Rear Independent Suspension????

[jengle3052]

Has anyone thought about or completed this mod??

I searched the board and coundn't find anyone talking about it.

I don't know much about fabrication and making pieces from other cars fit,
I'm just now starting to learn that stuff, but here's an idea I had.

I was looking at my moms intrepid and the way that the IRS is mounted on the car is a flat plate on the underside of the trunk that holds 2 (because I don't know what they are called I'm going to call them control arms, it's basically just a metal rod with 2 holes on either end) control arms to the brake Assembly and another that would go roughly where the trailing arm connect on are festivas.
If you cut out the spare tire depression and stiffen the deck with some thick enough steel, would this work?

Are there any other cars that anybody knows about that have the same kinda setup, in a smaller package?

josh

[B6T]

I think the first time someone tries to swap in independent front suspension will be when someone makes a RWD Festiva.

The rear twist beam works well enough for most people. Just because it has a twist beam doesn't mean that it's a bad thing, there are plenty of well handling cars that still use a twist beam rear axle... the VW Rabbit and Sentra SE-Rs come to mind.

[Eccentric]

The part you called control arms are lateral links. You got the trailing link right. It's a common setup found on lots of cars. I doubt it would be worth the hassle unless you are doing a RWD or AWD conversion.

To answer your question yes it would work. Don't forget that you might be able to weld it up under there but you still have to come up with a strut and how to mount it, brake bias needs to be changed, and stuff that I haven't thought about. Subaru, Dodge, Mazda, Ford, and just about every other auto company use that setup. A small package would probably be the 323. I'm going to bet that the 323 is wider then the Festiva.

There are some kinematic suspension programs out there. Some are free or have a 30-day free trail. Which would help you get the design right. Rather then use the subframe and links from the donor car. If you just use the uprights and come up with your own mounts and links your not limited by the donor cars design.

[strat81]

i'm pretty sure the geo metro/suzuki swifts have irs... small packaging and probably a fairly similar track dimension...

[EVOGUN]

Mine is done, and its independent the Pulsar is super close to the Festiva in dimensions. Problem is I have to find rims that work. But I'm not worried custom sizes can be found.

Thanks :wink:

[aithanmier]

got some pics of that? :twisted:

[Safety Guy]

FYI, '80 to '83 Civics were IRS and were only slightly larger and heavier than Festivas.

IMO, this mod is a spectacular waste of time and resources unless you are doing rear engine or AWD.

Karl

[oxbrain]

was going through the yahoo group and saw this pic



might be an interesting thing.