Suspension / ChassisQuestions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?
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Check out this trick strut mount from Hunter Motorsports!
Remember awhile back Karl was talking about a custom billet strut mount he had worked on. Wow, it looks pretty good to me. It allows lowered cars to use the full length of strut travel too, which is an excellent idea. Any interest in these? Maybe if enough people wanted to get in on a limited production run we could get Karl to make a batch for cheap!
These strut mounts are designed for racing use, but they are very streetable. The spherical bearing used is a top quality zero tolerance piece, so there is no play and thus no noise. The prototypes in the picture have been on my car since may 2000, racing and street driving, no problems, and no evidence of any wear in the spherical bearing. 2 other cars that I sponsor for local SOLO1 and SOLO2 racing have these strut mounts on them and again no problems and both these cars are daily drivers.
The only issue anyone may have is that the stock plastic dust shield that goes over the strut is eliminated with these strut mounts. If this is a concern, I recommend installing flexable shock boots to cover the piston rod of the strut. It is not really nesscsary unless you drive on gravel roads alot, or in heavy snow, but we all know how fabulous Third-Gens are in the snow
Shock boots like this are available at most local parts suppliers, but like I said it is not nesscsary.
If we can get 15 to 20 people together on a production run I think we should be able to get the price down to about $425 Canadian (about $280 U.S.) This is a little more expensive than some of the others on the market, but I really believe they are worth the extra bucks, or I would not have spent any of my money to develop them.
The strut tower brace in the picture is an Edelbrock.
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Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
Advantages are better cornering, basically. Someone else will get technical about it, guarenteed.
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Mike Kenny
Current: 1991 RS 305 TBI
Past: 1990 RS 305 TBI (A woman forgot what red lights are for)
Current: mostly stock - newer 305 w/ 12,000 on it
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Of course you wouldnt need them if you had dropped the car with spindles instead of just springs. They look really nice though. If I needed them I would definitely buy a set of them.
James
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If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy
88 GTA Notchback with 91 gfx and ROH Snypers
Aftermarket T-56 (pain in the A$S but worth it)
Lots of things to do still
Spherical bearing is replaceable, but it is an interfearance fit, so it would have to be pressed out and then pressed back in. The bearing is also retained by a tight tolerance snap ring so there is no chance of it ever coming out on its own.
No additional provisions are provided for additional camber or caster - there is already PLENTY of adjustment range in stock form - why do you need more? If additional camber is what you seek, the best way to get it is to slot the strut mounting holes. This will provide all the extra negative camber you could ever want and then some. This is preferable to moving the top of the strut inwards because when the upper mount of the strut is moved, camber changes, but so does S.A.I. (Steering Axis Inclination) when you slot the struts the change to S.A.I. is neglagable, but you can dramatically change the camber.
As far as caster, if you can't get 5 or more degrees of positive caster out of your car then something is very wrong - probably very bent. In the event that you need more positive caster the best way to get this is to remove the strut tower and extend the 3 slots in the tower further backwards (Half an inch is usually enough.)
The reason these pieces were not designed to provide extra alignment provisions is that it would have weakened the part. Ultimate strength was a major priority for developing these pieces.
If you used lowered spindles then these strut mounts are still of great advantage. Order the stock height versions (there are 3 height versions available) and you get all the advantages of having a solid upper strut mount instead of a big flimsy rubber bushing and a part that is way stronger than the factory stamped-steel piece. The extra height is a feature made for race cars that are low - really low, a street car will never need the extra height. If it does, then the car is WAY too low for the street.
Advantages of a solid upper strut mount are: improved steering response, better control under hard braking, improved cornering ability, and improved shock control of wheel motion. All this is due to the absance of any deflection in any direction.
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Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
Well I didnt know you made them in regular height. Hmmm, I would be in for a set of stock height ones if they were less than $280. Do you have a web page Karl?
James
Just wondering about add. adjustments. I need a bit more camber. Never thought of elongating the holes. Thanks for the ideas.
Looks like a nice piece. With my Spohn rod end parts, i get a clunck sound from the rear when i hit bumps (there is NO smooth road in Tucson). How much additional noise does the bearing transmit?
The increade in rosd noise is barely noticable, and there is no clunking from the bearing. If you already have the Spohn stuff in the rear, then I doubt very much you would even notice an increase in noise from the front end.
