As the upper and lower "A" arms go thru their respective arcs, the spindle
and hub will gain and loose camber. When the steering arm and the inner tie
rod end are located properly (usually close to the horizonal centerline of
wheel at ride height) the rod end will approximate the movement generated
by the wheel-hub with mimimal change in toe. And the length of the tie rod
must be correct to decribe this arc. The problem is, the arc at the wheel
and hub, because the upper and lower "A" arms are unequal length, may not
be a smooth curve, but, rather an ellipse. So toe change must occur since
the outboard end of the tie rod can only describe a true arc.
I guess what I meant was that the steering geometry should be developed
based on the existing (or desired) suspension movement.
The sprite rack had to be modified to get the inner pivots in the correct
location. I'm sorry to say that I don't recall exactly what was done, but ,
I think, the case was shortened, rack ends cut and pivots reinstalled on
the shorter rack. This change (whatever it was) was actually quite easy
given the design of the Sprite unit.
After the mod, the car was much more precise at speed with significantly
harder slow speed steering. It was more darty, which has yet to be
sorted.....
Sadly she sits in the back building awaiting the ministrations lavished on
the race car.
(more projects than I care to think about....)
Chip
----------
From: Alexander Joseph H[SMTP:AlexanderJosephH@Waterloo.deere.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 1998 3:41 PM
To: 'Angelo Graham'; 'Amici Triumphi'
Subject: RE: TR3A rack and pinion conversion.
Chip.. why is camber an issue here, since it is fixed?
|