Mastering the art of the S197 3 link suspension (sixty foot)

[BMR Tech]

This car is lowered about 1" on QA1 Coilovers.

 

[DVEST8R]

great info guys

 

[Fabman]

^ OH, I forgot to share.

Upper position on UCA Mount (BMR)
Middle Position on LCA Brackets (BMR)

That's awesome!

You know, calling out the holes used is a good simple way of sharing basic info, but since not everybodys car sits at the exact same height what really matters is the control arm angle in degrees, or to put it another way, how much higher one pivot point is than the other. It's the delta that matters and is easily converted from one car to another regardless of what springs and height the car is at.

Just a thought....

 

[BMR Tech]

That's awesome!

You know, calling out the holes used is a good simple way of sharing basic info, but since not everybodys car sits at the exact same height what really matters is the control arm angle in degrees, or to put it another way, how much higher one pivot point is than the other. It's the delta that matters and is easily converted from one car to another regardless of what springs and height the car is at.

Just a thought....

Couldnt agree more.

However, there are only (2) positions on the UCA Mount, and (3) on the LCA Brackets.

You can only do "so much" with off the shelf parts, in the grand scheme of things.

A 1" lowered S197 with a 28~" rear tire, with the positions similar - will yield similar AS properties. As in, on one vehicle it may be 110%...and the other, maybe 115%.

Nonetheless, I agree. I was basically pointing out that off the shelf parts, with off the shelf settings, can work well.

 

[Fabman]

Couldnt agree more.

However, there are only (2) positions on the UCA Mount, and (3) on the LCA Brackets.

You can only do "so much" with off the shelf parts, in the grand scheme of things.

A 1" lowered S197 with a 28~" rear tire, with the positions similar - will yield similar AS properties. As in, on one vehicle it may be 110%...and the other, maybe 115%.

Nonetheless, I agree. I was basically pointing out that off the shelf parts, with off the shelf settings, can work well.

Agreed, understood and appreciated.
I was mostly talking about the lowers since the upper is limited to one or two holes at most as stated.
There are a few different varieties of LCA Brkts out there and I think some variations within the same manufacturer in some cases.
Since the lowers also affect roll steer (something drag racers are less concerned with and road racers much more so) that was the impetus of my query.
I come from oval track racing where everything is super adjustable and easy to access. These cars are much less friendly to work on and take meaningful measurements. I'm skirting that line between drag racing and corner carving and a longer IC helps one but not the other. Would love to Flatten out my lowers if I thought I could still hook it up on the 1/4 but too lazy to climb under it at the track to get meaningful data. Too old for that shit now. LOL.

 

[Fabman]

I was basically pointing out that off the shelf parts, with off the shelf settings, can work well.

YES...and your company has done an exemplary job of it. THANK YOU!

 

[BMR Tech]

^ Gotcha.

That said, I've got some SERIOUS road course cars, with our LCA Brackets, running some seriously short IC positions (LCA in bottom position)

Test, test and test more - thats what its all about!

 

[Fabman]

^ Gotcha.

That said, I've got some SERIOUS road course cars, with our LCA Brackets, running some seriously short IC positions (LCA in bottom position)

Test, test and test more - thats what its all about!

I'd be a lot happier if the bottom of this thing looked more like my stock car. Nice straight frame rails, room to work and plenty of adjustment:

 

[BMR Tech]

^ YES!!!!!

And, thanks for the compliment btw. Much appreciated.

Just noticed your sig.

 

[DVEST8R]

<<<< needs a sponsorship from BMR hahaha. Still got a lot of stuff to purchase but the end result will be very sick !

 

[Fabman]

^ YES!!!!!

And, thanks for the compliment btw. Much appreciated.

Just noticed your sig.

We're representin'....

 

[lindertw]

Off the shelf complete BMR Suspension on a 6-Speed manual car, resulted in a 1.31 sixty foot time this last weekend.

He is going for 1.2X's soon.

Can't say I have ever seen a 1.2X in a manual trans street car (S197) - I hope he gets there.

what's the powerplant/hp level on that car? just curious...

 

[Fabman]

what's the powerplant/hp level on that car? just curious...

What's it weigh....that's what I want to know....

 

[NA-Stang]

Is there any reason not to run an aluminum adjustable panhard bar as opposed to steel? The car is a DD and occasional Drag Race Car.

 

[Fabman]

Is there any reason not to run an aluminum adjustable panhard bar as opposed to steel? The car is a DD and occasional Drag Race Car.

