I drove the Art Morrison test Camaro with IRS when it first came out and just loved it. The lower unsprung weight helped the car ride over track bumps and undulations without being as upset. I translate that into increased car stability and feel, which is what I was looking for, and I absolutely love the ride on the street, - just dial the shocks down. It's also a big improvement for street cars, which is the target market for Art Morrison, and Mary has proven it works for autocrossing, she's not that aggressive a driver on a road course but the car has felt great there. The downside is it takes some smarts to change alignment settings on it. We tend to not mess with it once we got it set well.
Prior to this I was thinking of swapping a Corvette IRS into my 67 Camaro but I was worried about how much build time it would eat up designing and fabricating it, and would it break? What needed beefing up?
When the Art Morrison IRS came out, I saw right away it is much stronger than the Corvette unit all the way through, needed no beef up, the lower links links are Johnny joints, and it has a Strange Dana 60 third member, durability was a big factor for me in selecting this IRS, plus it was already engineered.
I drove the Art Morrison test Camaro with IRS when it first came out and just loved it. The lower unsprung weight helped the car ride over track bumps and undulations without being as upset. I translate that into increased car stability and feel, which is what I was looking for, and I absolutely love the ride on the street, - just dial the shocks down. It's also a big improvement for street cars, which is the target market for Art Morrison, and Mary has proven it works for autocrossing, she's not that aggressive a driver on a road course but the car has felt great there. The downside is it takes some smarts to change alignment settings on it. We tend to not mess with it once we got it set well.
Prior to this I was thinking of swapping a Corvette IRS into my 67 Camaro but I was worried about how much build time it would eat up designing and fabricating it, and would it break? What needed beefing up?
When the Art Morrison IRS came out, I saw right away it is much stronger than the Corvette unit all the way through, needed no beef up, the lower links links are Johnny joints, and it has a Strange Dana 60 third member, durability was a big factor for me in selecting this IRS, plus it was already engineered.
I think you nailed the summary of the IRS. It provides a great ride, good tight corner turning (autocross). You just want to pick one that is built strong & the geometry has been worked out ... or be prepared to work it out yourself. You also need to be prepared to write the large check. LOL
I remember talking to Mary initially and the set-up had a bit too much rear steer for her tastes. Once they/you dialed that down, she loved it. And of course was & is fast with it, winning often.
I made a mistake early on. The first thing I did after installing it was add more neg camber. This changed the rear clocking (caster) of the rear hubs, lowering the toe link rod end height. From then on, the Art Morrison recommended cam settings we had for toe steer were off, and it was getting a lot more toe out than expected. Also Perf Trends software will not correctly model this suspension. We get numbers, but they are wrong as far as roll center height.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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