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As a quick fix, you might try "shimming" the inside pipe wrench with some aluminum sheet metal. I'm pretty sure I've done this in the past with a smaller wrench and it worked OK. You can mock it up with the nut on the bench and get the aluminum to conform and reduce the effective ID of the...

One thing that helps a lot is to adjust the brakes up hard *before* you bleed them. This minimizes the fluid volume in the wheel cylinder by pushing the pistons in as far as they will go. Because it pushes the top piston down (in the 3- 9 o'clock locations), it also reduces the height difference bet...

John,

Try changing your limiter spring rate to a constant 50 or 100 lb/in and see what it looks like.

In my opinion the way to essentially guarantee that neither the aftermarket nor the original spindles will fail due to fatigue is to use the spacer kits now available from FV suppliers like Mike Palermo (contact info above). When installed properly these spacers increase the strength and stiffness o...

But doesn't "spring rate" have a sign? Remember, the droop limiter will be working in *opposition* to the spring. So does the total spring rate (spring + limiter cushion) go up or down when the cushion is engaged? That's why I'm confused as to what the spring rate is with a compliant droop...

Nobody should worry about their engineering abilities. Raise questions when something does not make sense. There is probably another way of making the point. " Assuming this 600 lb. mass, or weight, is rolling down the track I would think that a bump that causes a 100 lb. vertical load, which ...

Not to pick nits (too much), but a "600lb spring" is actually a 600 lb *per inch* spring so with a 600 pound load applied it will compress 1 inch. As far as "preload", I can see how the rear of an FV could get confusing. If you are talking about the spring preload, it could be ei...

I know some people do, but I've never tried to "adjust" front camber with the link pin shims (those are the link pins -> horizontal, 2 per side vs king pins -> vertical, 1 per side). My preference has always been to have everything as tight as possible with no binding. I would argue that a...

Jeff, I think I've needed my Aim beacon about twice in 5 years. Usually there are a bunch of them near SF. You might need one at some point, especially if the races you will go to are lightly attended. This might be more likely at regionals but still, I think I'd save my money for now. Lacking a bea...

Chris, What we are considering is the change in the lifting force provided by the spring as the car is jacked due to the jacking forces (total rear camber going from negative towards positive = spring getting longer). For any given rear suspension spring/rocker/pushrod geometry on the same car, any ...

From your weight transfer spreadsheet, the total weight transfer number for a 1" CG change is about 12 lb. I assume that includes the change in the roll center. If so, I estimate about 3-4 lb of weight transfer change per degree of rear camber. I don't think that's correct. One of the assumpti...

Brain H. I made a CAD "stick" model of the rear swing axles of a Vee. Chassis roll only changes camber about 0.1 degree of camber per degree of roll. As expected, the outside goes more negative and the inside more positive (supporting Chris's assumption). However, the change is probably sm...

I'll try to get to my spreadsheet tonight. It's been a while. I can't remember whether the roll center is fixed or changing automatically. same for the CG height (which was just a swag). But don't forget that both the CG AND the rear roll center are rising as the car jacks. Both of these are increas...

Brian, What I was trying to get at is the unstable nature of a swing axle suspension without a droop limiter. The jacking can go "over center" because there is a source of positive feedback in the jacking forces. As the car jacks, the roll center is moving: UP. This is causing MORE weight ...

Having run a potentiometer on my rear shock for the last few years, I can state with some confidence that MY car corners ON the droop limiter in every corner at RA except turn 5. In every other corner, the shock (my droop limiter) is at full extension by about mid-corner in all other corners. I happ...

The above link worked for me earlier but won't now.
Try this:

https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/me_s ... ing/design

Having the bias bar "level" or parallel to the bulkhead when the brake pedal is fully depressed probably means having the push rod longer on the front master than the rear when the pedal is "at rest". This is due to the larger wheel cylinders on the front brakes than the rears. B...

Mike, if you do get the consolation prize, you'll have to share it with me (Q3).

More of a booby prize for the week for me.

Probably about as good as you will get looking ahead:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USWI0554

For daily detail:

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdetail ... 4?dayNum=1

Pretty typical for September in Wisconsin.
See many of you there shortly.

Name a racing series that doesn't have to lap other cars? Pro, or otherwise? Nascar? Indy? F1? Heck, ALMS has multiple classes on the track for 24 hours in a row and they make it work. If you have to lap traffic at the Indy 500, or the Daytona 500, or the Monaco GP, then why are we so exclusive tha...

Do you guys really want to pay extra to not have back-markers? Brian Not really, but I think I might prefer it to the current situation. As I said earlier, the bigger problem is NOT at the Runoffs, but in normal national races with mixed classes. At the Runoffs if there is a car or two that is way ...

Do you realize how much slower 120% is? A rule that might actually have a real effect on who qualified be about 110%, maybe less. At RA a Vee running 120% of the best qualifying time would be at about 3:12 (a slow drivers school time or a mediocre lap in the rain). In a 13 lap race, someone running ...

Bearings are free If bushings and bearings are interchangeable words, then you are correct and I'd agree with your interpretation. However, you will not find "Bearings are free" in the FV rules except for specific applications (e.g. wheel bearings). The catchall wording in C.1: "No c...

Technically, "fasteners" are free not "hardware". Subtle difference I know, but room for doubt as to whether a thrust washer/shim is a fastener. This concept does get stretched a bit sometimes... From the GCR: C.10. Non-Standard Parts The use of the following non standard replace...

Steve, I think EVERYTHING is bending! -Jim No truer words were ever spoken both from the theoretical (everything does bend/move some when loaded) to the practical (it all adds up) yielding a huge loss in camber "control". But amazingly is seldom breaks, except for the spindles... And we h...