Those are great ideas, until somebody does it I've been thinking about some other options. They involve weight transfer of the unsprung weight to the the sprung weight. At this point it operates on PFM but in my crazy little mind it works quite well. I Need to build some test pieces and substitute reality for Pure Fucking Magic.
We actually need to start a different thread that just deals with unsprung weight. I have had some ideas rolling around in my head for a while and some of them leave me with unanswered questions. Maybe later if no one else does it when I got time to articulate. Or Vicy you could do it now and I'll just have to find it.
the good folks (Purehotrods) are going to send me a new mount. They were very surprised the stud broke. in the meantime.....I'm running shockless!
I'm shocked. @31Vicky with a hemi first off forgive me for calling you Vicy. The link just takes me to the JJ and I am not seeing anything about unspring weight. Am I missing something?
No, I copied it wrong. Try this http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...nsprung-weight-unfavorable-what-helps.878210/
This is very true. You actually need some weight to make the suspension work. Why not put 2 or 4 bags of cement in the back just for the experiment?
Adding weight seems reasonable to me! If this in fact is the answer......with what steel material and where to place it? I still want to add a couple of bodies in the rumble seat to see if that improves the ride........cement bags a dirty! The B/T book talks about it briefly but does not mention material used or where placed?
The general idea about weight, or rather about center of gravity, is that you want it as low as possible to make a car handle well. A high center of gravity makes the car lean in the turns and causes excessive weight transfer front/back under acceleration and braking. In other words, I would want it as low as possible, and while I'm not very familliar with the design of your car I assume that would mean that it would be bolted to the frame under the car. One or more pieces of large round or square steel tubing with endplates welded on, the correct width to bolt the ends to both sides of the frame. Fill with lead, concrete, or whatever you have access to at a resonable price.
Ok, how about you put some bags of cement in CLEAN garbage bags and place them as far back as possible...as an experiment.
1 square foot of steel, 1" thick weighs about 40 lbs. So A 4" x 2" x 18" Bar also Weighs 40 pounds or a 6"x2"x12". Box the end of your frame with a bar once you figure out how much weight you'd like. It's the upstroke of the axle's inirtia and weight that smacks the cars body and occupants, Like a weighted Q ball or dropping stacked balls is a good visual
If you need to add weight how about lead. When I was younger I used to be a pitman at a local dirt track. To make weight the guy I pit for melted lead into a tin small block valve cover, then we would drill holes thru it to bolt it to the frame. Everything was on the left side for cornering but you could put yours as far back as possible.
I'll figure something out for weights but a couple of adult occupants to see what it does for the ride first..
As said before, try not to add weight. That is why the fenders were removed, right? If you must put more weight in the rear put useful stuff back there like battery, fuel tank and how about a spare tire? I would like to find a way to carry a spare in my sedan. But if you are happy with the ride without shocks, can you drill a small hole in the bottom of the shocks you have to drain the oil out? That way it will look like you have shocks but don't. I don't know if you can see the shocks from the rear of the car but you can on my car and I think it would look like it is missing something without them.
Thanks...Oh, I'll end up with shocks again back there but a whole lot softer pair. I think another leaf has to come out of the spring pack. Even with the shocks out it's still a pretty stiff ride. A lot more movement than with the old shocks but not yet where I want it. I guess that's why it's called Hot Rodding!
To make a long story short, 25 years ago I picked up a bunch of heavy parts and put them in the trunk of my 32 Ford coupe. In a matter of miles I was shocked at how well the car road ,and felt over bumps! I even stopped by a friend's (another hot rodder) and took him for a ride to show him how much of a difference it made ( and I had owned this car for years). The following week I bought a piece of pig iron that I was able to bolt to the floor in the very rear of the trunk. Don't know what it weighed ,but it is 31" x 3" x 1 3/4"( 50 -75 lbs guessing. I have another piece that will go in the back of my next 5W). Put two or three sandbags in the trunk and take it for a ride. That will let you know if the ride is any better and also how much weight you'll want to add to better the ride. Good luck.
