Wingman703

So my Miata, like many others, suffers from abysmal wheelhop upon even soft launches. I've done a fair amount of digging and seen people have had various levels of success mitigating said wheelhop by slipping the clutch heavily, or by replacing the upper/lower A arm bushings with delrin/poly bushings, as well as suspension changes and moving to drag slicks.
I am already on aftermarket suspension and SADFAB bushings are still on multi-month backorders. Drag slicks are not an option for me. Hillclimbs and AutoX are where this issue crops up and my entire rear end sounds like it's going to assplode untill I lift or it hooks 100ft later. I'm insanely jellious of TNTUBA's ability to do burnouts/launches with a rock solid rear.
Has anyone attempted ladder bar like additions to the lower A arms in an effort to alleviate wheelhop? In my searches I have come across only one photo of Miata suspension with something that matches what I have in my head:


Obviously this requires a bit of fab work, but doesn't look too complex for an average Joe armed with a welder and tape measure.
So my primary questions: Does this work? Is it worth the effort? Is there a flaw in the design above I'm failing to see? Am I chasing dreams of a smooth launching Miata, and I'm just doomed to break diffs as often as I break necks?

matrussell122

iTrader: (1)

You would have to make sure that as the suspension articulates the above bar doesnt make the control arm bind as it goes through the stroke.

Wingman703

Yeah, that thought occured to me later as well. I think mounting it closer to the base of the A arm, and the chassis side closer outboard so it forms more of a 90* then a 45* would get me closer.

Mudflap

What are you using for shocks? I had a similar problem until I rebuilt my bilsteins and did the coilover conversion.

Wingman703

Older style Teins, back from when they were still aluminum and not steel. I hop like mad no matter the stiffness settings. I'd love a set of Xidas but they are out of the budget.

x_25

This sounds like a case for do some measurement, tac some test pieces on, and seehow it moves. I would love to know as well since I am trying to build a jack of all trades street car thay is forever going to be on rubber bushings and boy does it hop bad.

matrussell122

iTrader: (1)

Personally i think you would be better off saving money and selling the Teins then stepping into some Feal 441's or Xida's. You can always upgrade the 441's to have the reservoir also.

Wingman703

I did lots of digging into suspension design last night, and I think I've come up with a way to mount everything so that suspension travel isn't affected, and might actually give me a hair of toe in upon squat, but zero toe while neutral. I'll probably be ordering parts and taking a crack at this in the next 2-3 weeks.
Xida/Feal money= $2k. I think I can do this for well under $200 in metal/hardware. If I can eliminate wheelhop for a tenth of the price of big boy suspension and tide me over till I'm first on the SADFAB list, I'd be a happy camper.

BGordon

Have you considered getting rid of the bar that attaches the transmission to the rear end?
If not, you might consider doing that and supporting the rear end in the same manner that the V8 conversions do.

Here is my reasoning.
My car has a V8 conversion putting 315 HP to the rear wheels and stupid amounts of low rpm torque.
My car does not have rear wheel hop and gets really good traction even when I dump the clutch and do a hard launch.
Don't get me wrong, you can make the rear tires break loose if you do your best
but
it is very difficult to get it to break loose and it just spins the tires in a nice controllable manner until things settle down and the car launches very nicely.

SonOfGeorge

Increasing damping in the rear seems to have a huge effect on wheel hop for me. Is it possible that your worn out Tein's aren't doing as much damping as you think? Upgrading to 441 or similar would mitigate wheel hop as well as improve overall handling. Seems like the ladder-bar idea is kind of a band aid.

Wingman703

This project has been put on indefinite hold due to me moving up the Sadfab list, went from a month or two out to "it just arrived at your doorstep".