You want a shock with MINIMUM travel of 6". 7" would be about perfect. It has to be a gas shock so it will fit upside down. You want the shock to hit the bumpstops 1" to 1'5" before the driveshaft hits the upper link pivot or higher if your ride height is higher. Make sure your brake lines are not near the top of the housing or THEY will be the bumpstops! I like a spring rate of 250 to 275 depending on horsepower, more HP= more spring rate.
Don't forget that the bumpstop reduces shock travel, you should have 3" of travel before hitting the bumpstop, or at least 2.5" bare minimum, another inch of travel for compressing the bumpstop, so that's 4" of bump travel, on a 6" travel shock, you would have 2" of extension remaning. But if you decide to raise the ride height 1". now you have 1" of extension travel remaining and you will have snap oversteer when cornering hard (corner exit). That's why I like a 7" shock better than a 6" shock. Penny had a 5" shock which was terrible. Since they are behind the axle, the shocks move a bit more than the wheels do. A big advantage of a remote reservoir shock is, the gas chamber isn't inside the shock body so it can have more travel. Bilstein street rod shocks use a floating piston inside the main body to separate the gas charge from the fluid.
When the watts is in the lowest or next to lowest hole, driveshaft will move left to right much more than when in the 3rd hole up. On Penny, we had the shaft hitting the forward link crossmember on the left side. The watts looks nice in the 2nd hole but I'd start at the 3rd hole.
David
I was wondering if anyone has contact info for Lateral Dynamics, i cant find a email or anything. I love this set up after seeing it on Bad Penny and OneLap
Just wondering why Mark does not just sell this design to someone like Speed-Tech or DSE ? I love this setup, and can see there would be a good demand for the 3-link. Someone is always asking about Bad Penny/One Lap 's rear suspension. Just a thought!
Just wondering why Mark does not just sell this design to someone like Speed-Tech or DSE ? I love this setup, and can see there would be a good demand for the 3-link. Someone is always asking about Bad Penny/One Lap 's rear suspension. Just a thought!
Travis
AME has a 3-link that is very likely comparable to the LD version. At least it is available now.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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