OP; Don't have the energy to dig out the old R&C Hiboy articles, but I do seem to remember that the formula was: using the original 'A' rear spring set, keep the orig main leaf, jerk every other leaf, use screen 'n' grease 'twixt the leaves, wrap 'n' try. Use the old leaves cut to ~ 6-8" long as spacers, as needed. Bud Bryan said it worked really well. I did something similar on my 32 5w, but used a new polyethylene (winter) sled (in the mid 70's) cut into strips, ('twixt the newly painted leaves) as I didn't have the jingle for teflon strips, nor wanted the mess of grease. It actually worked fairly well. Used decent new tube shocks, but not fancy ones, I'm thinking they were "std", not h.d. (Possibly 'light-duty', as I remember reading back then that new shocks, even 'std' quality was too harsh, & what was wanted, was slightly used, so's they were partially worn & would not be too jarring. Ahhh, tech of the day... .) The ride on the street was not harsh. Could've been better, but I was learning, seriously bucks-down, & in college at the time. (Suspension was an unbelievable mess, fixed as well as funds allowed.) FWIW. Marcus...
have you tapered the ends of all the leaves, in both planes.... they act like a chisel into the back of the net spring down if you leave them square or even with the corners cropped . Tapering the sides to a rounded tip will make the spring action much smoother , and by tapering the thickness the whole spring will act more progressively.
Thanks all for the tips.......I will get back to this issue shortly.....but I have just sprung a coolant leak somewhere in the back pass side of the engine.......I didn't know flatties could leak back there. The only thing I'm thinking is the head gasket but that leaves you with white smoke out the exhaust and that's not the case! I did change that side top rad hose but it doesn't look like it is coming from there. Under the car I go...........
You're on the right track, set up the spring rate with the shocks off, then find shocks needed, here's a monroe chart for compressed and extended lengths. https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...kQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFVzIbsApWMde1XrqXufXYkrNRmnQ
After you decide an ideal weight, maybe some Dirt Track Racers can chime in with Lead weight ballast ideas? Hide some Lead in frame rails or rear spreader bar? I never really understood the "scales" dirt track racers use, but talk to them & they can make a shock/weight/downforce combo magnify &/or defy gravity. OR: for going forward (rather than in left turn circles), the BONNEVILLE experts could chime in on Weight.
Your shock elimination success shows an issue with harshness that you can use to improve things until you run back into the unsprung weight issue. It is probably more complex than just shocks. Your spring is probably serving as a crude friction shock due to internal drag from rust and crud...otherwise, removing shocks would probabluy give you a serious bounce problem. I'd work on spring next, but only after you have some shocks to experiment with... Disassemble the spring, thoroughly clean surfaces of leaves til smooth. Slightly break lower edges of leaf tips, adding in a very slight taper there and rolled edges...this is to free up sliding and stop the tendency of leaf tips to dig into leaf below. You will likely find the dug-in marks there too, and will need to grind and polish those out. Start with some simulation of the roadster spring pack, lighter than other A's. I'm assuming real Ford spring here, aftermarket tends to have thicker leaves and more harshness. I can dig up a link to a spring chart showing what's what on A's. Lube spring...LOTS of theories and substances on this, but some kind of lube will be nice. Now you will need those shocks again! On removing leaves...you may want to pull leaves beyond stock roadster level, but choose so the length differences between upper leaves and leaf below remain fairly similar. If you have a long area unsupported by leaf above, spring will tend to hinge there rather than compressing throughout. Once suspension is smooth and damped by suitable shocks, you will likely be looking directly at bounce from unsprung weight. Fat friends in rumble remain easiest and most flexible way to experimaent with weigh to see if you want to add some and how much...keep passing them the double bacon cheeseburgers til you find optimum. Finish the tuning by boring, stroking, and adding a supercharger to control any loss of response due to weight.
Ok coolant leak resolved.......turns out it was the Drake clamps.....screw and nut type. I removed both and replaced with later versions.......runs at 190 now both banks. Thanks all. The rear pack is stock A with leaves removed and main leaf reverse eye. So the pack was apart and cleaned but not greased. I'm pretty sure one more leaf needs to come out, some weight added and softer shocks. While I have it apart again, I will make sure the ends are attended to. Cheeseburgers have been ordered!
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