[rat_rod_russell]

So I had a hard drive crash on me and I lost a bunch of photos of the truck that I hadn’t gotten onto the backup server, o well. So there has been work done I just can’t show it.

I’ve finally gotten my hands on Suspension Analyzer v2.0 and I’ve spent a few weeks playing with C5 corvette suspension geometry in finding the weak links and where to improve on them. I’ve also been racing a few C5 Z06 Corvettes getting more familiar with their traits and trading suspension tuning for seat time so I could get some hands on time looking into actual tuning results on these babies. I work on them plenty but I almost never get a chance to tweak, log, tweak, and log to see what the actual results look like in real life.

So our goal is improved handling over a corvette but in our PT-57. The C5 Corvette relies heavily on the face that the large rubber bushing will deflect. Under heavy turning the C5 will see up to 8 degrees of positive camber on the outside tire. Way too much but the roll center on a C5 is a thing of beauty only moving a few inches through almost any suspension travel or roll. Better for drivers to feel the car but it hurts the possible handling that the car could be capable of with a few minor angle changes and upgrades.

What I’ve done with our car is lower the roll center and remove a large portion without getting too much roll center migration. Migration make it harder to feel what the suspension is doing but it also directly related to how much grip you can get out of a car. I’ve cut the positive camber in half during turn in and I’ve relocated the A arms to better accommodate the anti dive needs for the truck. Front swing arms have been moved out to match up with the swing of the rear suspension so the tires will roll together so I can simply soften a corner for improved grip. I’m going with all Pfadt upgraded bushing and for the sake of simplicity coil over shocks for now. I’ve attached some photos the current setup and I’ll be getting more knocked out soon and get some more updates out as soon as I email the frame parts out to the Laser.

Power train upgrade, STS Twin Turbo system will help push our little baby around the track. The Side pipes will be hooked up to the waist gates so when we hit that back strait we should see some flames.

I miss worded my previous statement about the Optima Battery race and I apologies. We have not been 100% officially invited as the car is not finished yet but I talked with Jimi Day over at FM3 and we have a tentative spot in the race as long as we get the truck done in time. With that said I’m heading back into the shop.