front center link from 1990 camaro

[garvir]

this is a little differant set up, you go fast turn left, on a road course you go fast turn right, go fast turn left for 15 differant turns and half of them are reverse camber turns.... those reverse camber turns are a b*tch, you are turning right but the bank is throwing you left

 

[garvir]

on the road course at waterford hills , mi, there is a 150 foot differance in heights on that 1.5 mile race track, and then they throw in the reverse camber turns... the first time i ran that track i was backwards several times.

 

[garvir]

when you are making a left on a reverse camber turn the track is trying to make your car go off the right side/// this was quite a learning curve... next year mid ohio road couse

 

[garvir]

what i ended up doing was using the reverse ackerman geometry to compensate for the large differance in the slip angle between the inner and outer front tires during high speed turns... with the true parallel setup you will start at 0 degree toe and by the time you get into 15 degree turn of the tires the toe out in the tires is at 5.3 degees of toe out, the inside tire is at more of an angel than the outside tire. the inside tire on a turns sharper than the outside.

 

[garvir]

5.3 degrees of toe out can create a lot of heat in a long race. my track has 2 straight aways, and 15 turns, right and left

 

[garvir]

reverse ackermann, the angled steering arm produce a reverse ackermann, since i don't have any angled steering arms, i went one step further by angling the pitman arm and idler arm outward 10 degrees each, actually this 10 degrees is what the 1990 camaro centerlink gave me to work with. this does the same thing as the angled steering arms to change the radius of the two arms, when you make a left turn the right hand idler will be moving over center and the pitman arm will be moving under center, so it is moving the left tire less, this should keep the toe out down. and the plus is i have shorter tie rod lenths, plus the tie rods are paraellel to the ground now, and that helps bumpsteer... it will be a couple months before i can get on the front end machine to check my thoughts out about ackermann. i finally realized it is all about radius and all the tires are on a differant radius. i should be in florida

 

[garvir]

after a lot of checking and ajustment i went with 10 degrees outward on the idler and 10 degrees outward on the pitman arm, that 10 degrees is what the 1990 camaro center link gave me, worked out to be around 10 degree TOE IN, not good. did the math and check the alignment from 10 degree at pitman, down to 3 degree at pitman... the six degree worked out really well, at 6 degree tire angle=1/2 DEGEE TOE OUT, 11 degree tire angle=1/2 DEGREE TOE OUT, at 15 degree angle=1 DEGREE TOE IN. THESE WERE AT 0 DEGREE TOE.... now if i ad a 1/4 degree toe out to keep me from wandering on the straights i will have at 6 degree tire angle=3/4DEGREE TOE OUT, at 11 degree tire angle=3/4 DEGREE TOE OUT, at 15 degree tire angle=1 DEGREE TOE IN. looks better than the 5 degrees toe out of the paraellel steer with the stock suspension on my 1988 monte carlo. toe out encourages the initiation of a turn, and toe in discourages the initiation of a turn. i did have to shorten the 90 camaro centerlink 1", sleeved and used a tig welder to get good pentatration.

 

[garvir]

the math seems to prove out that a little reverse ackermann on the corners results in a lot less slippage that pure ackermann. that was with zero toe, i will start with a quarter of degree (1/8") out per side would give a really good toe in the corners. in a couple of months i hope to check out my lap times. with pure ackermann there was 4.5 degees toe out in the corners. so you guys using pure ackermann are losing corner time to the guys using a little reverse ackermann

 

[liquidh8]

How about using one of these--->http://pitstopusa.com/i-5072928-howe-adjustable-centerlink-complete-gm-metric-assembly.html

I have looked into your mod some time ago, and after some reading and research, I decided against it. But the Howe piece look s nice, not super cheap though.