Re: Front Suspension Mod's

["jtrealtywebspannet" <jtrealty@xxxx>]

You are very correct in worrying about the effects of changing one 
thing and what it does to many other areas in the car. With the 
importance of the front end set-up as far as handling and safety is 
concerned this is no area for a novice to dabble in. You must consider 
all static and dynamic conditions and handling limits, all of the 
critical suspension settings and so forth. Very few of us have the 
expertise, time and money to go into a development plan for something 
so complex. You could earn a college degree by the time you have 
learned and understood what goes into a suspension system. Just 
changing the ride height,a seeming minor change, affects ALL of the 
critical front end settings including suspension travel (which no one 
seems to worry about!). The front suspension was designed by some of 
the top people in the automotive engineering world and it STILL had a 
recall to correct a major problem. The front suspension as it is is 
pretty good it is just that besides normal wear and tear the arms get 
damaged by tow truck operaters. I don't think a redesign is what's 
needed here, all we need is a good source for replacement parts. This 
is not a case of a badly designed part although I am sure someone 
will redesign it anyway. Look up [unsprung weight] when you are over 
designing suspension parts and don't forget what happens when you try 
to stop the car and the front wheels are trying to move foward while 
transferring all of the braking forces into the body (and this is just 
going straight and level).
David Teitelbaum
vin 10757 



--- In dmcnews@xxxx, "B Benson" <delornut@xxxx> wrote:
> No one mentions the effects of caster, camber, or toe-in and if,in 
the DeLorean suspension,it changes under load. Modifying anything here 
may require changes elsewhere, shock dampening, spring compression 
rates, and so on. Different chassis setups react differently to even 
minor changes in any of these items. In racing it can take miles of 
track time to dial in a new suspension to make it react properly. I 
agree that the lower control arm could use some improvment but it 
takes a great deal of experiance to know exactly what will work and 
what won't. I think we have a pretty intelligent group but I wonder if