Does anyone have experence with these? www.freakride.com

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tvt59

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Been searching for front and rear suspension for my 68' Valiant. Not trying to start a war of words just trying to get opinions from someone that has used them or knows someone that has.
 
Not that I'm the one to ask, but I've never heard of them. The website is slick, though (but slick is not necessarily a good thing).........
 
We have a good bunch of knowledgeable people on here.

Why don't you start with……

What is your stock rear suspension not doing that you want it to do?
 
Seems like a tremendous departure from the Mopar design. The factory suspension.....or factory anything is harder to improve upon than most people think. It's a good compromise. That stuff looks really expensive. I wouldn't be spendin money like that unless I really needed it and I was gonna use the hell out of it. That Mopar rear leaf suspension has been under a ton of different type cars through the years from super stock racers to trans am road race cars and everything in between. I'm not sayin that freak stuff ain't good. It may well be. If it was "MY" decision to make....and it soon will be, I would have to decide how much I needed it. Not wanted it. But your situation may be different.
 
The big advantage that I can see in these systems is more precise adjustment of the spring rate. The front suspension seems to be a toss up. Gain rack and pinion steering, gain unsprung weight (not good) from using a coil-over unit. On the factory suspension, the torsion bar is completely sprung weight. The other draw back I can see is that this system moves weight farther forward (not good).

The rear suspensions seem to be better deal. While leaf springs have been holding up vehicles since the 1700s, things have needed to happen to adapt them to ever increasing horsepower going through the axles they support.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Panhard rod used for lateral location of the axle. The one on the Control Freak system is way too short. Here's the deal. The Panhard rod places unbalanced unsprung weight on the rear axle. Furthermore, as the rear axle descends through its travel, the rod binds up (the driver's side in this case) limiting how far and how freely it will descend. The other side of the axle is un-encumbered. In an extremely sharp, fast turn it is possible for the center of gravity to cause the Panhard rod to act as a lever. This could cause the car to "pole vault" in the best traditions of the VW Beetle, M151, and pre-65 Corvair. A much better solution would be a centrally located Watts link.
 
Here's my take on the subject (in response to SuperScamp). If I needed more handling than this and wanted to spend upwards of $5,000. vs. less than $1000 (including the disc brakes) I might consider it, but we made handling improvements after this video and considering the time on this run was a couple of seconds faster than the previous WRX, I don't think it's necessary.....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uql1FmAq5yA"]YouTube - Alan autocross 8_11_2002 run 2.mpg[/ame]
 
tvt59 said:
Been searching for front and rear suspension for my 68' Valiant. Not trying to start a war of words just trying to get opinions from someone that has used them or knows someone that has.
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What do you expect from your car suspension wise?

Drag race 1/4" mile OR autocross/roadrace?
 
I want the most adjustable because I want to be able to autocross and drag race when I want. I have spoken with Mr. Norm ,who is a very picky guy and has no stake in this company. He speaks very highly of the front and rear suspension from this company. I am not a millionire. But I have been working on this car for several years. I can save my money and get what ever I want. I thank all of you guys for you honest thoughts. They are all apperciated. Power train is a W5 440" shadydell small block with Speedtech NO2. Going with a Passion 5 speed and a dana.
 
Any idea on the cost?? Looks nice..
 
I priced it with the double adjustable shocks on all four corners, Black power coated, rear sway bar, with the four link and panard bar. Shiped to Alabama $6300.00. It takes Mustang II front brakes which from Aerospace are $120.00 less than the compairable Aerospace Mopar front brakes.
 
Not to knock Mr. Norm, but you do realize his background is in sales, not mechanics or engineering? He may have some good people working for him, but he's no expert. Plus, as I understand it, he doesn't have a stake in the "Mr. Norm" name anymore, either........
 
I have a Alterkation on sitting the floor of the garage and that freakride front looks almost the same except it is made with round tubing.
 
67autocross said:
I have a Alterkation on sitting the floor of the garage and that freakride front looks almost the same except it is made with round tubing.
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thats because its a copy of it. they or a very close friend of them bought an alter-k and copied it. the guy posted about doing it on moparts a few years ago.


and mr. norm is a brand name now and thats it. the guy himself did good things back in the day but the name is a joke these days.
 
Well I guess opions will very. I don't know which one is better the Freakride or the Alterkation. Because I have never owned either one. I will tell you I ordered the Freak ride because I like his rear suspension better. The guy Al has been very good about answering all of my questions. Which he should be. The Alterkation is $600.00 more with 4 double adjustable afco's, I would have to have it powder coated, and the motor mounts are $225.00 extra. All of that was included in the price I was quoted for the Freak ride stuff. All I asked to start with was did anyone have any experence with this stuff. The Alterkation suspension may be worth that much more. Give me about a year or so to finnish my car and I will let you know how it all worked out.I kind of knew it would get off track. Which I why I don't post here very much.
 
The way you worded you first post seemed like you were looking for opinions one what suspension to buy. But it seems you had allready bought one.

Maybe now would be like what spring rates and shock setup you should order. Afco noted there are different shocks for autocross road racing than drag racing. And aggressive handling front coil spring would probably be around 700 lbs. depending on the mounting location of the coil overs to the control arm. And probably something in the range of a 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 front sway bar.

You are going to end up with a compromise. Which is not out of the ordinary. Just don't expect the best at autocross setup being the same as the best drag racing setup. not best at drag racing.
 
Yes it will be a compromise I realize that. I just ordered the suspension today. I would like for my car to have good street maners and do well at the drag strip. I have not raced competeivly in a lot of years. This is a car I have wanted to build for a long time. I guess my goal is a good handling street car that I can drive down the interstate and not have to buzz the motor out of the frame. Switch tires and run high 9's with the full exhaust and drive it back home.
 
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