Subject	Titanium suspension springs
Posted by	LitlElvis on May 29, 2010 at 6:10 PM
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Message	You all might know the old adages "plumbers live in houses with leaking pipes" or "auto mechanics drive junkers?" Well, my day-job is a Titanium spring design engineer, and I have been a perfect example of those sayings - but not anymore. To redeem myself of my sinning ways, the only process I did not perform in the making of these springs was the shot peening. Without turning this into a "how to design springs" turtorial, let me just show the spreadsheet I created to allow me to input dimensional aspects of the car and both the OE and new shock/spring combinations and have it spit out a few design requirements of the replacement Ti springs. Here's the stock rear shock, a BC Racing coilover with its ridiculously high rate steel spring and the new Ti spring. Rear specs are as follows: OE rear rate 125 lb/in, weight 6.5 lbs, travel cap 8.00" BC rear rate 450 lb/in, weight 3.3 lbs, travel cap 4.40" Ti rear rate 177 lb/in, weight 1.7 lbs, travel cap 7.20" The rear BC spring was not even capable of the full travel that its shock is (5.30"). I purposely opened the end coils on the Ti springs so they would just touch when preloaded onto the shocks. a little better view of all the springs side-by-side.................................................Here the Ti spring is fully preloaded to 250 lbs. Installed Back on the ground with weight on it... a bit too low for me, but the shocks are already at full length - I'll probably have to build a longer bracket for them to allow more height adjustment. On to the front. Specs are as follows: OE front rate 154 lb/in, weight 8.1 lbs, travel cap 8.00" BC front rate 565 lb/in, weight 3.5 lbs, travel cap 3.50" Ti front rate 252 lb/in, weight 2.1 lbs, travel cap 6.70" side-by-side.......................................................................................................the Ti spring is fully preloaded to 550 lbs. no engine or transmission so ride height is yet to be determined. All said and done, the weight savings from the Ti springs alone was 6 lbs. less than the BC steel spring setup and the overall total savings from stock shocks and springs was close to 15 lbs. In case you feel you just can't live without a set of these on your car, the company I work for would build all four springs for roughly $750 each :-)
Follow Ups	Titanium suspension springs - LitlElvis 18:10:03 05/29/10 nice work (n/m) - zgene4 18:58:14 05/29/10 any reason you chose BC coilovers? (n/m) - Antihero 19:08:31 05/29/10 no real specific reason, they looked like a nice product - LitlElvis 20:06:22 05/29/10 Nicely done!!! (n/m) - CaliguyPurdue (Selin Design) 19:52:51 05/29/10 coolness (n/m) - LJZTT 20:15:58 05/29/10 ballah alert... - vorpalZ 20:20:18 05/29/10 This is definitely not about bragging rights... - LitlElvis 11:06:37 05/30/10 lol, it was a joke - vorpalZ 11:26:29 05/30/10 I know, I know... but I figued it needed further explanation - LitlElvis 11:38:14 05/30/10 busted (n/m) - vorpalZ 11:39:54 05/30/10 absolutely. for TRUE ballah status, you need ARP bolts :) (n/m) - ZiNnYc 12:29:20 05/30/10 already in the works :-P (n/m) - LitlElvis 14:36:51 05/30/10 Impressive work! :) (n/m) - Ash's Z 20:54:41 05/29/10 and here i am thinking my key was cool (n/m) - Z 6370 22:25:02 05/29/10 Your Ti key IS still cool :-) (n/m) - LitlElvis 10:09:26 05/30/10 Cool, but now there is too little stroke left no? - Ashman2k2 22:36:30 05/29/10 Springs were designed to have enough travel to set preload - LitlElvis 11:08:15 05/30/10 nice - ZiNnYc 01:18:29 05/30/10 Titanium suspension springs = tasty! (n/m) - Turnerscasa (Dallas) 09:00:30 05/30/10 You finally did it! Very nice Brett, I was wondering about - 91Z32TT 16:10:55 05/30/10
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