Amagi82

Well, my rear suspension has some nasty rust on it, and I will have to weld some stuff together to get it in operational condition. Does anybody have any ideas, or have you done anything to your car to enhance its ability to hook off the line?

jayroc

I want to get a torsen rear from a miata and convert to a trilink and panhard setup.
Coilovers and slicks might help you out, also.

Kill No Cone

iTrader: (6)

Hey Raptor,
When you say hook up, do you mean like a drag car or a road race car. The setup is quite different.

Amagi82

Well, I will be doing both... so i dont want it pure drag and sucking at road racing... but just wondering if theres any better options than stock.

Oh yea, I aint spending any more than $50 either. lol. My friend will do the welding for free.

Keaponlaffen

well, I'd suggest for $50, the only mod you can do with a welder is weld the axles together, locking your rear end But then you'll go through tires like mad

Speed = money...

how fast do you want to go?

Amagi82

haha, I think I'll just weld it back like it was stock... It will be easily in the 14s when i get the suspension fixed. Might be possible to hit 13s without any form of forced induction.

Keaponlaffen

what exactly is the problem with the "rear suspension"? Is it the two brackets welded onto the forward edge of the wheel well?

Amagi82

'nuff said

Keaponlaffen

right right... alright... if you want cheap and effective, do what I did....


cut out all the rusted metal, but save the little box piece that the control arm bolts to. It should still be in decent shape.

Now, cut a piece of thicker paper to fit in a |_| shape between the frame channel and the inside of the wheel well inside the car. Make the one edge parallel the frame rail, and the other side cover part of the wheel well.

Now, get 16-ga sheet metal, cut it to the same size and shape of the paper, and bend it accordingly. Use the same template for both sides to get them the same.

Now, drill 1/2" holes at fairly regular intervals in the piece of 16ga, in place you think it's going to contact with good metal; you'll use these to plug weld it in.

Now get that little box thingy you cut off the old bracket, and weld it onto the bottom of the new bracket you've made in approximately the original spot (set the bracket in between the frame rail and the wheel well edge to figure out where that is)

Now just weld the bracket in place between the frame rail and the wheel well. If you do both sides perfectly, or near perfectly, you'll be all good, and your car's axle won't be too much out of alignment.

Now all you have to do is fill in the remaining holes with fiberglass, rockerguard the inside of your wheel wells, and call it better than OEM

I'm going to try to remember to take pictures of the finished product some day... but I don't look forward to taking the stupid rear deck assembly out of my '79 to take those pictures.

Maybe I'll see what I can get through the 6x9 holes

Pedestrian X

thats.. well uhm ahem.. yup. nuff sed.

Keaponlaffen

If I remember to, and get off my lazy *** to, I'll take pictures of how I fixed mine later today, and silence all the doubters once and for all...


I did all this in less than a week in shop class at school as a project. Finished it up, insured the car, and the rear end tracks straight as can be, no alignment issues at all, and no strange tire wear or anything...

Amagi82

sweet, cant wait to see this... I'm feeling creative today, so I think I'm gonna buy some extra metal plate, and make my own intake manifold while I'm at it, lol