think about the geometry of it, the lca mount is a pivot point and when the strut rod is lengthened or shortened it will cause the strut rod at the chassis (strut rod bushing area) to be pushed in or out from the centerline of the car. if mounted in the stock fashion like all the aftermarket kits there will be lateral load on the heim joints, by having the extra clevis it'll eliminate the lateral load thus decreasing heim join wear... atleast in theary or I may be overthinking it.
Mashori, any new info on this setup? Also the pics you put into your first post are no longer visible, can you re post them?.....Thanks
mashori has sold the mav and left the forum. @Bryant has the car now and might give you some insights.
I do have the car and autocross the hell out of it. This project never got finished but I recently had a parts failure that has me starting it back up. I crushed the bushing and flattened the cupped washer on the front of the strut rod from the extreme heavy braking from autocrossing. Im still planning on the same design that was started in this thread. I just have to make the brackets for the front frame mounts for the heim jonts and the tabs for the control arm end. one thing I expect to run into is the sway bar. I have the 1 1/8 adjustable bar on the car and it has rub marks from the strut rods on it. the bar can move side to side a little bit and apparently its enough to touch the strut rods. Im thinking of lowering the strut rods relationship to the control arm to give it a little more room. Ill take pics and get them posted here hopefully before the end of the year. Here is a screen grab from my last autocross event. The 1 1/8" sway bar on the stiffest setting with no rear sway bar effect when exiting an off camber turn on the power. Im looking for the smallest rear sway bar to try to combat this. I think I only need something around 1/2"
So you dont have these new style rods on your car at this time? The problems you had, you were using the original strut rods, correct? I am in the finishing stages of building my own strut rods, AND I am also getting the roller spring perches for my car....have read good things about those as well.
yep, still have the stock strut rods and bushings. I have coil overs but the roller perches are a good upgrade from the stock perch. The shock and spring work a lot better with the bind of the perch removed. Im just now working on a rack and pinion conversion based on the one you have posted about @55crownvic . I plan on relocating the tie rod location on the steering arm to increase the max steering angle and speed of the steering. Have you looked at something like this?
I have heard that if you shorten the steering arm then that does increase the turn speed, saw a kit on ebay under 'bump steer" kit. It basically relocates the tie rod underneath the original location. If you want faster steering, you might try a early 90's rack from a cavalier or grand am, they have a 2.5 trun or less lock to lock rack. I have the 3 turn racks in my cars because for the street the 2.5 turn rack is too fast and will throw you in the ditch real quick.lol
I did get the 2.5 turn rack. I have seen those kits. The will both increase the steering speed and radius. I do wonder if the speed will be too much but I doubt it. If it is then I get the 3 turn rack. Do you have any pulsing feel from the u joints in your steering shaft? I was looking @braess conversion and he has his u joints clocked to minimize the out of phasing angles.
I have all mine clocked on my maverick, but I am using a double u-joint at the column and a regular u-joint at the rack, with a support bearing in between and my steering is smooth as can be, now I have found that if they are binding, try turning one of the joints just a little and that does relieve that binding.
