Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 91/126)
Bloozberry JAN 21, 08:29 PM

quote
Originally posted by pavo_roddy:
I was wondering what you are doing for a front and rear suspension?



I'm not sure I understand your question. The last 12 pages have been devoted to the evolution of what I'm doing for the front and rear suspensions. Is there a more specific question you have?

(BTW, PIP has temporarily stopped working again and none of the photos are showing up anymore)

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 01-21-2014).]

bubbajoexxx JAN 21, 08:47 PM
blooze im not saying your what your doing is bad but being trained by a master welder I was always told that lap welds without tapering the material is not as strong and when welding suspension
parts to always tig weld the parts as it is far superior form of welding your desine is ingenious just want you to be safe
pavo_roddy JAN 22, 12:39 PM
HI all

Yes, I didn't read the whole thread, a lil too big right now. I am wondering if you are you doing yur own custom suspension? Are you using this one, with a 3 inch longer a arm, http://arrautmotorsports.com/ They are the former held suspension components. What I really want to know is, the held suspension has longer a arms to get to the 355 stance, if you are using a custom touch is the suspension arm longer than the Fiero?

12 pages, will have to go through those later, thanx.

Air-eek

------------------
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ccfiero350 JAN 22, 02:45 PM
Nice Work! I was waiting to see how you were going to tie in the other side of the mount.

On the bell crank welding, if you don't have a wee tig torch to get in there, get it with a stick!

------------------
yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

Bloozberry JAN 22, 07:00 PM

quote
Originally posted by pavo_roddy:
What I really want to know is, the held suspension has longer a arms to get to the 355 stance, if you are using a custom touch is the suspension arm longer than the Fiero?



I bought the complete Held (Arraut Motorsports) 6" track increased suspension (3" per side) plus 1.5" front drop spindles from them. Before I installed anything I decided to study whether there were any performance improvements to be gained from them and found quite the opposite. The front was salvageable by shortening the upper control arms 35 mm and moving the corresponding mounts on the cross member further outboard by an equal amount.

The rear was a different story. Once I theoretically dropped the rear by 2" with coil-overs I found that the rear suspension performance took a steep nose-dive. After several attempts to improve the geometry of the MacPherson strut modified with the Held components, I ended up tossing all of the rear suspension out except the trailing links, and designing a 5 link pushrod system instead. The current status of the thread is that I'm now building up the parts for this new design.

I don't begrudge Held for selling parts that people may or may not notice a degradation in handling, but I have provincial inspectors who must be satisfied that any modification isn't detrimental to performance, so that's why I've taken the route I've chosen.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 01-22-2014).]

Bloozberry JAN 22, 07:05 PM

quote
Originally posted by ccfiero350:
On the bell crank welding, if you don't have a wee tig torch to get in there, get it with a stick!



Thanks ccfiero... that's a great idea.

pavo_roddy JAN 22, 09:53 PM
HI all

Cool. What are you using for a steering rack?

Thanx,

Air-eek
Bloozberry JAN 22, 10:07 PM
Stock '88 rack with 3" extended tie rods.
Bloozberry JAN 24, 10:08 PM
So as I was saying a few posts ago, there were several challenges to making the upper bell crank mount. The first was to get the correct gap and angles between the upper and lower bell crank mounting plates. This drawing shows the other two key clearance areas that the upper mount had to conform to:



One of the red arrows points out the concern that the tire sidewall might rub up against the outside face of the upper mount at full jounce, and the other arrow shows that the coil-over spring might contact the inner face of the mount in full rebound. So once I had found the sweet spot for the correct angles and gap between the plates, I had to cycle the suspension to see how much more I needed to thin out the upper mount to avoid any interference issues. With the brake rotor and wheel reinstalled, I tried to pump up the suspension into full jounce with a floor jack under the tire but was stopped by the tire sidewall rubbing hard against the upper mount. So I sliced a section out of the upper mount, re-welded it together, and made it clear the sidewall with about 5 mms. Hopefully that will be enough... here's the best shot I could get to show the new clearance:



When it came to checking the clearance between the upper mount and the spring in rebound, luckily there was about 10 mm's between the two... lots of space. The last modification I had to do to the upper mount was drill an access hole for a socket wrench to be able to tighten the bell crank pivot bolt. Here's what the final configuration looks like from the street side looking inboard:



And from the engine bay looking outboard:



Finally, here's what you see when the wheel and tire are reinstalled and the suspension is set at ride height:



Next up: modifying the firewall to accept a new transverse beam that will serve as the foundation for the stationary end of the coil-overs.
RCR JAN 25, 01:51 PM
Great stuff, Blooze. It's coming along nicely.

Bob