welshboy
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 04:23 PM |
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shocks what size ?
hi all im building a locost book chassis with a mk 2 ford escort axle and standerd book front bones what sort of length front and rear shocks should i
be looking for (O and its a crossflow engine if that helps )
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JoelP
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 05:04 PM |
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do you have the brackets and arms assembled yet? For the back, prop the car up at your desired ride height and measure the gap between the brackets.
This is the length when compressed. Do you know what springs you want on the back? Around 150-200lbs per inch. These would compress roughly 1"
when the car is dropped onto them, so add about 1 inch to get your open length.  It will be around 12" compressed and 13" open.
Front has more potential to vary, and im not very familiar with locost fronts, but a similar approach can be taken. Bear in mind the spring will be at
an angle so will compress a different amount.
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Ivan
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 05:15 PM |
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quote:
Do you know what springs you want on the back? Around 150-200lbs per inch. These would compress roughly 1" when the car is dropped
onto them, so add about 1 inch to get your open length. It will be around 12" compressed and 13" open.
You need more than 1" travel on the shocks.
The best way to check is to mock up the suspension at your selected ride height and allow at least 2" of bump and 1" of droop from your
ride height. - the more you can get away with the better but too much bump will cause bottoming out of your sump or car whichever is the lowest.
At the end of the day it's all governed by your bracket location.
Don't know why the text is italicised 
[Edited on 24/7/07 by Ivan]
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welshboy
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 06:20 PM |
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ok thanks im going to try to set it all up tomorrow night 1 more question should the trailing arms look level when the ride hight is set right ?
thanks everyone for your help the more info the better.i dont have any susspention brackets welded on yet but the rear axle is on and so are the front
wishbones and uprights
[Edited on 24/7/07 by welshboy]
[Edited on 24/7/07 by welshboy]
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JoelP
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 06:42 PM |
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you want the front lower wishbones level at ride height, and the back about half an inch higher.
quote:
Originally posted by Ivan
You need more than 1" travel on the shocks.
The best way to check is to mock up the suspension at your selected ride height and allow at least 2" of bump and 1" of droop from your
ride height. - the more you can get away with the better but too much bump will cause bottoming out of your sump or car whichever is the lowest.
At the end of the day it's all governed by your bracket location.
Don't know why the text is italicised
I didnt say 1" of travel was enough, i said the springs would compress about 1" when the cars weight settled onto them - this is the inch
of droop you mentioned. If you make the open length longer than this then your spring will be loose in full droop.
The itallics is because you didnt close the [ i ] bracket!
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Peteff
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| posted on 24/7/07 at 07:09 PM |
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I knew what you meant Joel.
 Closed length would be about 9" to give enough travel in both directions.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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