So this is a purely hypothetical question, im just curious why it would or wouldnt work. But is it possible to take the rear lateral link, cut it, shave a few mm off of it, and reweld it together? Perhaps with an additional little brace for good measure? The idea would be to eliminate the issue of the rear suspension beam being pushed to the passenger side of the car when it is lowered.

Viable or no? I feel like the only difficult part (other than knowing how to weld well) would be getting the measurements right, and needing an adjustable QT link to deal with the change in geometry. You also wouldnt be able to really adjust your ride height either without throwing the rear beam off, but technically thats already the case. I really dont know anything about engineering or fabbing structural components though, so maybe this is dumb. Makes sense in my head but the fact it doesnt seem to have been done before despite seeming simple leads me to believe it isnt straight forward as I believe. Thoughts?

Also, what do you guys who are lowered do to alleviate the off center rear beam look?

 

You could do that or make your own link or buy the adjustable.

 

I think youre referring to the adjustable “QT link” which is the small, hand sized linkage that sits inside of the lateral link. Im talking about the big metal bar that connects the body to the rear suspension beam. The problem with the adjustable link mentioned is that it doesnt do anything to address the lateral link being too long on a lowered car. It makes it seem shorter but all it is really doing is squishing the lateral link bushings rather than relocating the lateral link itself.

 

Oh, you wanna go big or go home? lol I missed the part where you mentioned QT link.

 

I mean, the problem is caused by the lateral arm being too long when the car is lowered. So the solution seems to me to be to shorten the lateral arm. That part is simple as it gets. What i am curious about is if cutting, shortening, and rewelding it would compromise its structural integrity. I dont think it would, but again, I know fk all about working with metal. I think it would be fine, or at most, would be if a support bracket was added over the weld for additional support.

That is, unless theres more to our rear suspension than that. This is one of those things that just seems too simple to do for it to never have been done before, which is why im curious whether or not its a viable plan.

 

Yeah, like you said, if you're worried about it, then just add a plate on top of the weld.

 

One last bump. I guess expecting a solid answer on this is foolish since no one can really speak from experience lol. Hopefully somebody has some sort of fabrication knowledge and can weigh in.

 

Why not convert to panhard rod if your going though that trouble to modify the scott russel link?

 

I was not aware that was a thing. Ive come quite a long way with my automotive knowledge thanks to these forums, however, they are pretty much limited to these forums... Never really had any interest whatsoever prior lol. Theres a ton of very basic stuff out there, that I simply have not been exposed to yet. Still learning every day!

That all being said, that looks like it pretty much answers my questions here. A grand for the setup + labor (from the shop in Atlanta that sells it as a kit) seems pretty reasonable to me considering its a pretty involved job. Definitely something I will be considering in the future, every description Ive read about that mod basically says it completely transforms how the car handles. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

If you want to read up on more suspension stuff that can apply to our cars, look up the motoIQ articles 'how to make crappy cars handle well', and they've got a few on sentra spec v and b14 200sx supspension upgrades. All of which share a very similar suspension as the A32/3. Have fun diving down the rabbit hole

 

QT link, or make your own. No cut/weld.

I went through these guys. Put my order in, didn't hear anything for two weeks, sent them an email demanding a refund. They said they didn't have them in stock but had them the day I requested refund, go figure. I went through with the refund. Haven't been there since, but might consider ordering one now that I'm going to be running wider wheels.

I couldn't find the link only, but maybe they can break down one of these kits or something.

http://www.tdmimports.com/index.php?...&product_id=68

 

Panhard would be a downgrade. My 1970 Chevy C10 had a panhard. Our rear end designs are far superior.

 

How do you figure? Stock setup is mushy, not great handling. Just cuz tech is old (or stock for that matter) doesn't mean it's bad.

 

Panhard has no mitigation of lateral movement whatsoever. It is a solid bar with to connection points, that's it. Our beam setups incorporate lateral movement mitigation/auto-centering with their multi-link design.

Come on now, man.

 

 

That's fine. Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagitta_(geometry)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Russell_linkage

 

Interesting read. Looks like those negative aspects were quickly brushed over in the motoiq article, but it appears there are some workarounds to mitigate the negative aspects.
So if the SRL is inherently better i.e. more stable at limit, then whats the best way to modify roll center on the SRL to reap the benefits of stability and improved handling.

 

It's already built in. These are the constraints of a solid axle rear end. IRS is the best solution.

 

Yes, the panhard suffers from being an asymmetric design, but it (reportedly) can offer a lower roll center. It seems like a matter of preference and what is of greater priority to the user. I'm far from being any sort of vehicle dynamics expert, and I don't have a horse in the race, just want to keep the thread fact focused!

 

For someone building one of these cars for handling, even with the panhards shortcomings, I'd still argue that the performance benefit of changing roll center (and the flexibility of adjustment) outweighs the cons of the panhard (using the design considereations above) when installing in a sentra/g20/maxima.

 

i just put a 5mm spacer on the rear driver side, done, but if ihad to measure its prolly closer to a 10mm shift from side to side when lowered on H&R (1.3 inches rear)