I have the original panhard he sold. It was a straight bolt on. Some people over torqued the frame mounts and there were some failures. I read and followed his instructions TO THE LETTER and have not had any trouble with it in over 2 years. He revised his mount to be weld on because of other peoples failure to follow directions, were giving him a bad name. I doubt theres any real complicated welding, but it should only be done by someone COMPETENT.

 

You get what you pay for. I bought a strut tower brace from GC years ago. It was a single bar with one rod end on each end. And it wouldnt clear the alt pulley. After I stopped laughing, i sent it back. They didnt want to accept it back just cause I was unhappy with the design. I was FURIOUS Their customer service sux ***! I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from GC EVER AGAIN.

 

Ok, I'll try to answer this as fairly as I can. This is not a flame to you so please dont take this the wrong way. Jim sells hardcore race parts to hardcore racers period. No bling bling (new word I just learned ), no naked chicks modeling his products. He sells on his reputation and word of mouth. He is an accomplished engineer and racer with alot of experience. He's not trying to sell to the street racer/ street performance crowd. No street performance parts dressed up as "racing" parts. No BS, just the best 1st gen road racing suspension stuff out there, BAR NONE. How come you guys have such a hard time understanding this? You all to Paul Yaw, and even he to Jim on 1st gen suspensions.

 

/\ could not have said it better.
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fair enough

 

Sounds like another satisfied G-Force customer. I know you guys are thinking WTF????? $75 for a book? How much is accurate knowledge worth to you? How much $$$$ do you want to spend on parts that dont work well? Another thing you might not realize is that if you buy the book, you are entitled to call him and get his consulting advice anytime. How much is it worth to you to have a qualified 1st gen suspension engineer on call to help you build a killer car? Even if you decide not to buy his stuff, his book alone is required reading if you want to understand the suspension in our cars, ands then make wise purchases.

 

I think im going to get the book, and when I understand the system, then ill buy the parts.

 

WHooo hooo

1000 posts!!!

 

Can I get an AMEN brothers???????!!!!!!! Now your using your head, best of luck to you. When youve read and digested the info, post your thoughts on Jim's knoweledge and whether you thought it was worth it or not.

 

will do.

 

Amen,
Some years ago I thought I was smarter than most folks and built mt Rx7 based on my knowledge. In the end I had an expensive and slow car.

This time around I studied before I bought, and I have not had to by anything two or three times to get it right. And, I am building a quicker and quicker car.

There is an old saying, "speed is expensive, how fast can you afford to go?" I can tell you it is a whole lot more expensive when you buy dumb.

Good luck!

 

anyone has pic for panhard rod and tri link setup??
i still have no idea where the go in the car

 

1st7heaven has some on his cardomain site. look through this thread, its here somewhere

 

http://www.cardomain.com/id/7heaven

 

Any cars come out of the factory with a panhard bar?

 

not our 1st gens but plenty of other kinds of cars have this setup.

 

which would work better for high speed stability?

stock diameter 205/50/15s with about 6 inches of clearance or 195/45/15s and substantially lower.

How much narrower is the 195 vs the 205. and how mutch lateral grip would I probably loose.

I would really like the car alot lower. I see these spec7s that are like a half inch off the ground and it looks sweet.

 

I posted in the Watts linkage thread about this. Mazda engineers had reasons for choosing the Watts linkage, specifically a lower roll center and more compact design (to meet rear-impact standards, the body would have had to be 3 inches longer with a Panhard rod)

Factory sponsored RX-3s had used Watts linkages and Mazda was satisfied with the handling results.

 

As far as I know, the measurment for width is in mm, so 205's are 10m wider than 195's at the widest point. The thing with fitting tires is the wider the sidewall, the less actual tread you get, due to the fact that the 205, or 195 or whatever is the widest point is not the tread width due to bowing of the sidwall when inflated. More sidewall the more bowing. 195/45/15s will not have that much less than the 205/50s... maybe 7mm or so.

Lateral grip is harder to say, up to a point the less sidewall the better... tires are an integral part of the supsension, less sidewall usually means stiffer sidewall, which like stiffer sprigs may or may not help with cornering power, but usually give a better feel. I think you could be happy with either, but personally I think it depends more on the tire make-model than such a small change... but I could be wrong on this one.

 

typically though, the lower the profile the stiffer the sidewall AND the straighter the sidewall (more 'square shouldered') meaning a larger contact patch.

 

I guess in my rambling I didn't make myself clear, thanks Manntis for helping to avoid confusion (wider sidewall meant taller or more sidewall == less contact patch) So a 195/45 has more tread than a 195/55 which is what most might run to keep their speedo happy, but 195/45 probably won't have much less than 205/50

 

Oh, and I'm sure you know, but by shortening your rolling circumference will be less, which is like shortening your final drive.... just somthing to ponder

 

i want the shorter gears.

also, I was thinking, with a reduction in gearing at the tires, wont that put less stress on the drivetrain.

I have the 205s on there now and with the addition of the panhard setup I should be able to go anouther half in lower.

Im going to get the 195s when I wear through these and then I should be able to lower the car almost anouther inch, in addition to the less sidewall.

that should get the car down.


And at high speed, arnt skinnier tires better. less darty

 

Watts link was a great idea, just poorly excecuted by Mazda in our cars.

 

About the watts link.... I don't understand how a solid axle suspension works... What is the problem with the watts link.... eh, what does it even do (It looks like its there to keep the axle in place laterally)