Cobra and C5 Corvette Suspension, Driveline Project

[rat_rod_russell]

Jerry, the 32’s won’t handle as good as a front steer rack because of the added stress placed on the rack when its behind the knuckles. With the cobra we WILL run the up front power rack off the corvette and with the split in the upper a arm you don’t see in the C4’s. The 32’s you don’t have that option because of the placement of the radiator too the center of the front wheels. The weight and size of the roadster played a large role in the design of the frame. This car will weigh 1800-2000 Lb when finished, so a longer travel was not necessary, also remember this car will have no finders so the look was very critical to make it feel right and not ugly. The nice thing abut the corvettes is that all of the pinion angles, and spindle alignment is made in the upper A arm on the C4’s. With the C5 the front right knuckle and the rear left knuckle have the same part number, a dead give away, and all of the adjustment is taken care of by eccentric bolts on the lower A arms making it easer to convert to coil over shocks.

Morris, Wow dude, I saw your cobra in your gallery, I guess your serious about racing and its even more obvious by the question you asked. I just going to point this out we were building the 32’s for street use primarily, plus this chassis is just going back together so there are a lot of things that have yet to be adjusted before it goes on the road, mainly a trip to Manny’s Chassis shop up in Austin for tuning and alignment.

The C5 Cobra we are using the stock Corvette angles for now to get on the track and see what needs more or less adjustment and where.

To define for the people who don’t know what we are talking about. Unless my dyslexia is kicking in again this is what that all means right.

Scrub Radius - The distance between the extended centerline of the steering axis and the centerline of the tire where the tread contacts the road.
Now in English, Look at the front suspension in you head straight on from the front of the car and draw an imaginary line through the two ball joints where they pivot. Continue that line all the way through the tire to where it touches the ground. Ideally if the car is running in a straight line this line will place the majority of the weight in the center of the tire so you can have the most effective foot print when driving. That’s why all of the current Sports Cars have deep rims.

I’m suppressed you didn’t ask how much bump steer adjustment it takes to keep it on the ground in a serious turn but I’m sure it was on the way next.

The Ackerman Principal - The creation of toe-out when turning to minimize tire wear and to allow for better traction when turning. To create the proper geometry, the steering arms are angled to turn the inside wheel at a sharper angle than the outside wheel. This allows the inside wheel to follow a smaller radius circle than the outside wheel and there for allowing tighter turning radius. Once again, street car, the closest adjustment to reduce ware on the tires and still drive handle.

Will be back in a minute with some photos of up graded brakes  it’s time for more candy on the frame.