Zapata

Anybody know anything about this thing and the possible application for the CLS?

http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=460



One of the trickiest portions of drag racing a front-drive car is the launch. Actually, we suppose the trickiest portion of drag racing any car is the launch, but more so on an FF. One of the reasons why front-drive cars are at a disadvantage at the tree is because front wheel traction is inversely proportional to acceleration (they lift as you accelerate.) Additionally, the front wheels on an FF have a large job; they are responsible for accelerating, steering, and most of the braking. All of these jobs mean that the front suspension of an FF has a lot of moving parts, and thus a lot of joints. These joints allow some slop to make sure the suspension can articulate through a decent range of motion without binding (good). On the other hand, this design has an inherent flaw that permits the suspension to slop around with extreme G loads (bad). Stiffer aftermarket suspension bushings will reduce the slop by a certain degree, but stiff bushings still need to be fairly compliant for proper articulation. Z10 Engineering has designed a suspension add-on that allows Honda suspensions their full range of motion while virtually eliminating any front-to-back slop associated with hard acceleration and braking – radius arms. The radius arm set is an ingenious device made up of a chromoly steel cross member with aluminum radius arms. The rod ends have solid spherical ball joints that lock out front/back movement out of the suspension while allowing it the full range of jounce/rebound and steering movement. What’s more – it’s easy to install.

This particular car is a 1996 Civic, but Z10 makes applications for all Civics from 1988 through 2000 and Integras from 1990 through 2000. 88-91 Civics and 90-93 Integras come with factory radius arm-type suspension, but the Z10 kit is an improvement over stock. Installing the Z10 radius arms is a straightforward affair, beginning with removing the splashguards under the engine and locating the stock tow hooks.

Each tow hook is fixed to the body with three 14-millimeter bolts. Remove the bolts and tow hooks and fit the radius arm cross member in place. The cross member’s mounting tabs have bolt holes in the same exact pattern as the tow hooks, and its length approximates the width of the insides of the frame rails.

Before bolting the ends of the cross member in place, see if there’s any gap between the mounting tabs and the vehicle’s body. Actual Honda body measurements will vary slightly from vehicle to vehicle, so you may need use spacers to ensure the cross member bolts up securely. Spacers are included with the radius arm kit, and we used one washer under each bolthole. Once the ends are in place, check the center tab of the cross member. The center tab supports the center of the cross member to reduce vibration during extra-hard launches and is bolted to the stock radiator support. We used an existing hole from a splashguard bolt but have heard some people needed to drill a new hole.

The rear mounts for the radius arms use the bolt that fixes the front damper fork to the lower control arm. Once the rear mounts are in place, bolt up the radius arms. Make sure the jam nuts on the arms are loose because you’ll probably have to adjust the length of the arm in order to get the bolts into their respective holes. The length of the arm is easily adjusted by turning it; one of the rod ends is left-hand threaded. You may note that we installed the rear mounts slightly crooked; this was to accommodate suspension arc when the vehicle was back on the ground, with full weight over the suspension.


Once the radius arms are in place, you’ll need to set the pre-load. The pre-load will ensure the radius arms are doing their job by solidly pinning the suspension. We turned the radius arms until they were loose (no fore or aft pre-load) and put a hash mark so we could count how many “turns” of preload we were applying. After a few hard launches, we settled on two turns of aft preload, or having the radius arms push the control arms toward the back of the vehicle. Once you’ve set the preload, be sure to tighten the four 24-millimeter jam nuts

EricL

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache...hey+work&hl=en


"In the most simple view, the Z10 Radius arms connect the lower control arms to the front subframe. The effect is total elimination of wheel hop by preventing the lower control arms from deflecting under the load of acceleration, even on stock worn out bushings. How effective? More effective than any upgraded bushings you could buy or make. In fact, at the time of this writing the fastest Z10 equipped car is an EK hatch that runs 9.7s on a built turbo b20/Vtec power plant"


I don't think we have to worry about deflection of our control arms with the current HP we are running.

Whey you get into the 9-second area in the 1/4 mile, maybe you can get some and be sure to add a “wheely” bar!

Mike

Interesting that you should bring this up. I am Silver TypeS in this thread.

http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/sh...threadid=67815

Zapata

hmmm i registered and i keeps sending me to the login page. What was the jist of your post?

EricL

IMO -- this is a "wank" for "our" cars with the "current" suspension and with the "current" level of power; if your talking nitrous/supercharger/SERIOUS JUICE -- perhaps. Our car IS NOT a civic with B18/B20 variants (w/turbo/cams/etc) etc...

EricL

Mike's: "To The Top.

I'm interested but I drive an CL Type S. Does your company make the radius arms for the Accord/TL/CL platform? If they don't, they should "

EricL

You realize that an under damped spring will exacerbate wheel hop!

(Up the spring rate [Comptech springs], keep damping same = oscillations with proper excitations...)

Something to consider...

Mike

Eric, good point. I experienced wheel hop before and after the springs so darned if i do and darned if i don't

EricL

At the strip????

Do you get the hop on "clean flat pavement"?

I'm curious, since I have only gotten "hop" a few times off-the-line, but the road surface was not exactly "inviting"

Mike

it only happens at carlsbad. too much darnn vht on the track for the big boys. on the street i'm fine and wayyyy faster.

Zapata

Shit i thought the thing that they were advertising was not a wheely bar, but i guess this radius arm thing is a beefed-up wheely bar.