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Bruce, nicely said. I think we are in agreement. "What I think the soft limiters give you is the ability to choose your stiffness at full droop by changing the combination of coil springs and the droop limiter rubber - as you said for tire compliance. John" In my mind a soft, or compliant,...

Assuming that you're not against the droop limiter, changing preload only changes ride height, and has nothing to do with stiffness. To change the stiffness you have to change the spring rate. John, I agree with your first statement, however, I am not sure that the second part of your statement is ...

OK Brian, a couple of thoughts on your statement. 1) I would not necessarily add another whole inch of preload. I may add something less than that amount. 2) Assuming this 600lb mass, or weight, is rolling down the track I would think that a bump that causes a 100lb vertical load, which is only 16% ...

You need expand on your statement. 1) What do you mean by "stiffer". The next 100 lb. of force applied to the rear suspension beyond static ride height: A) Does the suspension move with greater resistance or B) Does the suspension not move at all? 2)How are you increasing pre-load beyond ...

The benefit of preload would be that you can run a softer spring rate. The preload just keeps the car from dragging on the ground.

How else could you run a single 200lb spring to support the rear of a car that weighs 600lb.

It would seem that the droop limiter should always be loose when at operating ride height. Most modern Formula cars, and possibly other race cars, have preload designed into the suspension. My FA had preload designed into the suspension. So, I guess the answer to your statement would be, not necess...

If you want to change the stiffness .... you must change the spring, assuming all other suspension adjustments remain constant. Greg, I don't think that is true. I guess maybe I need to separate static stiffness and dynamic stiffness. I can preload my (10" long, 200lb spring) 4" and have ...

Bruce, thanks for that clarification, You are correct that a 600lb spring would need to be compressed 1" before it will reach 600lbs of force. Jim, I think you got it. I guess my fundamental question would be if I want to make the rear of my car stiffer should I increasing the preload of my 200...

In my mind when you take a 10" spring that has a rate of 200lbs/inch and compress it 3" to achieve a force of 600lbs, which is about what is needed to hold up the back of a FV I would call that preload. I also understand that you can tighten down the same spring further using the threaded ...

Pre loading the rear spring(s) is not normal practice and would seem to limit rear suspension movement or compliance. I would say that preloading the rear spring on a zero roll FV is quite normal, In fact It takes about 3" of preload on a 200LB spring in my car to maintain normal ride height/c...

Why is there a spec tire in FV in the west To promote larger fields and more affordable racing, which it has done quite nicely. To bad the rest of the nation cant figure this out. 12 race season = two sets of tires I have actually turned my fastest lap ever on a set of tires that the cords were jus...

Not really looking forward to running with regional club Fords who turn vee times.

Or slower............ and we are on American Racers. With national tires you are going to find even more CF's to play with. It's unbelievably frustrating.

I had very poor performance with my first Gopro Hero camera. It was very unreliable and frustrating to use. I reluctantly purchased the new HD version and have had excellent results with no failures or problems. The HD picture quality is awesome and the battery will last all weekend on a single char...

John,

That is the article that I was referring to.

Toe change under heavy braking is of little importance to me. I am more concerned about where the toe is when you turn the wheel such as transitioning from braking to turn in and throttle application. My Vee will dive under hard braking about 1" Once the throttle is applied the front end will l...

Brian,

I had the same thought. Don't know the answer.

John, I guess my thought would be if we enter a left hand cornering situation, the right spindle compresses, or goes up, and the left spindle extends, or goes down, I think that will cause a toe change with a drag link. Maybe we should call it roll toe? because I think that it is different then roll...

Drag link steering systems, which incorporate a single solid tie rod from side to side, cannot produce ackermann nor do they have bump steer. I don't necessarily agree. Drag link geometry will have zero ackermann only if the tie rod pick up point is directly behind the king pin center of rotation o...

No, I just happen to have my own theory's that I don't really want to share with everyone.

I have already been told that I don't know what I am doing because I run a rear sway bar.

I'm just a regular guy...... not really smart like you.

The only thing that I will say is that droop at the rear, with a zero roll suspension, is completely different then droop at the front. I happen to use it in both locations and feel it is advantageous. Of course I also run a sway bar in the rear for roll resistance. Which I know you say is "nev...

I am not implying anything other then using the shock to limit the travel of the suspension is a droop limiter. That is no different then 100 percent of the other FV's out there. Use the shock, or use a cable, or use a rod to limit the travel, its all the same to me. No one ever said that you are no...

I do not have a droop limiter. The shock is used to keep the camber from going to positive camber as a safety precaution. If you want, you can say the droop is set at 0 deg. I use a normal rocker type zero roll rear suspension. Oh, one other thing. Using the shock to stop the travel of the suspensi...

In general there is no better handling car than mine (not saying the best) west of the Rockies. I do not have a droop limiter. The shock is used to keep the camber from going to positive camber as a safety precaution. If you want, you can say the droop is set at 0 deg. I use a normal rocker type ze...

Brian,

I think you need a vacation.

The small shocks on the side of the main shock controls the roll dampening. The center shock/spring controls the vertical movement and dampening. I would think something like this could be made for a Vee fairly easily.