I'm really trying to avoid the need for the forward link to stabilize it - I'm aiming for a right triangle lower arm - like this (uses C5 parts) but with fully adjustable upper/lower arms and pull rods bringing the spring/dampers inboard:
I'm really trying to avoid the need for the forward link to stabilize it - I'm aiming for a right triangle lower arm - like this (uses C5 parts) but with fully adjustable upper/lower arms and pull rods bringing the spring/dampers inboard:
I scrapped most of a cobra IRS a few months ago... Not helpful but I wish I still had it as I could have cut you a deal and probably gotten more out of it. Oh well...
While they might be relatively small and light, I believe sure the "Miata" rear knuckle is actually iron rather than aluminum. Unless of course, you're talking the NC Miata that essentially shares its multi-link rear suspension with the RX8...Which could certainly be an interesting option.
Rather than getting it from a junk yard where they have to make a profit on top of all the overhead, I would watch the auto-parts section of your local craiglist for private sellers parting out rear ends from any of the above noted cars, unless the convenience of immediate availability is woth the extra cost. Depending on how patient (and lucky) you are, something exciting should eventually pop up. I've regularly seen complete rear subframe assemblies for about the same price, or less, than you're talking about getting just the used knuckles for.
Ar you looking for something that already uses appropriately sized brakes to fit inside your wheels, simply needing the hub/rotor to be redrilled, or are you willing to do a complete custom brake system as well? This could be a significant factor in your decision of which components to pursue. Especially the Corvette or Mustang Cobra could be problematic if you're running 15" wheels.
In reply to Driven5:
If the factory hub and rotor is in the ballpark for diameter and thickness that I can move the bias bar to make it work and I can fill/re-drill hubs and rotors... sweet. Otherwise - Wilwood sells blank hats and rotors in a number of depths, thicknesses and diameters so I can get the right offset and bias pretty easily. I already have a great setup on the car to copy. It will just be positioning the depth and fabricating the caliper bracket (and paying for the parts, always where I hesitate :) ).
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I considered using mcpherson struts instead but I want the dampers inboard and easy ability to swap spring/dampers for setup changes and I want the upper arm for progressive camber gain.
So make it a SLA. They give you two bolts to attach a bracket to, or you could use two link rods with 5/8" ID rod ends and bolt directly to the knuckle.
IIRC, the original Consuliers used strut-style knuckles that just had a ball joint knob bolted to them instead of struts.
Knurled wrote:Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I considered using mcpherson struts instead but I want the dampers inboard and easy ability to swap spring/dampers for setup changes and I want the upper arm for progressive camber gain.So make it a SLA. They give you two bolts to attach a bracket to, or you could use two link rods with 5/8" ID rod ends and bolt directly to the knuckle. IIRC, the original Consuliers used strut-style knuckles that just had a ball joint knob bolted to them instead of struts.
SLA is the plan - I had already dismissed the strut because I want progressive camber gain of about 1.2 deg thru 4" of jounce (8" total travel).
So really, the price of the knuckles will just be water under the bridge anyways...
Driven5 wrote: So really, the price of the knuckles will just be water under the bridge anyways...
Maybe - but I need them first to get started and asa single component available at junkyards... I just can't pony up a huge nut to pay for them on principle.
Overall cost should be reasonable, honestly. The arms, pull rods, bell cranks, and diff cradle are the price of aluminum or steel and time to fabricate them. The rod ends/sphericals and so on are fairly reasonable if not already on my shelf (my front is all solids & monoballs from last winter's project). I'll have to buy rotors no matter what. Wilwood component pieces are not super expensive so we are really talking about custom or blank hats and some drilling. I think I even have a set of DynaPros on the shelf with 1" pistons. The springs and dampers are going to be the same rate as on the car now just relocated inboard - so no coin spent unless I am forced to change the leverage due to packaging.
The cost is less than the risk of it all sucking as a package with the time invested. What I really need is access to some analysis software. My attempts to find super cheap or free stuff is quickly makingme realize that might be a $500 problem of it's own.
