LocostUSA.com

well the brits have all sorts of information and drawings specific to the donors avaliable to them. On this side of the pond we seem to have quite a bit of information, but not so much of it nailed down.

I was thinking that we should put together a number of drawings specific to the north american context.

I for example am using an IRS thunderbird as a donor (91 I believe)
Toyota Corola is another comon donor
Mazda Miata

and so on.

Rather than leaving everyone to their own devices,and as was discussed in another thread, with incorrect, possibly dangerous, suspension setups.


We'd need to collect measurements from prospective donor cars, complete calculations for optimal suspension configuration, and complete drawings.

Now My skills would be in the last area so I volunteer to do the drawings.

Anyone interested?

I think that's a great idea. I have some sketches for the Miata but they are all scrawled on paper since I am a full on computard. I think LocostAdam also has a suspension design for the Miata.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

I'm not doing a miata build, but will draw up the plans for you.

Thanks, I will take you up on that.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

That's an awful lot of work for no payback. If you're going to do it, make sure that your work is for a good purpose. Make sure you have a good reason to continue doing it for the long haul and are willing and able to keep up with changes and corrections. To this end, I recommend charging, maybe, $25 for a pdf of the drawings. I'm not saying you should make it a for-profit endeavor, what I'm suggesting though is that you pick a charity that you like- whatever it may be- and request a $25 donation to that charity in exchange for the drawings.

If you're going to do the work, then somebody should get something good out of it. No builder in his right mind would turn down a full set of accurate model-specirfic drawings for a mere $25 bucks. It'd be a bargain. And it'd perhaps make it a little bit more worth the effort.


JMHO.

I'm putting a LOT of effort into proper design of the geometry of my Miata suspension - probably constrained by the Coveland mounting points. Steering rack mount points and dimensions, arm lengths, etc. will all be available - probably for a nominal fee. The sole limiting factors to the suspension are the rear half-shafts and uprights, since I want to use the Miata parts. Everything else can be moved, although I am attempting to use Coveland's mounting points if they're within reason. I may actually make adapters for the spindles if needed, but preliminary string-calculator results show I won't need to move the pickup points, much less change spindle dimensions.

The arms will be available as pre-made items or plans, will be very light, durable and easy to adjust. I have only seen one set of Locost arms that are comparable in terms of strength, fatigue resistance and ease of adjustability to this point, and mine are an improvement in every area - and should be cheaper and easier to make.

I welcome your suggestion. Sharing data before, during and after a build is essential and I for one will happily contribute whatever little I know. I am not a Miata either and my challenges came from a large donor (Ford Aerostar V6, 3.0L. On this rig everything was big and heavy: steering, live axle , brakes, etc. I will be available to provide details and dimensions if anyone is interested in this specific donor.

I agree,...An info bank with just the basics of each popular donor would be great. I know "search the threads"... but you have to be right on target with your phrase and word guesses. A "dimensions sticky" for tracks and wheel bases..and so on....I would certainly be willing to contribute!(what ever I have worthy of contributing)!!!

One person's payback can be very different from another's. With this in mind, I am reminded of the Open Source communities out there that are developing killer software. Many people are volunteering their time and effort to develop something and are very rarely paid. Each person does it for their own reasons. There are some open source companies that charge for support and implementation.

There is a lot of room for what one would want to do with this type of project. Money is not always a driving factor for someone wanting to do something - because if it was, many of us would not be building a Locost to begin with.

Just my quick two cents (American) worth.

I'm an open source kind of guy. I've got the programs to do numbers analysis all the way up to drawings and cad. so if you guys REALLY want something lemme know and I'll try to get it to it over x-mas break. I've got finals this week so I'm being rather unproductive as far as fun stuff goes.

I'm currently working on a front end rocker setup with miata spindles... it's more of a what if really.. I haven't started on a rear yet...

that being said, there really is no "Ideal" suspension setup... it all depends on what you want your body roll to be, or roll per g... that kind of thing... you can ball park it for a general setup... but if you want to get really technical, you need to adjust your camber curve based on your predicted body roll/ suspension travel and steering wheel input. Since caster and kingpin are relatively fixed on miata stuff you can change the camber profile by changing the upper a-arm length and mounting position on the chassis. Like I said, I've got the programs to do the analysis, but I just need some more info on some of the parts.

and no, I won't be charging for any of this stuff... why? well because it's all use at your own risk. I'm no pro, I've done a lot and designed a suspension or 2... but I assume no responsibility if you don't like the results or it doesn't work exactly as planned... It's up to you to do the math and understand the design for yourself, I'll just give you some pointers.

I remember those days...and don't miss them one bit. You going to UM? Going to the Rose Bowl?

Additionally, some of the downloadable cad programs we should put into this thread or another one like it, and get it stickied as well.

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2005 WRX in Rally Blue...stock and slow

Perhaps a 4-4-2 chassis in the future?

If you cad guys want to start a thread on CAD or similar modeling programs I'll gladly sticky it for you.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Oh yeah? I got your sticky right here, fingers. Free

http://www.alibre.com/xpress/

Get sticky with it.

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

2000 Plymouth Neon
1999 Beetle
1999 Cherokee
1990 Eclipse
1989 Jaguar Vanden Plas

NO actually I go to MSU... My twin brother goes to UofM... (no joke).

http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 1959#11959

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.