I think I finally figured out how I'm gonna mount some tube shocks on the roadster......hence the question. What's the optimum angle?
56Don's chart has it... you can't get more than 100% efficient..(straight up). When building a car it would be great to have them vertical, but usually there's never enough room. See what you can fit in , then you will have to be happy with that, unless you can do some surgery to bring them closer to vertical.
I stood mine up to 20 degrees rather than 30 degrees, that photo at post #4 is one I posted previously on the HAMB Actually canting them over prevents lateral movement when mounted vertically. Vertical is OK for a race car however a street car is different as you need to go around corners.
"Actually canting them over prevents lateral movement when mounted vertically". Lateral movement should be controlled by the suspension links, springs etc. If the shocks are mounted at an angle the rate will fall off as per the chart above and the more the chassis rolls about its axis the more the rate will fall off so vertical (or close to it) works on the street too. With the shocks at an angle the further that the suspension travels the more the shock/spring rate falls off, the exact opposite to what you want when you hit a big bump (despite what the Aldan instructions recommend) If you are using a short travel shock like the 3" as per the Aldan numbers the effect will be less pronounced but it will still be there. As for their assertation that the "Weight of the car will generally collapse the shock 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches at ride height", that is dependent on too many variables to be stated as fact. Roo
Leaning them allows for a bit more suspension travel then the extension of the shock. Ie. you might get 6 inches of suspension travel out of a shock that has a 5 inch travel. You also can tune the amount of dampening you get out of the shock with the angle.
^ ? I've tried leaning my $1 bills to the side while stretching them at the same time, but no matter how hard I try they don't magically poop out a quarter when I do it. IMHO, leaning the shocks inward to "increase cornering power" or to help keep the suspension under the car is nothing more than an old mechanic's tale. That's what Panhard bars, Watts linkages, etc. are for. Leaning them over just makes them work less effectively. It's all hogwash. Forget you ever "learned" that and re-read the Rooman's post. Gary Hijack... wouldn't it be nice if someone could put a traditional Ford chassis, and a couple other more modern versions, to a test on a 7 post rig? We could finally find out what works best and what the best ways to improve them are. Then everyone would at least be able to build the best chassis from the git go and stop doing dumb stuff because all the other guys do it.
I wouldn't listen to Roo he is a digger guy. Of course that doesn't keep him from being right. If you must lean your shocks no more then 30 degrees. Sometimes chassis constraints dictate that a shock must me leaned over a little bit. Sometimes a coil over is leaned because of suspension design, this is commonly seen on an independent and the shock/spring is leaned in conjunction with the arc that the rest of the components travel. For our purposes a shock mounted straight up is optimum. For an example look under the front end of a Corvette. The shock is mounted straight up as is the spring. A shock is for ride control, it dampens the spring, and it will do a better job on a live axle straight up and not leaned.
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