In reply to mguar:
Yeah, I'm pretty conversant with the E type rear suspension. It's easy to work on, stacking shims to set camber is pretty cool. But if the diff flange bearings on the sides of the differential are not designed for the side loads it'll destroy them in pretty short order. So that means using the Jag diff as well. Not insurmountable, but from GPS' original post I don't think he was planning to use a Jag 3rd member.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: SLA is the plan - I had already dismissed the strut because I want progressive camber gain of about 1.2 deg thru 4" of jounce (8" total travel).
Right. But you can make an SLA suspension using strut-style uprights.
Knurled wrote:Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: SLA is the plan - I had already dismissed the strut because I want progressive camber gain of about 1.2 deg thru 4" of jounce (8" total travel).Right. But you can make an SLA suspension using strut-style uprights.
Yep. With the Ford Sierra being a big kit car donor in the UK they do this all the time. Pop out the strut, replace with a bushing and ball joint and go.
How would we get a Ford Sierra hub over here? Does it come on anything else? It looks like it would make it easy to fit inside small diameter rims.
XR4Ti = turbo Sierra.
I think a bolt-on style knuckle is more elegant than the press-in, myself.
Solstice/Sky?
A few folks over on LocostUSA are using them.
I want to say the original Factory Five used a bracket which bolted to the Fox body Mustang knuckles to allow use with an SLA front suspension.
GPS, the forward link might seem to be a PITA now BUT: later on when it's suspension tunin' time you might be mighty glad to have them. Setting the toe on the Abomination (rotary Spitfire) with 1st gen Miata rear uprights requires shimming the LCA inner mounts. Camber is set the same way and it also uses shims in the upper C/A inner mount for gross adjustments. Not undoable but damn it would be a lot easier to align with a turnbuckle setup.
Too bad this thread didn't come about 3 weeks sooner, I'd have a pair of '90 Miata rear hubs that you could have had for the cost of shipping.
In reply to bigdaddylee82:
Those look juuust like C5/C6 knuckles. Where is that shelf? 
Isn't there something odd about the Sky/Solstice suspension/knuckles that makes it difficult to get a good SLA design? I don't know where I heard it, but it seems there was something odd about them.
Looking at them I'd guess it might be those crazy alien mounting points. I can't make heads or tails of them.
GameboyRMH wrote: Looking at them I'd guess it might be those crazy alien mounting points. I can't make heads or tails of them.
Top and bottom balljoints at the ends... and brake caliper holes... look ok to me unless they have some whacky anti-dive angles built in.
The Sierra front uprights look extremely similar to first generation Focus uprights. Same wheel bolt pattern, too.
Also, it's weird to see revived threads with posts from members who've passed on. 
Knurled wrote: The Sierra front uprights look extremely similar to first generation Focus uprights. Same wheel bolt pattern, too. Also, it's weird to see revived threads with posts from members who've passed on.
Lots of ghosts in this one. Very odd feeling re-reading this thread. 
RichardSIA wrote: hard to believe an '85 Escort is too old to find in a junk yard.
Depends. The junkyard operators I've talked to around here tend to insta-crush anything over five-six years old unless it is something they KNOW is worth keeping around. Space costs money, the space needs to pay for itself or it needs to get out of the way of cars that can make money, and the junkyard money is in used parts for body shops and they tend to only work on newer cars since anything more than a few years old just gets totaled.
This is generally why I just look for things on car-part.com and expect to drive 45-90 minutes away when I need a junkyard part... need to go where land is much cheaper and it doesn't cost as much to keep old cars around.
Regarding Focus uprights. Not all of them have cast-in pad hangers. SVTs and US-market 2nd-gen (really facelifted 1st-gen) have bolt on carriers more suitable for brake swapping.
Knurled wrote: FC are iron, I believe. Plus, they are a multilink swingarm, not much better than the stock E30 setup.
My rear knuckles on both RX7s are aluminum. Agreed on the rest though.
NC Miatas could be a good donor - or RX8s since they're the same thing.
Lotta yards crushed acres of the older stuff when steel price went up.
Ain't seen an 80's Escort on the road in bookoo years let alone a salvage yard, virtually extinct here. Wouldn't mind owning another '87 GT, fun car there.
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