idea of how many degrees that is?

Judging by your photos, and assuming that the id of the springs is 2.5", it looks like the length of your struts is about 23.5" (?). From this it looks like a camber adjustment of +/- 0.75" will give you a little under +/- 2 degrees of adjustment.

The actual number will vary a bit, depending on how compressed the strut is at your static ride height (shorter = more camber adjustment range) and how far below the strut the actual pivot point of the suspension is (farther = less camber adjustment range). I kind of fudged here and assumed that the distance to the pivot point and the amount the strut gets compressed would pretty much cancel each other out.

In case my length estimate was way off, here's the equation I used:

camber change = arctan(adjustment travel/strut length)

...where the strut length is the distance between the upper and lower pivot points at static ride height.

Adjustment travel in your case is 0.75"

<small>[ June 14, 2003, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: TimZ ]</small>

 

[olympic]

Great, thanks for the replies! I figured the actual degrees of adjustablility would have something to do with the length of the strut from pivot to pivot. Basically your just moving the top in a small arc of a circle around the ball joint.

I got one of the camber plates installed and it look real sharp sitting in the engine bay. I'll have pics tomorrow when a few more things get done.

I also installed the struts, collars and perchs and took measurements to calculate the needed springs. It looks like I'll be going with 8" 400lb/in front springs and 10" 300lb/in rear springs. A little stiff but the car will be lowered a bit and not a daily driver.

 

[olympic]

Got the front coil-overs (and some other stuff)done! Just waiting for springs now. Check it out http://www.tempo-topaz-performance.com/topazsho/recent

 

[Shoaz]

Nice job! You're clearly getting good at this stuff.

I especially liked the forethought to integrate the strut tower brace and the camber plates.

 

[olympic]

Thought I'd dig this topic back up and post the results of the coil-overs! She's a pretty stiff ride, but not bad.

Here is the "before" pic. It's a screen shot of my desktop so ignore the shortcuts...lol! It's large so I'll just post a link

 

[shojuan]

That looks sweet Bryce! thumb

 

[K-Dawg]

That's a nice car! thumb I like the way that except for the stance and wheels, it looks relatively stock. Did you just paint the lightbar in front?
A racecar Topaz, who'da thunk it?!? shrug

 

[FAST4DR]

I'd just like to see you take it to a Ford dealer and tell them there's something wrong in the suspension. Tell them you just bought it and it's sitting a little low. laughing

Will