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Old 09-19-2018, 11:08 PM
Three Peaks Three Peaks is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Hillsboro, OR
Cobra Make, Engine: Scratch built CSX style frame, Carbon fiber body, 393 Stroker, T-bird IRS, T5
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I went through some of this when I built my car. I couldn't really afford the cost of the legacy suspension for my original style chassis so I had to do some adaption of what I had and what I wanted to use. With my original style chassis, some of the parts were reasonably easy to source, like the steering rack. The rear links were easy to incorporate into the changes I had to make to my Ford 8.8 IRS uprights but I had to change my pick up points on the lower control arms to level them up and do some imaginative fabrication to make it all work. I think i fabricated my rear control arms 4 times before I figured it out and got it right.
The front was another story altogether. The steering rack was the easy part and it solved some of the puzzle pieces since the pivot points were in the right plane to start with. I used Mustang II front spindles and moved my pick up points as I needed to to accomodate the spindle geometry. I think I made the front control arms twice to get them right. They aren't perfect, but they work pretty well and the car is comfortable to drive, even fairly aggressively.
Regardless if you use the latest and greatest suspension software, you will still need to make compromises unless you want to build an all new chassis. Look at your chassis with what you have and figure out the easiest way to accomplish what you need or close to it. Suspension tuning, from what little I know, isn't absolute unless you absolutely have to get the last ounce of performance out of your car like Morris and other racers.

I wouldn't go with dropped spindles to accomplish what you're proposing. What spindles are you using now? IMO, start with finding a proper steering rack and rod ends to fit your existing system track width. Then adjust or build new pick up points to mount control arms to. You can buy new control arms lots of places. Look into using adjustable control arms so you can more easily get an alignment when you're done and adjust it as needed.

Bob
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