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A little project I like to call Gloria (GL+RE+EA)


flight_of_pain
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Looks like you need to add this car to the shop talk contest. This much fabbing, customizing and welding in what looks like a dirt driveway is certainly impressive.

 

You mean everyone doesn't work in their dirt driveway? :lol:

 

 

ps: This is how I do all my projects, I am the master of the budget build now.

 

pss: where is this contest you speak of?

Edited by flight_of_pain
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  • 1 month later...

In the last four weeks I have had my impacted wisdom teeth extracted, my son brought me home some horrible plague from his school, and my wife had our second child :). Needless to say, I haven't got a lot done on the sube, the 25in record November snowfall didn't help either.

 

I made some clearance in the tranny tunnel for the larger (and significantly higher) rx tranny. The subaru gearbox hangs everything below the input shaft line, while the rx box is pretty much in line.

 

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I fabbed up a motor mount/cradle for the front.

 

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I lowered the Subaru front subframe ~2in to get the motor lower in the chassis. This also has the side effect of improving the camber curve, and giving an extra 1-2 degrees of neg camber if I need it. In the spring i will be swapping in the matching legacy front suspension, but that parts car is under several feet of snow now.

 

IMG_1337.jpg

 

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Isaac

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I love your work that rear end is not going anywhere!

 

lowered the Subaru front subframe ~2in to get the motor lower in the chassis. This also has the side effect of improving the camber curve, and giving an extra 1-2 degrees of neg camber if I need it

 

This is something I have seen a lot a lot of people do without realising the Consequences. When you lower ride height plus lower the crossmember the lower trailing go from angling down to straight or even worse angling upwards.

 

They angle down for a very good reasion. It is called roll centre What happens as the control arm moves up during compression during Cornering this forces the wheel outwards, the opposing force resists the compression reducing body roll. If the control arm is flat or angling upwards the wheel moves inwards during cornering compression and induces more body roll.

 

If does not make any sence just google roll centre for a better explination.

 

My suggestion would be to lower the engine in the car without moving the steering rack and control arm mounting points.

 

You can get roll centre adjusters for wrx's that move the tie rod end and ball joint lower but not a much as 2" and they are very expensive.

 

I am actually making custom front control arms for my brumby(brat) that mount higher and further out on the cross member and spacers for the tie rods so i can adjust out the bump steer and my crossmember has only been lowered 1/2"

 

Ps You can get plenty of negative camber with adjustable strut tops or lengthened control arms.

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I love your work that rear end is not going anywhere!

 

 

 

This is something I have seen a lot a lot of people do without realising the Consequences. When you lower ride height plus lower the crossmember the lower trailing go from angling down to straight or even worse angling upwards.

 

They angle down for a very good reasion. It is called roll centre What happens as the control arm moves up during compression during Cornering this forces the wheel outwards, the opposing force resists the compression reducing body roll. If the control arm is flat or angling upwards the wheel moves inwards during cornering compression and induces more body roll.

 

If does not make any sence just google roll centre for a better explination.

 

My suggestion would be to lower the engine in the car without moving the steering rack and control arm mounting points.

 

You can get roll centre adjusters for wrx's that move the tie rod end and ball joint lower but not a much as 2" and they are very expensive.

 

I am actually making custom front control arms for my brumby(brat) that mount higher and further out on the cross member and spacers for the tie rods so i can adjust out the bump steer and my crossmember has only been lowered 1/2"

 

Ps You can get plenty of negative camber with adjustable strut tops or lengthened control arms.

 

I am no stranger to suspension tuning :) and everything you say is correct, but the are a few items I have not yet set up in the suspension that will fix some of these problems.

 

The rotary is significantly taller than its subaru counterpart, even the distance from the oil pan bottom to the crank center line is significantly larger on the rotary than the subaru. In order to maintain the low CG I am keeping the rotary under the hoodline. There is no way to get the engine lower without fouling the steering rack, as it is I have ~5/8in between the rack and the oil pan.

 

The FB rx-7 front suspension is the same basic setup as the sube, just mirrored front to back (rx tension links are forward, instead of rearward to the tranny mount). In the rx world we use offset roll center adjusters that space the suspension arm down by bolting between the ball joint and hub. Towards the end of the project I will be milling these out. The other consideration is that the legacy wheel/tire combo has a significantly larger rolling diameter so I wont be lowering the front suspension as much anyway.

 

Next year I will be swapping in the Legacy front suspension, which by my measurements gives me almost an extra inch to work with as far as oil pan clearance goes. This leaves me with only 1in of subframe spacers, and custom roll center adjusters to set the arms where I want.

 

All in all this car will spend most of its life slammed and sideways, so the spring rates will be very stiff, and likely large sway bars added to the mix.

 

thanks for the comments :) its always nice when someone spots a potential problem.

 

Isaac

Edited by flight_of_pain
I R can spel gud?
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  • 2 months later...

Can I have your car?

 

:slobber:

 

That is a no, but with some time and a welder you may, in fact, build your own :)

 

I will get some pics up in the next few days, I built the tranny mount, rear trailing arms/brackets, and am working on the front diff mount now. I will try to keep the thread here updated more often, you would be surprised at how much bull************ I get about this project/fab work on the rx7 board.

 

Isaac

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  • 9 months later...
Can we get an update? This project sounds too great to die!

 

I have made a bit more progress, but had to juggle a handful of other projects in the past year that have just sucked away every spare moment I had. I will put the pics up this week of where I am at.

 

Isaac

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The latest time sucker was building a new motor for my dd legwag, it suffered a catastrophic failure(but got a high comp frankenmotor in return)

 

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Back to the rotary sube! :headbang:

 

I whipped up a tranny mount out of some scrap I had, it uses the stock rx rubber mount, and provides a nice spot to route the exhaust as well :)

 

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The stock legacy trailing arms fit towards the outside of the legacy body, which is significantly wider than the little leone coupe. The centerline of the legacy stuff was about even with the leone pinch weld, they also have a goofy "S" curve to clear the wheel tire.

 

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Having stacks of rx parts is a bonus, and the lower rx7 trailing link is a perfect fit for the inside of the subaru arm. I fabbed up mounts for the body end that bolt to the stock coupe torsion bar mount, and are sized for rx trailing link bushings. With some measurements and a quick jig (not pictured), I whipped up hybrid trailing arms.

 

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The other two torsion bar mount hole will hold the diff snout carrier, which is the next project.

 

Isaac

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