Suspensionless car?

I have a project car with a terrible suspension that I wouldn't mind making handle waaay better for autocross. while staying on a limited budget. It has been mentioned here a few times that on smooth courses you might be better off with zero travel. In this case making that happen would be easy and would drastically simplify my spring and shock shopping experience. Has anybody seen it done? Experienced it? Know what you should do with tires in that situation?

A cigarette butt will feel like a sleeping policeman.

Do you want to actually drive this car?

aussiesmg wrote: A cigarette butt will feel like a sleeping policeman. Do you want to actually drive this car?

Ive driven racing Go Karts. Wasn't that bad. But actually-no, I don't intend to be the one driving it competitively.

Your tires become the suspension, the car is a lot heavier than a kart.

Not saying don't, but I am saying it wont be a nice ride

Might be awesome, but I suspect it will be too touchy even on a seemingly flat surface.

Remember F1, the massive springs on the ground effects cars, they got banned due to being violent when they lost that grip

It would be interesting to try. I suspect you would be best off running on stock or aftermarket bump stops spaced to an a acceptable ride height and geometry. Basically turn it into a F500 car. Its not that far off what some fast SP and ST autox cars are. On a bumpy course you will loose grip as the tires will be unable to cope linearly with the radical changes in vericle loading caused by hitting bumps. Karts and other suspension less cars tend to have built on flex or tires to accommodate/aleiviate this but even in a kart hit a big bump mid corner and the rapid over/underloading that occurs due to no suspension can result in a surprising loss of grip.

This car is heavier than a kart, but probably still sub 1k with driver at race weight. Not much to it really.

Doing it with bump stops instead of springs will probably work better. It's probably at least worth a try before you go all the way to solid.

mazdeuce wrote: Doing it with bump stops instead of springs will probably work better. It's probably at least worth a try before you go all the way to solid.

Solid axles with leaf springs front and rear. The springs locate the axles so it will probably be all or nothing.

MrJoshua wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Doing it with bump stops instead of springs will probably work better. It's probably at least worth a try before you go all the way to solid.

Solid axles with leaf springs front and rear. The springs locate the axles so it will probably be all or nothing.

Use the bump stops to close the gap of the leaf springs, then they are doing the same thing. I imagine the springs do not have much travel anyway.

Hope the chassis is stiff enough

The approx. 4" of lowering would be helpful as well. The car is rather narrow and tall and I am drastically reducing the weight of car down low.

Hmm sub 1k lbs solid axle leaf sprung front and rear with not much to it...

I know what Mr Joshua is bringing. I'm digging your theme this year. Roses, bonnets, and turn of the century undergarments should get the judges going if you know what I mean.

In reply to nocones:

That one may have more horsepower.

Add more leaves to the spring packs. Then sway bars, cal-trac bars(front and/or rear), panhrads, etc. as needed. Or just 3/4 link it room permitting.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Add more leaves to the spring packs. Then sway bars, cal-trac bars(front and/or rear), panhrads, etc. as needed. Or just 3/4 link it room permitting.

That sounds like a lot of work. Did I mention that I'm lazy?

Well, when you're done peeing blood, you might be motivated to put suspension on it.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Well, when you're done peeing blood, you might be motivated to put suspension on it.

Nah, its an autocross car so it wont really matter. Trailered to the events and driven less than 60 seconds at a time. If it's too bad I will add some foam to the seats, If it is still too bad I will see if another pro wants to drive it. The reality is there is too little time to fabricate anything and this is easy to do and easily reversible. Add to the fact that FSAE guys seem to be seriously discussing it I am game to give it a try. On that note: anyone know why the google results referencing FSAE threads end up not leading anywhere valid?

So, are you gonna tell us about the car, or are you just a tease.

In reply to fanfoy:

Lol- So far we have solid axle and leaf spring front and rear, narrow, low weight but really low center of gravity stock, and low hp.

I will add: its from the 1970's, low production volume, short wheelbase, domestic, and features frame and body panel design that wasn't common in mass production until 20 years later.

In reply to MrJoshua:

Mail Jeep?

In reply to Ian F:

I think far more people lust after Jeeps.

So is it this?

Or this?

fanfoy wrote:

671 blower, coil overs, 4 wheel discs, classic flame job

Came from the factory with 12" tires.

Faster than the tractor, slower than the jeep.

I am amused by how unexciting it will be to figure out what kind of car it is.