Does anyone know of a good suspension/dynamics forum?

[TwoJ's]

Hmm, that actually sounds like a legitimate idea.

[TwoJ's]

Well, I have been browsing through their forum, and I really like it. There is a ton of good reading there, and the stuff those guys do is so far above 99.9% of r3v that I don't lose interest.

And I have come up with three options for my project. Option 2 is to participate in this year's ASME design competition. You can win money and trips if you win the regional competition. The competition is to build a device that can sort plastic bottles, aluminum cans, tin coated steel cans and glass bottles. This project would be cool because I could work with another person or two. The problem it poses for me is that I don't know shit about electronic controllers. This project would be almost completely robotics.

Option 2 is to design and build a wind turbine that could be mounted on the roof of a house. This intrigues me quite a bit, and doesn't require complex controllers (which is what I fear with the sorter). I live in an area just East of the Cascade mountains and it gets quite windy here. There are wind farms just a few miles from my house as well.

Option 3 is to improve on the suspension in my e30. I would likely make the camber and toe adjustable on the trailing arms as well as triangulate them for strength and less deflection (thanks for the suggestion skafrog. If I figure out a design that I am comfortable letting other people put on their cars, I'll just send you one). To go along with it, I would make some custom control arms that would fix the problem of poor geometry after lowering the car. I would set it up for ideal caster and roll couple; which should fix any bump steer.

[z31maniac]

Option 3.

Bump steer could be addressed with an offset outer tie rod end, couldn't it? To restore a more factory angle to the ball joint, am I thinking of that/explaining it correctly?

I'm not sure about the FCA. I'd think the subframe mounting point would need to be moved up to maintain a camber curve that picks up camber under compression. You have intrigued me to get some books on suspension/design theory now.

I'd say a new front subframe would that addresses the weak mounting ears/FCA mount/swaybar reinforcement would be interesting as well. It could be made so that long tube headers for M20 and M/S5x swaps would no longer have a clearance problem. You could probably pull off shaving a few pounds from it as well.

[TwoJ's]

Option 3.

Bump steer could be addressed with an offset outer tie rod end, couldn't it? To restore a more factory angle to the ball joint, am I thinking of that/explaining it correctly?

I'm not sure about the FCA. I'd think the subframe mounting point would need to be moved up to maintain a camber curve that picks up camber under compression. You have intrigued me to get some books on suspension/design theory now.

I'd say a new front subframe would that addresses the weak mounting ears/FCA mount/swaybar reinforcement would be interesting as well. It could be made so that long tube headers for M20 and M/S5x swaps would no longer have a clearance problem. You could probably pull off shaving a few pounds from it as well.

Well, I haven't read a whole lot about it yet so I am unsure of the necessary tie rod modifications. I'll have to do some more research and get back to you.

I do know that the CA's can cause bump steer as well due to the poor angle after lowering. This I could change. And I don't know if the subframe will need to be modified to get that roll center back up near the stock position. I will have to take measurements and start modeling in solid works to really get a grip on what I'm going to do.