Thank's Jason. That's the correct way to do it but it means effort taken from a different problem. What do you think about the very conservative assumption that at maximum lateral acceleration all of the vehicle weight is on the outer two wheels.

Yeah, I know; it's wildly conservative - but it sure simplifies the calculations because I don't have to know where the roll center or the center of gravity is on a Miata. Better yet, do you happen to have a decent estimate of those locations for a "stock" Miata?

I think it will take 3+ G's to do that.

It's too far out to be useful.

Ideally you'll want to be just at bumpstop contact or in its soft portion during the highest steady state cornering.

No numbers sorry.

For a street car with soft-ish suspension (compared to the manly rates the track studs here run on their track cars), you will always be in the bumpstops during hard cornering.

Thanks again, Jason.

I recall that those numbers have been brought up before on other threads, and the calculation only requires a really simple force/moment diagram. I just need to get over my laziness and do a bit of searching. Lately my time's been taken up researching Locost 7's and other similar projects. Too many interests, too little time.


EDIT: I did a bit of searching last evening and came across a free download of chapter 7 (Handling Theory) of Keith Tanner's new book, "How to Build A High Performance Miata". The process of calculating load transfer is all laid out for you, along with an estimate of the center of gravity (~17"). I could assume the roll center is at the ground surface (conservative), but I'd like to refine it a bit so I'll keep looking. Thanks again, Jason.

Jim

So Bernie is the guy for revalve of OE Bilsteins now. Sounds like that is a good thing. I want HD's for the 01, but may need to go with a good OE pull and some Bernie magic. How much is the revalve from Bernie, I didn't see a web page link.

$100 each and he revalves crimp tops as well.

Not to bad, I'm looking at a new set of HD's, but will jump on a set of OE Billies if the opportunity is there when I have the funds. I could drive them to Bernie's and save the shipping. Always looking for a good excuse to search for twisty roads, even with blown Showas.

call him up, our forum may still be getting the special rate

All orders are processed through John at weekend-racer.com now. He handles all the customer service aspects for Bernie. The website also lists the prices and packages avaliable.