What effects will moving the top of the strut inboard a lot to gain camber have on the car?
Will that change the roll center drastically?
How about the steering axis?
Is there an online calculator I can plug in all my measurements and see what effect moving some things would have?

Thanks very much!

 

Most of the Datsun guys I hang with get the camber/caster they want by moving the top of the strut and just let the rest of that stuff fall where it may. If the car is lowered, chances are it needs a change in bumpsteer geometry, anyway, so they make/buy spacers to get it back to normal.

Long story short, get the tires working and forget the rest.

 

Yes rocking the upper strut mounts in will cause the roll center to move down. It may even put it below ground. You should look at moving the lower pick up points up and using longer lower control arms to minimize roll center movement outside of the track width.

 

Does anyone have a good guide to calculating this stuff?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turboteener &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> to minimize roll center movement outside of the track width.</TD></TR></TABLE>
statically it is on the centerline of the vehicle so talking about track doesnt make any sense.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prkiller &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does anyone have a good guide to calculating this stuff?</TD></TR></TABLE>
a book on amazon will help you.
chassis setup, suspension, carroll smith
those key words can help.
if you want a really good book the its RCVD by milliken for you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prkiller &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does anyone have a good guide to calculating this stuff?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, hire me and I'll calculate it for you. There are a couple of computer programs that you can buy that can help. Susprog3D is the least expensive and has a bunch of built in suspension systems including MacStrut stuff.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Johnny Mac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yeah, hire me and I'll calculate it for you. There are a couple of computer programs that you can buy that can help. Susprog3D is the least expensive and has a bunch of built in suspension systems including MacStrut stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah or me. wait people on here always want free stuff for no effort, lol.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfoxengr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
statically it is on the centerline of the vehicle so talking about track doesnt make any sense.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you use a really short lower control arm, the motion will cause the roll center to move outside of the track width of the car. It creates weird handling motions that the driver can feel. Car feels nervous. A lot of it has to do with the instant center location and movement in bump, droop and roll.

You also have top watch out for KPI and scrub radius when you play with the upper point of the strut. Changing that location can affect trail and caster, also. You can't just go randomly changing these points.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfoxengr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yeah or me. wait people on here always want free stuff for no effort, lol.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, I discuss tech stuff with Jeremy quite often so it was actually a joke. Are you a student at VT right now or have you already graduated?

 

i know. i was joking too. im a grad student now.