Re: Twin Engine Oldsmobile, 4-4-2 much, tribute to the original Hurst "Hairy" Olds
One more question - What's the misalignment angle of the FK rod ends compared to stock ball joints?
14*, it angles up far enough that the axle would be going under the inner rod ends of the LCA. from full compression to full droop on the TR i measured only 10* at the LCA.
the 14* is for the std 3/4-3/4 fk12, where our outboard is the fk12 oversized shank (7/8ths with 3/4" ball) but if i recal it was the same just a fatter body around the 3/4" uniball.
Question: Why not run the Fiero rear subframe setup? Wouldn't that have been a little easier since all the parts are readily available?
cause it sucks.
its a complete compromise towards cheap mass production. plus it would have locked us into only one suspension geometry...which was far from ideal.
id honestly have to say over the last 14 years that the majority of headaches we've dealt with are directly related to OEM parts that are far from ideal, cheap, but far from ideal.
went clean sheet with the whole new tube chassis. no more OEM headaches for us.
just full adjustable anti dive/rise geometry, control arm length/pitch, track width (hub to hub), roll center, bump steer, caster, camber.
but with parts/strength you'd find on a baja truck, available at summit and others... weakest part of the suspension is the OEM struts/knuckles and hubs, followed next by the weakest rod end at 38k lbs strength.....at each corner
several cars have been before us, all have had massive suspension deformation issues, resulting in plenty of wrecks and one death.
while we are paying tribute to the original "Hairy" we dont wish to follow in its footsteps....we wanna have fun for the next 30 years