CarBEN EV5 Full Sized Prototype Construction - 5 Seat Electric Car From Scratch

[kach22i]

It's always energizing to the progress on this project.

[TheEnemy]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

The rear wheel skirts are not permanent - there will be a rabbet joint on the chassis and the skirt will be attached with either screws or clips and screws.

There is a Saab dealer nearby - maybe a donor 900 can yield the drive shafts (are they close to equal length?) and/or a steering column, or steering wheel (with airbag).

Are there any trailing arm rear suspensions with only a lateral link in the center i.e. no beam axle? Maybe I can get something close to what I need?

The steering arms are almost always behind the king pins, right? And the steering rods have to be straight out to the steering arms, correct? I want to use manual steering, and the steering linkage needs to also push the appropriate front wheel skirts outward when needed, so the steering "stuff" is going to be interesting.

I think the old VW rabbit I had back in high school had the same type of rear susspension you are asking about.

As far as the steering arms front or rear of the king pin, that all depended on who made the vehicle and where they chose to put it.

[freebeard]

Semi-Trailing Arm Suspension < Technical Glossary < Innovation & Technology



Torsion Beam Rear Suspension < Technical Glossary < Innovation & Technology

[samwichse]

How about the font suspension from a kit car like the blackjack zero:
The Blackjack ZERO

I'm sure you could contact the guy for suspension-only.

That'd give you the double wishbones, driveshafts, steering rack and all that premade.

You'd just need a bulkhead to mount it to and to flip the diff gear on an aircooled VW transmission. That has its own advantages with cheap and plentiful electric motor adapters.

Everything's symmetrical with different length wishbones designed for low bump steer and no torque steer.

Sam

[Christ]

MK1, 2, and 3 VW's all share rear suspension styles. It's a beam that runs close to the body, some have a sway bar inside the beam, but each has a trailing arm 'leg' that the hub bearing assembly bolts to.

Festiva, Aspire also have them. They're all a total of 6 body bolts, shocks mount inboard of the wheel almost at the centerline of the bearing.

[freebeard]

The two designs I posted at #383 are both from VWs website and FWD cars.

The problem I see with VW suspension, and especially the transaxle, is they are overbuilt for the need. I know CarBEN is a 5-passenger vehicle, but it should be considerably lighter. Like the Edison2—take a pound out of the engine and you can take a quarter pound out of the brakes, a half pound out of the chassis, etc. It works the other way too.

I like VW components, but I'd be looking at dune buggy parts, designed for an 800-1000lb car.

[NeilBlanchard]

I need to look up the rear suspension on my old 2002 Focus ZX5. I'll try to draw what I was designing around on the rear.

The Blackjack ZERO kit might work straight out of the box - just replace the ICE with an electric motor!

[freebeard]

Alrighty, then. The XR3 is similar, but uses IIRC Chevy Citation components.

It would be an obscure part to try to source, but sand rails used a VW transaxle that was cut down to 2-speed forward w/ reverse. That all your electric motor would need and it would intrude less into the front footwell.

[Christ]

Depending on your required track width, and the overall weight of your unit, some Club Cars and similar golf-carts also came with a swing-arm type rear suspension, but had a solid stick axle mounted at the end of the swingarm, boxing it in so the engine could also mount there.

You can remove the axle and make a mating surface at the end of each leg of the swingarm to mount hub plates.

[NeilBlanchard]

Now that I look at it, the rear swingarm from the Blackjack ZERO might just work for CarBEN EV5? I'm going to email them and ask for some dimensioned drawings.

Major snag: Blackjack is in the UK...