Goodbye Kansas

[ERA2076]

I have been wanting to show you guys this stuff for awhile.



Since I am replacing the steering rack I took some time to seriusly research a spindle alternative. I do not know if you are aware of these. They are Gen 2 Camaro replacements. They run C6 ZR1 hubs.

They are some lighter than the Gen 1 spindles.





They run a 7 degree Steering Axis angle as opposed to 11. This reduces positive camber on turn in of the outside tire.

They are forged with a 1" drop built in. This will eliminate the extended ball joints. They are quite compact with respect to the SA to the mounting surface. So much so that I am considering building longer LCA's. They do not come with steering arms - I purchased some for a Gen 1 setup which we will copy from.




Any C6 Wilwood brake kit will adapt right onto them with the caveat of a minimum wheel size of 17" It has been some work adapting for 15" rims but we are very close. We tried several Wilwood adapters finally ending up with a C6 adapter and the machining it until we got it where it needs to be. We modified a hat to get the spacing right. I have an .5 offset hat coming which looks like will need no modification.



Interestingly while upgrading the Mustang front suspension I happened to notice that this caliper was lighter than the calipers on the ERA. I had forgotten I purchased a street setup for the Mustang instead of road race. I have since upgraded the Mustang and am going to run these calipers on the ERA.

It seems like I weighed all this stuff, but I cannot find it. I think I have 10lb of un-sprung weight out of the system (per side). With magnesium wheels I will have 20. That would put me close to 80 per side which is reasonable.



I have not purchased the new rack yet. I want to have the new spindles complete and installed and then we will measure for the new rack. Tony Woodward was quite helpful in teaching me how to spec the rack.

I purchased some turntables and measured the stock Subaru stuff which gives a ratio of 17:1. That is very slow for such a short wheel base. I most likely will build at 15:1. but am seriously considering 14:1. Unfortunately you cannot re-gear the racks.

[ERA2076]

ATS (Speed Tech) AFX Spindle 30002

Wilwood Caliper 120-11778/9
Wilwood Hat 170-11902
Wilwood Bracket 250-8917

Cut and paste as needed - the caliper may not be stiff enough for track work. They almost worked on my 3800 lb SVT. I am counting on the weight difference of the cars.

Spindle / Brake Assy (33.6) + 225 Avon + Minlite = 80.1 lb

Still need half of the linkage. A magnesium wheel should offset that weight which would leave me with a at 20% reduction in un-sprung on the front and geometry much better suited for the intended use.

chr

[ERA2076]

[ERA2076]

Beautiful - 20 lbs with cover.

[ERA2076]

I was unable to source steering arms for the ATS spindles. We took one of the Gen 1 steering arms and cut the webbing out of the ball joint relief so the arms would be oriented outboard.

I have spent some time with Tony Woodward learning how to properly locate one of his racks. I want to raise the rack and rotate it down some if I can. In the process of learning this we also discussed steering arm length and it's relationship with steering ratio. That led to some study on Ackermann which is still in process.

I took the cut up arm to one of our machinist's and had a prototype machined. He re-modeled the cut up with 100% Ackermann, 4 3/4 arm length, and 5/8 thru for the linkage bolt.

They fit very nicely. A little rework in order, but I may finally order the rack

[ERA2076]

3.5"

[ERA2076]

Oil Lite Bronze