3 link suspension

[ProStreet R/T]

Design questions round 2... DING!.


Will there be any provision for altering ride height via shock mounts? Weather your running coilovers or bags this would be a huge benefit.

Where will you incorporate sway bar mounts? Obviously it will have to use something like a competition splined bar that is chassi mounted.

Now it's pretty clear this is going to be a pretty high end setup. What advantages does it have over an IRS setup?

[Jasper Jones]

So I wont be able to run the brakes that I purchased for my 10 bolt on this rear? Welding on the axle flange woldn't work? Thanks

[Vince@Meanstreets]

If you specify that you need GM bolt flange. Vin

[Jasper Jones]

Ah, I kind of wish you wouldn't have told me that. I am losing reasons to tell myself why I shouldn't spend money on this! I can't use my back seat anyways, my brakes will work, and I have found a buyer for the suspension pieces I currently have... looks like I may be placing an order soon lol

[race-rodz]

vince...i called griggs because they have a rep for products that WORK, i probably did catch em on a bad day, i had some questions, and whoever i talked to said they would find out and call me back, well after a week or so, i called them back to find out if they got any answers...and was talked to as i was an inconveinence to whatever they were doin..... still didnt get any answers.... so regardless of how good the products perform...i would not purchase anything from them.

sooooooooo now i will wait for the lateral dynamics crew to do their thing, as soon as they finish up all this camaro stuff..... i have a mustang patiently waiting.

if you guys need an R&D mule.... im more than happy to "donate" my time, shop space, and labor for workin out the details on the mustang set-up

[iapitapun]

Thats an awful lot of welds. Are they mig or tig? Does this thing have a finish, or do I have to paint it?

Do you have a general range on price? More than 5000, less than 5000?

Seems like a pretty trick piece. What is your heritage, racing or the Big 3?

[Mean 69]

Ride height will be adjustable via the coil-over springs, the shocks have 7" of total travel, so there will be a bunch of available ride height variations with one shock position. We have the design modelled up using various ride heights, including one existing customer who is going to have a LOW car.

Sway bar is a great question, and a good catch. We are looking into a couple different mounting configurations, one frame mounted, and the second option would be to have the bar on the axle. Either way, the end product will be adjustable, over a modest range, so it will be useful as a fine tuning tool.

The majority of the structure is mild steel, and as a result, MIG welding is the "baseline." Wherever there is a tube adapter, the welds are TIG. In addition, in the future, we will also offer as an option an ultra-light version, made predominantly out of Chro-Mo, so that one will be TIG's entirely. With the price of materials, though, you'd have to be pretty serious about wanting it, it won't be cheap (but it will be even lighter...). Price will be less than $5k, by quite a ways (less axles, differential and carrier, and brakes) for the "standard" kit.

Vin, the housings will be offered standard as a typical first gen width, meaning the wheel mounting width is right at 60". However, we can easily offer custom widths as a very modest upgrade, so if you want to go wider and not require wheel adapters for late model Corvette offset wheels, for instance, that's not a problem. Same goes for deeper dish, we can go narrower too. I will state though, when we offer stuff for the front, it will require a decent amount of positive offset, similar to late model Corvette wheels, this is the only way to get the performance we are satisfied with up front.

In terms of performance expectations, our position is that this system will outperform any commercially available rear suspension kit on the market, bar none, at any cost, period. All of the available setups, ours included, have compromises in the design, somewhere. The other products compromise the maximum performance potential in order to make other aspects of the design "easier," such as the ease of bolting on, etc. We started from the other direction, our primary consideration was performance, and the sacrifices we made to the design were those that minimally impacted that aspect, while allowing "just enough" trade off to make it a completely reasonable product for multi-purpose projects in terms of install complexity, and other factors stated previously.

If I missed anything, forgive me, I'm kind of busy! Please though, the feedback and questions are incredibly helpful, I can't tell you how much the input is appreciated.

[ProStreet R/T]

Originally Posted by Mean 69

Ride height will be adjustable via the coil-over springs, the shocks have 7" of total travel, so there will be a bunch of available ride height variations with one shock position. We have the design modelled up using various ride heights, including one existing customer who is going to have a LOW car.

Would you mind explaining this one a bit more... Reason I ask is that from my experience it's not a great idea to do drastic ride height adjustment with spring preload. It changes the spring rate quite a bit and can cause overly harsh suspension charasteristics. Would it be done with different length springs, spring rates, progressive winds?

Sway bar is a great question, and a good catch. We are looking into a couple different mounting configurations, one frame mounted, and the second option would be to have the bar on the axle. Either way, the end product will be adjustable, over a modest range, so it will be useful as a fine tuning tool.

I would personally work towards mounting it on the frame one way or another. One of the main benefits of this system is reducing unsprung weight, no need to plop another 30lbs of steel rod on it. Yes it will be a little more involved for the installer but really, anyone considering this should be able to handle a swaybar install.

Vin, the housings will be offered standard as a typical first gen width, meaning the wheel mounting width is right at 60". However, we can easily offer custom widths as a very modest upgrade, so if you want to go wider and not require wheel adapters for late model Corvette offset wheels, for instance, that's not a problem. Same goes for deeper dish, we can go narrower too. I will state though, when we offer stuff for the front, it will require a decent amount of positive offset, similar to late model Corvette wheels, this is the only way to get the performance we are satisfied with up front.

Sounds like your guys have a well thought out system here that should be easily adaptable for many different setups. You might look into a universal brake adaptor that would mount to the standard C5 flange. I'm thinking something that would be a basic rough design, that you would drill/tap for different configurations. Would be pretty simple to make something that could incorporate the standard radial mount caliper spreads (4-5.5") and in heights that would allow people to run from 12.5-15" rotors. I know personally if my only concern with changing brakes was to buy a $150 caliper adaptor it would make my decision on the whole setup a lot easier.
Nice to see someone finally thinking out the front suspension pieces so we can all run very wide wheels and not have an insaine scrub radius.

Without looking over the drawing and structural analysis I don't know for sure but there is one thing that jumps out at me. The front crossmember that locates the links. The low location looks great but the upper mount seems as though it could use some diagonal braces to combat rotational torque. My concern is that with a high torque motor launching hard on sticky tires it may twist the upper section of the cross member.

But all in all it looks great, can't wait to see one setup in person. Now just PM me the address where I can mail my consulting bill

[Nutsy]

Originally Posted by Mean 69

In terms of performance expectations, our position is that this system will outperform any commercially available rear suspension kit on the market, bar none, at any cost, period.

Awesome work! Very sexy setup. I am quite interested in how it will Outperform all the others? Track? 1/4 mile? Street?

Is it a true statement to say that this setup is geared more for corners/track use? Or is it a good compromise for all around street/track/strip use?

How would you rank this setup in terms of street/track/strip?

Trev

[Vince@Meanstreets]

You might look into a universal brake adaptor that would mount to the standard C5 flange.

The nice thing about a C5 flange and axle off set is the variety of brake choices. Now instead of having to make a brake adapter you just run a C5 backing plate/park brake and caliper mount. That alone opens the door for Stock C5,C6 Zo6,Wilwood,Brembos,Precision,Mov-it and Baer+ kits. Vin