Ok so i'm putting a big disclaimer on this post because it may not apply to you guys at all. However, there's a reasonable chance it might work, so i figured i'd share my incomplete results. I've come across a bunch of good information here, so i'm hoping to return the favor. Why is there a chance it won't work? Well the car i have is a Honda Element, but in many ways chassis wise it's similar to the DC5/EP3.
I've done a bunch of reading to see what could be done to overcome a number of our chassis' flaws. The way i see it, the things that would be ideal to fix would be:
- front camber gain under compression
- better rear motion ratio
- bump steer issues when lowered
- improve positive caster
I can't see how to improve 1 and 2 without building different suspension arms (and in the front converting to double wishbone, unless there's a way to gain camber with struts). 3 has solutions with the rack raiser bracket/inverted tie rod ends, and an extended ball joint for the front LCA. 4 is not so easy unless you want to buy expensive caster plates, so that's what i decided to work on. Apologies in advance if this is totally obvious
I decided to look at the camber plates on my coilovers and see if i could turn them into caster plates. I still want to be able to adjust camber, but that's something I can fix with camber bolts where the coilover lower bolts to the knuckle. I took some measurements and realized if i was willing to do a bit of drilling and notching, i could swap the coilover top plates (switch left and right) and rotate them 90 degrees to be used for caster. You have to drill 2 new holes so the plate will mount up, and notch the chassis a bit so the bolts that hold the coilover topmount to the top plate will fit. The hole closest to the firewall doesn't have to be redrilled. Of course, I used only the most sophisticated CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) tools to mock up the holes for drilling.
How much caster did this gain? Not sure yet - i've got an alignment scheduled in a few days so i'll find out then. I know people pay good money for offset LCA bushing to get a fractional degree of caster, and this solution is free if you already have adjustable coilover top plates. I can say that, for the Element, this solution moves the strut top rearwards as much as is possible. Even if a caster plate were to offer more offset, I couldn't use it because the tie rod is as close as possible to the steering rack on the passenger side without touching(driver's side has a bit more clearance because of the rack's profile). As a side benefit, the mount is now slightly inward compared to stock so there's (non adjustable) camber gain as well
Let me know what you guys think. If it's a terrible idea, let me know why so i don't drive off the road and die. I know the strengthening circle on the chassis above the shock top is compromised by the chassis notch, and i was debating welding in additional support in that area. The element has a shock tower bracket that ties to the firewall, so it's probably pretty sturdy as-is
I've done a bunch of reading to see what could be done to overcome a number of our chassis' flaws. The way i see it, the things that would be ideal to fix would be:
- front camber gain under compression
- better rear motion ratio
- bump steer issues when lowered
- improve positive caster
I can't see how to improve 1 and 2 without building different suspension arms (and in the front converting to double wishbone, unless there's a way to gain camber with struts). 3 has solutions with the rack raiser bracket/inverted tie rod ends, and an extended ball joint for the front LCA. 4 is not so easy unless you want to buy expensive caster plates, so that's what i decided to work on. Apologies in advance if this is totally obvious
I decided to look at the camber plates on my coilovers and see if i could turn them into caster plates. I still want to be able to adjust camber, but that's something I can fix with camber bolts where the coilover lower bolts to the knuckle. I took some measurements and realized if i was willing to do a bit of drilling and notching, i could swap the coilover top plates (switch left and right) and rotate them 90 degrees to be used for caster. You have to drill 2 new holes so the plate will mount up, and notch the chassis a bit so the bolts that hold the coilover topmount to the top plate will fit. The hole closest to the firewall doesn't have to be redrilled. Of course, I used only the most sophisticated CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) tools to mock up the holes for drilling.
How much caster did this gain? Not sure yet - i've got an alignment scheduled in a few days so i'll find out then. I know people pay good money for offset LCA bushing to get a fractional degree of caster, and this solution is free if you already have adjustable coilover top plates. I can say that, for the Element, this solution moves the strut top rearwards as much as is possible. Even if a caster plate were to offer more offset, I couldn't use it because the tie rod is as close as possible to the steering rack on the passenger side without touching(driver's side has a bit more clearance because of the rack's profile). As a side benefit, the mount is now slightly inward compared to stock so there's (non adjustable) camber gain as well
Let me know what you guys think. If it's a terrible idea, let me know why so i don't drive off the road and die. I know the strengthening circle on the chassis above the shock top is compromised by the chassis notch, and i was debating welding in additional support in that area. The element has a shock tower bracket that ties to the firewall, so it's probably pretty sturdy as-is
Caster improvement