Re: [DML] Re: Lotus Esprit Rear Suspension

["Tom Niemczewski" <dmctom@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John,

I will stick with the original sheet metal design. It is strong enough when 
proper thickness metal is used. It will also stay closer to the original. I 
have to say that the frame itself is not so bad. It is a pretty good design. 
Of course there is some room for improvement but the basic shape of the 
frame will stay pretty much the same.  It's the suspension that will be 
changed, both front and rear.
At this time I'm still pretty far away from actually having a completed 
frame, but the work is under way. Already about 95% of the frame components 
are cut out and waiting to be shaped. The parts are cut from a sheet of 
metal using CNC plasma cutter which gives great accuracy of about 0.1mm. 
Next the flat pieces will be shaped into 3D parts on a CNC shaping/bending 
machine with accuracy of less than 0.1 degrees. The DeLorean was never built 
with such accuracy but hey, times have changed! I decided to use the best 
methods I can. I want my car to be the best it can be!

I will keep you all posted on the progress.

Thank you

Tom Niemczewski
vin 6149 (in Poland!)
Google earth: 52°25'17.30"N 21° 1'58.00"E
dmctom@xxxxxxxxx
www.deloreana.com



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Dore" <dmcjohn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:49 PM
Subject: [DML] Re: Lotus Esprit Rear Suspension


Hi Tom,

I agree with you - the original suspension design is very poor.

The later Esprit's had a much better front lower control arm, you
can see a pic here:

http://www.delorean.ie/images/009_oblique_view_lh_jpg.jpg

Didn't Toby Peterson do something similar with his car years ago? I
seem to remember him adding extra links on the front lower
suspension in order to triangulate the arm, and he had good results.

But, your approach sounds great, to design a new frame. Are you
going with a tubular design rather than the original stressed skin
folded sheetmetal?

You might find the following 2 links interesting - a tubular version
of our backbone frames, with proper double wishbone suspension:

http://www.banks-europa.co.uk/cars/chassis.htm

and

http://www.spydercars.co.uk/pg3_special_projects.htm

Looking forward to seeing the results, best of luck!

Regards,
John

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