I have decided to ditch my leafsprings and go with a coilover 3-link setup in the rear of my RX3. Here's a few pics so far.

 

more pics please, im def interested in doing the same since i really dont feel safe at high speeds with leafsprings

 

Ummmm, leafsprings kick ***. Soooooo, why? Realize I am a drag race guy, so if this does something else, thats why I dont get it.

 

looking nice....

 

Ok, I am curious.. need more pics and info and estimated cost off parts to do this

 

Trailing links, panhard bar, rodends and bushing ends were ~ $150 from http://www.rodendsupply.com/catalog.html.
Shocks are QA-1 8294-6 small body aluminum shocks ~$550 with all the little extra bits. http://www.qa1.net/motorsports.html
Springs are 12", 1-7/8", #150 hypercoils ~$100.
The rest is create fabrication and steel.
I saw a place in the circle track magazine that sells laser cut bracket pieces. I think I will be ordering a few of their pieces. Sorry I don't have the link handy.

 

Agree 100%..........!

 

updates?

 

Been a while since I worked on the RX3. Got it on the ground today. With a 3-link!

What do you think?

Now I need to make a new exhaust, and redo the intercooler pipes since I also upgraded the intercooler.

 

nice project....

 

Very, very cool. Looks so basic yet so effective.

 

im jelious.... that thing looks better now than it did when i saw it!!1 i finally got started on mine

 

nice. I cant stand the leaf springs in my rx3. Its poly bushed all round and good shocks but hard cornering i can feel axle move sideways. Then there is axle tramp. After having owned other old cars with live axles but fully linked its hard to get use to cart springs!

It'll be interesting to see what you think of youp new setup!

 

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I wish I could try it out and let you all know how it works. I've playing around a bit moving the suspension through different ranges of motion. The suspension moves freely and articulates well with no side to side slop. Also, the car is four corner adjustable now. I like the rear stance alot better than before and it can be adjusted down up to an 1-1/2" if I get in the mood.

 

Damn, your still alive! Welcome back, long time no hear. Car is looking good. Keep it up and don't give up. Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

 

I had five cars to look after for a little while. Spread myself real thin. I am trying to work it down to two. The Rx3 and my 914-6 conversion. Both pre-smog. Gotta love it.

 

Nice work!! Ive been looking at doing something like this to my rx3. Ihave problems with leaf wrap-up during acceleration and sideways movement in cornering. I thought if i'm going to bother with doing a 2 link and panhard ect might as well go the whole hog and do coilovers.

let us know how it handles when you get back driving...

 

another option that a fella here in england has done is fit the irs from a early 3 series bmw. He has bolted it up under a gm chevette. Works well- almost exactly same width of chevette. Quite easy to do- not alot more involved than linking. But i think a rx3 is a bit narrower.
Going to this option has given him discs on the back and easy available lsds! I'll find a link soon and put it up.

 

Great job mate ! love the work you have done , can you post a pic of the centre link and how it was maounted under the tunnel? what ends did you use on the links' bushed , spherical bushad, solids?
Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks.

I used rodends on the axle housing attachment points for free movement and polyurethane bushings on all chassis mounting points to limit vibration and noise transmission.

Third link mounts can be seen a bit in this pic:

Here's the chassis mount:

Here's the axle mount:

 

Here's the axle mount:


Nice welds you did there...

 

Thanks.

That one was real important.

 

wow...thats coming out nice

 

Finally took the car out for a spin today. Suspension felt pretty nice. Soaks bumps up well, handles pretty well and doesn't make any funny noises. I need to tune the ECU up before I will be able to lay into it and see what it can do, but so far so good.

 

Tried a few launches and broke my third link.
OOPS! It made such a nice PING noise when it failed, like the crack of an aluminum bat. I got pretty lucky with how it failed though. The cross bar for the panhard bar and the pinion snubber caught the rear end and nothing else broke.



I made a replacement J-bar using a circle track part. New bar is almost double the diameter and wall at. 1-1/2" diameter with 0.160 wall. Fit is a little tight, but it fits.