I was helping a friend put my RX-7 rims and 225 tires on his 1st gen car. It's a 92 laser FWD. Well, I forgot this fact when working on the car until I had to jack up the back, all FWD 1st generation DSMs have a solid rear axle.

Now, I have experience with a certain race car with solid axles, so that in and of itself it isn't necessarly that bad, that is until I looked to see how the axle was located... (note, that means what kind of linkage it uses to allow it to go up and down but NOT side to side over bumps or during suspension travel)

It had two control arms (or links, or track rods, or whatever you want to call them) which is what you'd expect ANY solid axle to have (well, AT LEAST TWO track rods) but then I saw it.. a PANHARD arm! Let's just say.. YUCK! A panhard arm is NOT what you'd call a good choice for any form of performance driving (think the rear axles on old chrysler minivans, and notice how when they go over bumps the back of the vans go all over the place, they use panhard arms). Oh well, it's better than a mustang GT which doesn't have ANY linkage to locate the rear axle (it uses the suspension mount bushings, now THAT's clever, right! heh heh, no it isn't, it's stupid, but that's Ford for you)

Needless to say, a 4 wheel independent multilink setup (all 2G cars) beats a 2 wheel independent macpherson and rear solid axle setup :)

Todd Scungio -> knows too much about solid axles :)
98 RS
15.803 @ 86.48 MPH

Amen to that!

Ryan
Ryeguy2002@Hotmail.com
'97 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS



http://www.monkeygods.com/Ryan
(Fast connection suggested)

AMEN brother.

My '86 Chrysler Laser and my rothers 90 Dodge Daytona have that set up... in fact it may be the "same" set up... not sure if they carried parts over or not.

"Claim Victory in your heart, and the universe will follow."
Michael J. Kulaga e-mail: Michael_97RS@2gntDSM.zzn.com
aol IM: MJKulga Website: http://highlander.dsmpower.com/

Injen CAI w/ K&N Breather Filters, AFX UDP, 55mm TB, GS-T Muffler, FU/RU/RL STBs, Front NRG Susp. Motor Mount Ins., Red Silicone Hose Kit, 8.5mm Magnecor Wires, Bosch Rapidfire Plugs, TSW Blade 17x7.5, Bridgestone Potenza RE730 215/45ZR-17. Front KVR Cross-Drilled Rotors and Carbon Fiber Pads, S-AFC, A/F Meter

And in my Room: Rear disc brake conversion kit, SS Brake Lines, Rear KVR Cross Drilled Rotors and KVR Carbon Fiber Kevlar Pads, SS Clutch Line, Rear Motor Mount Ins., EGT

Waiting for from RRE: Front Lower Tie Bar

Waiting for: Intake Manifold being ported/polished

all the K car chassis had that solid rear axle with a panhard rod, my mom's lebaron convertable does too

and I found out what the biggest problem with the panhard rod is, besides the fact that the rear of the car will move left and right a bit as the axle moves, the rool center is at the point where the axle and the panhard cross, so the roll center moves left and right as the suspension moves up and down. Also there is something about how the weight of the rear of the chassis will pull up or push down on the panhard rod and further mess up the handling.

Todd Scungio
98 RS
15.803 @ 86.48 MPH

Heh now if we can get rid of that weight advantage the 1gs have over us, we'd be able to stomp all over those 1gs! BWAHAHA well I guess I'll go stompin the honduhs anyway, 1gs aren't bad, they just don't look as good as us.


95 Mitsu Eclipse RS
AFX Pulley | B&M Super Oil Cooler | Performance Muffler | HKS Air Filter | KYB AGX Shox | Skunk2 Coilovers | FU, RU, RL, and RRE FL Tie/Strut Bars | RS to TSi Rear Disc Mod | RS to TSi upgraded F&R Sway Bar | 97' Spyder Eclipse 5 Spoke Wheels | HKS TYPE 1 Turbo Timer | Star Stage 1 T3/T04E BB Turbo Kit | Schroth Autocontrol 3-Point Harness | and 1 HiGhLy SkIlLeD DrIvEr! |