Hey Everyone,

So as expected, I have to do a summer long design/validation/manufacturing project for my engineering class and since I love my Z I figured why not try doing something with it. After thinking about some future mods I would like to do I decided I would like to try and design/ validate upper a-arms and camber arms. I know this will be a ton of work, and the intent is not to design something to use on my car (although would be sweet if I can make everything work) but more so to get the experience of designing/validating and manufacturing.

So I Was hoping that someone on here would have some suspensions parts that are worn/broken or dysfunctional that they would be willing to part ways with and the send me. I am more than willing to pay for shipping, just don’t want to spend a ton of money on parts that I will basically throw away when I’m done. I just need these as a good starting point for endpoint locations and geometry configuration. I would use what’s on my car but I can’t afford the down time, it’s my DD.

Oh and of course I plan on starting a thread for you guys to critique my progression. I know it will be a difficult task, but hey if it was easy everyone would do it.

Thank you to anyone that can help me,

Levi

*oh and not sure if this should be in the market place as a WTB, but feel free to move it if nee be

 

That's awesome you are integrating aspects of your car into your school projects, you will learn allot especially since its related to suspension.

What are you looking to do specifically design wise?
What type of validation are you looking for? FEA/Structural? handling/performance gains?

Reason I'm asking is because I am interested in your project and I'm pretty sure I have a set of front OEM upper A arms tucked away in my garage and maybe the OEM camber bar/links. I would like to see where you are headed with this project before sending ~$50 in parts.

 

Thank you for the positive remarks , so far everyone I've talked to just says I'm crazy.

As far as design wise I plan on starting with just a basic a-arm and camber arm design. This will allow me to get good base points fro design and through, a few different iterations, I will refine and add features to make to make a solid product.

Validation will most certainly include FEA along with basic functional testing (probably design/build some apparatus to bolt the parts on to, to ensure they will work as intended), and maybe some sort of vibration testing.

I would like to do some sort of handling/performance test but I'm unsure how to go about it, I know I could just bolt them on to my car and drive along a designated course but that's more of an opinion then exact proof. If you have any ideas on this, please let me know.

thanks,

Levi

 

Contact forum member AcidJake75. He's cleaning out his shop and just yesterday posted a picture of ALOT of factory suspension parts that he is offloading for dirty cheap - like $5-$10 cheap. He has struts, springs, upper arms, lower rear arms, etc. There is a picture in the DFW Lounge thread in the Texas regional forum. Look there and talk with Jake. Awesome guy and will help you out I promise.

 

Wow, great thank you very much!!!

 

 

Did someone say they need used suspension parts?





PM coming boss...

 

Holy s**t quite the collection. I could def use a couple items.

 

Some destructive failure testing would be cool to show strength, durability, etc, or even non-destructive testing would be fine too if you're after objective data, but destructive testing is always more fun .

Just out of curiosity what program will you be using for your modeling and FEA?

 

I bet the Spec Z crowd would love to buy those arms as spares.

 

I plan on designing everything using NX7 so I will do basic FEA with the capabilities that are already in NX. I was also looking into using ANSYS, which is more of a pure simulation software, I believe this would give me more accurate results. I just have to allocate a copy of the software.

 

So i just emailed my professor about my idea for a project. I got a reply a few minutes later and he had some concerns and asked me to come talk to him about it. Hopefully he doesn't put a kibosh on the whole project.

 

After talking to my professor, he wants me to put together a solid plan on what i am doing and show it to him. He was also very adamant on me never putting them on my car or anyone else...

My thoughts: i planned on making a game plan anyway. I can understand why he never wants me to put them on a car but how am i suppose to get good real world data if i don't? Guess he wouldn't have to know if i did haha.

 

^ Haha that's funny. Here are a few thoughts of mine I would like to throw your way.

I would recommend focusing on the structural analysis aspect of the A arms. That is a lot of work in itself, especially learning an FEA program. I think it would definitely benefit your career to learn FEA. I haven't heard of NX7. I would personally recommend Solidworks if you have access to it. Its very popular, lots of tutorials, pretty user friendly, and would look great on a resume.

You can start by analyzing the forces the A arms are subjected too. You will have to make some assumptions to determine the worst case scenario. Once you fully define your forces you can apply them in your FEA program and start designing. You can play with materials and see which ones are lightest, strongest and have minimal deflection etc.

Keep us posted on what your professor says! Good luck!