I've been running an aluminum one since forever.....and my car gets the works-drag racing, canyon carving, street duty.....everything.
The way I understand it, Aluminum for street, Steel for the track.

 

[Unreal]

So for stock height car, what is the best starting point for the UCA bracket and LCA relo brackets? Running a 26" tire, 3.31s and Circle D 4C convertor.

 

[BMR Tech]

what's the powerplant/hp level on that car? just curious...

What's it weigh....that's what I want to know....

I believe it is in the 800-850rwhp range, and weighs in around 3200#.

Is there any reason not to run an aluminum adjustable panhard bar as opposed to steel? The car is a DD and occasional Drag Race Car.

I've been running an aluminum one since forever.....and my car gets the works-drag racing, canyon carving, street duty.....everything.
The way I understand it, Aluminum for street, Steel for the track.

This is going to sound like a sales pitch, because we do not offer an aluminum PHR....but there is no way around it, if I share my experience.

In my experience, and aluminum PHR runs the risk of failing long before steel PHR. I get atleast 1-2 calls a month, from customers who have stripped threads on their aluminum PHR. I have also had local friends/customers who I have replaced an AL PHR with ours, due to stripped threads.

That said, I believe the cause for stripping the threads is a combination of the aluminum threads not being "strong enough" for the steel insert.....BUT, this is likely only an issue if the jam nut comes loose.

So in short - if you have issues with the jam nuts coming loose...which isn't rare, but not super common.....then the aluminum PHR can be an issue. Ensure it's set and locked down good!

So for stock height car, what is the best starting point for the UCA bracket and LCA relo brackets? Running a 26" tire, 3.31s and Circle D 4C convertor.

A stock height car with a 26" tire will work best with the following positions with our parts.

1: UCA in the lower position / LCA in the OEM or top hole of BMR Relos
2: UCA in the Upper postions / LCA in the top or middle position

Of course, there are many variables here. A low powered auto car (bolt-ons) that has a really good tire, like a MT Pro.....can sometimes get by with some serious AS%.....so the upper position in the UCA Mount, and the lower of the LCA can work. It just has a higher chance of unloading the tire due to "too much" anti-squat.

Here is a picture of our car running SERIOUS Anti-Squat. This was a bolt-on automatic....with 18" DR on stock wheels. The car hooked like a mofo. It did not cut "good" ETs or sixties, because we staged REALLY deep for NMRA SST:

 

[Unreal]

My car is low power (intake, tune, x-pipe, made 388rwhp on dyno). Running a 255 16" ET street but probably swap to a 15 later since I got 15s on the vette and can share tires. Figured run the ET pros on the vette for a few days then swap them to the mustang if they are not hooking the vette anymore.

 

[lindertw]

another update (previous post a few pages back)

- Shocks - strange single adjustable
- Rear springs - cobra jet (m-5300-q)
- Struts - strange single adjustable
- Front springs - cobra jet (m-5300-q)
- Lower control arms - metco
- Relocation brackets - BMR
- Upper control arm - metco (with metco UCA mount)
- posi/diff - eaton truetrac
- Pan hard bar - competition engineering adjustable
- Pan hard bar support brace - competition engineering
- Gear size - frpp 4.10
- Brand/tire size rear - M/T ET street (bias) 26X10.50-15LT on 15x8 weld rts
- Brand/tire size front - M/T ET front 28" on 15" weld rts
- Clutch or which converter at what stall? - OEM clutch
- Anti roll bar or which rear sway bar - OEM sway bar (no arb)

pinion angle set to -2 deg
LCA set to middle hole on BMR relocation brackets
UCA set to uppermost hole on UCA mount
front tires @ 40psi
rear tires @ 18psi cold
front struts at full loose
rear shocks at +3 clicks from full loose
~5000 rpm launch

12.532 @ 108.37, 1.644 60'.... (prev best 60' was 1.652)

approx 3540 lbs with driver, helmet, 12v compressor, 1/4 tank of gas, full interior and gutted trunk. Temps were mid 60's, DA was 700-1400' (depending on which online calculator you believe), N/A 302 rwhp.

This was my first time out with the new rear wheels/tires, and I need to figure out what tire pressure/shock settings work best and then launch off the limiter... there's a 1.5x in there somewhere

 

[fdjizm]

That's a sweet 60' man!! good work.
Can't wait to get out there and try 18psi for the first time with the new shocks/struts!