Originally posted by lionkiller@Oct 19 2004, 03:13 PM I've been having coilover drama......barely logged on to my computer, least of all here....
I prototyped a set of coilovers for Golden Apple Brands (ADR, Stern wheels, NEX suspension)....had them installed Fri. Got out of the shop late...car was too low, squeaked & rattled like I was pullin a string of cans down the road....bottomed out on the fwy going home...Wifey FREAKED! Well, back to the drawingboard yesterday & got things str8ned out. dropped 3/4" all around...rides nice...& no rattles -one of the isolators wasn't on right.
Now, I'm ready to test something else....& get me a set of them Stern SP2 wheels! (Stern is Golden Apple's 'premium' marque)
Well the engine damper prototyping went well. We got some rudimentary brackets fabbed up, and will be working on them to refine the fit, look, and strength of them. We didn't get to test it out on Saturday though, due to the fact we needed longer bolts. When we get all this sorted out, I'll have Sam come back out for some testing. The intake testing went well though, check out this thread for more info:
Our dampers our made with hard rubber and Delrin bushings, effectively absorbing most of the engine's vibration and movement, rather than transfering it. The damper is not a solid connection, therfore allowing the motor mounts to do their job in absorbing vibration. Stock mounts are a lot less harsh than hard rubber or solid mounts. The only noise or vibration you may notice is the slight movement of the rod ends, but it is minimal in most cases.
Hmm not so sure how keen I am about putting stress on the tiny upper plenum bolts. It'd be better to find a spot down on the head or block for mount points. Note , this placement looks like it'll interfere with new taller plenums coming down the pike , like APS's tall boy.
Originally posted by racetek82@Nov 3 2004, 01:09 PM Our dampers our made with hard rubber and Delrin bushings, effectively absorbing most of the engine's vibration and movement, rather than transfering it. The damper is not a solid connection, therfore allowing the motor mounts to do their job in absorbing vibration. Stock mounts are a lot less harsh than hard rubber or solid mounts. The only noise or vibration you may notice is the slight movement of the rod ends, but it is minimal in most cases.
Stronger plenum bolts will be included with the kit. Other kits, such as 5Zigen's, uses the plenum as a mount. Pro 1's kit uses another small bolt (engine cover stud) to mount theirs. I haven't seen any problems with those. For the sake of argument, we wanted to use a stronger point, one that was more universal, but there weren't any accessable bolts that would allow a suitable bracket to be made. Exhaust manifold could have been an option, but ease of install and heat would have been a real issue.
I plan to revise the design some more, this is just a prototype after all.
It shouldn't interfere with the aftermarket plenums available right now. I've been looking through pictures of Crawford's plenum and some others, and comparing them to my pics of our brackets, and it looks to be fine. I made sure to give ample space between the bracket and plenum body. The only problem I can see, is that with our body mount, you won't be able to use Crawford's strut bar, as they use a flat plate, rather than the stock style step plate.
Lionkiller will be coming by again tomorrow so I can do some refinement on the engine bracket...I'm considering changing it to a low mount...that goes under the plenum nipple, rather than above it like I have it now. It should be stronger, and look a lot nicer as well. It will also clear the stock manifold cover a lot better.
We're considering designing our own intake manifold as well....more on that later. Suggestions for new parts are always welcome!
Here's a pic that show's the manifold clearance. Please remember that this is a prototype piece..and the final product will reflect any known clearance problems, and will also look 100 time better.
arty: Iwent over to Weapon-R on Sat., & Ray redesigned the bracket. Better fitment now. Made a few passes with it on, can't tell a big difference with the sliptronic...we'll make some more comparison runs on Thurs., get some pix, post 'em up.
Maybe contact APS and find out how their strut brace will attach to find out if there will be any fitment issues with their strut brace that you can get with thier plenum.
Keep in mind that if anyone is going use a MAP sensor in their car as with the APS tubo kit, that they are going to be using the hole where that rubber nipple is on the intake manifold.
Are you going to be using this hole to mount the damper?
Are you saying they use the nipple for the map sensor? or the mounting point to bolt the map sensor to? The new bracket I made uses one of the engine cover mount bolts, and one of the upper plenum bolts to mount. I may be including a longer bolt for the plenum, just to be safe. The bracket clears the front vacuum nipple, so it can still be used. Pics of all this to come later this week.
In regards to Crawfords strut bar, it will not fit with the current body bracket that I made. If I can find enough people who will be running this configuration, and if I can get someone down here with that setup, I can make a diff body bracket for those guys. There's more to come from us here at Weapon*R, so just keep an eye out.
Yes, prototyping was finished and has been sent out for production, expect to see these available in late Feb/early March. I'll post some pics tomorrow when I get in the office.
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