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Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
How many lowered Camaro's have you ever heard of bottoming out struts. I fail to the advantages of this upper mount. What's really bad is for the money it adds zero increased adjustment in the alignment angles. I don't know!?
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84 Camaro ZZ4 with HOT cam. 1.88 60' (12.98 @ 105MPH E.T.)
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Camaro Mike: Can't see the advantages? Re-read Karl's post carefully.
The primary advatage is absolutely ZERO deflection of the top strut mount when cornering. The stock rubber isolator deflects like crazy when subjected to severe loads. Look at any true race car that uses Macpherson struts and you will find that they all use a solid moint with a spherical bearing just like Karl's Billet mount.
The extra adjustment is not needed because there is more than enough adjustment in the factory slotting as Karl mentioned.
BTW, my car happens to be one of the Hunter Motorsports cars that runs these Billet strut mounts. The differrence in response over the stock mounts was astounding.
My car was the ESP Autocross champion in 2000 ( Didn't run Autocross in 2001....went Road Racing with it ) , 2000 and 2001 SP3 Champion and new hill record at the Knox Mountain hillclimb ( Longest paved hill climb in North America ) and 2001 SP3 New Record and King of the Hill at the Ioco Hillclimb.....all this from a daily driver.
I can highly recommend these pieces. BTW, the actual machine work, fabrication and welding was performed locally by my good friend Mark Farrow of Hyper Racing...just to give him due credit. They are excellant pieces
The photos aren't showing because Tom's site doesn't exist at that address anymore. This is a very old post. I may be able to repost the pics if I can find them on my HD (gotta look through 1000+ pics!). I remember saving them because I was highly interested in these pieces (or even making some of my own back when I worked at the hotrod shop).
WoW - this thread is old!!
I still have pics.
I can e-mail them if anyone wants to see.
When this thread was originally started I was looking for interest to do another production run.
Since these pieces were built in 2000 there have been ZERO problems with them. Street, race whatever - they are absolutely bulletproof. I can now say with confidence that they have passed the test of time.
As far as the design goes - well they have met all of my original criteria - so there will be no re-design.
If there is going to be another production run made, then I need at least 20 FIRM (as in money) commitments to purchase to make it possible. The cost per set will be $450 CAN. For you U.S. guys thats about 5 bucks right now
Anything is possible....
__________________ Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
Originally posted by Hunter Motorsports The cost per set will be $450 CAN. For you U.S. guys thats about 5 bucks right now
Anything is possible....
I'll pay $5 USD
__________________ -Justin- out of my mind and I'll never know why '86 Pontiac Firebird 305-4bbl / 700R4 T-Top WS6
'92 Pontiac Firebird 305-TBI / 700R4 T-Top
'76 Chevrolet Silverado C10 350-4bbl / TH350 longbed click for my Homepage at CarDomain to see my mods da computer: AMD A64 3400+ @ 2.6GHz in green Aspire SuperAlien case.click for a pic! Teddy!
How quick could a guy get a pair of these. I have my front suspension tore apart right now and have replaced everything only to find out that the monroe strut mounts I purchased are junk. If I could pick these up in a reasonable amount of time I am willing to pay a premium. drop me a line. dcsfreeman@lycos.com
Hell Mr. Hunter if you will make them I will buy 3 sets to help you/us get the minimum order. Come on guys lets get togeather and get this thing done. I want these!!!!!!!!!
Busy with racecars - busy with racing - geez - I haven't even checked my e-mail in like a week - but I am always lurking.
I just did a quick count - looks like 10 are interested - not bad.
Like I said, I want 20 - but as many as we can get. I would love to do some more of these. They really are quite trick.
So - if you are SERIOUSLY interested in buying a set of these bad boys please send me an e-mail HunterMotorsports@Hotmail.com - sorry I really have been too busy to get a website set up. Please make the subject HMS STRUT MOUNT
Include year and model of your car and which version you want - standard height - or extended version for lowered suspension.
Also please leave a phone# where I can reach you to confirm any details.
If there are enough people interested we will do another production run - and I will send confirmation e-mails to everyone with how and where to send funds. I am thinking PayPal may be a good way to do this - but we will see how it goes.
Thanks everyone for your interest.
__________________ Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
) , 2000 and 2001 SP3 Champion and new hill record at the Knox Mountain hillclimb ( Longest paved hill climb in North America ) and 2001 SP3 New Record and King of the Hill at the Ioco Hillclimb.....all this from a daily 
driver. 
Teddy! 
Am I retarded or something? 
