heya guys,
i took my turbo off the car. now im pushing mor low end torque, i need to set up the rear suspension to handle it correctly, i have aftermarket adjustable upper and lower control arms, and a panhard rod.. . the question i have is this, what do the adjustments on these items do. . I.E. if i make the LCA's longer it does. .______ changint the UCA does _______.. .. that kinda thing.. thanks
The adjustable panhard rod is to keep the axle centered side to side when the car is lowered because the geometry changes when you do that. The upper control arm is adjusted to change the pinion angle of the driveshaft, usually needed when a one piece driveshaft is used because they sometimes rub. To keep wheel-hop under control you want the LCA's adjusted to be level when the car is sitting normally. This is my understanding of these adjustments, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
You'll want to lengthen the LCA's to where the wheel is perfectly centered in the wheel well (the distance from the front of the wheel well to the center of the wheel is the same as the distance from the rear of the wheel well to the center). You'll need to get a magnetic angle finder, and subtract the difference in the angles. You want the angle to be about -3* from rear section of the stock 2 piece DS to the pinion. You'll be adjusting the UCA to change that geometry. If I'm thinking about this correctly, lengthing it will make the angle greater, shortening it will make the angle less. For the panhard bar, you want to make a plumb-bob and tape it right above your wheel wells on both sides, letting it hang squarely in the middle. You'll want to measure the distance from the center cap of the wheel to the string. Record it. Do the same with the other side. If the drivers side has less distance from the center cap to the string, you'll need to shorten your PHB. If the driver's side has more, you'll need to lengthen it.
You'll want to do all of that on level ground, or the adjustments will be off (really, you want that to be done on the average angled ground that you use, I assume thats level heh). As for more traction, well there's not a WHOLE lot to be done with the links other than getting the geometry right. That is a fairly universal thing, but it is slightly different if your goal is strait line acceleration verses corner carving. I don't know enough about the geometry of the S197 chassis to really say, but having the LCAs point down slightly (with a relocation bracket) should increase forward bite slightly at the cost of proper suspension geometry (worse handling in general).
Dan
