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burt ragio
11-11-2007, 05:54 AM
The Marauder as we know isn't an agile sports car. The long wheel base and weight doesn't help. We have improved the suspension with larger sway bars, better control arms, watts link, shocks & tires. What about a rear independent suspension ? What would it take to change it over ? The car would handle the longer wheel base better manage the road curves with more grace ? Who could fabracate such a set up ?
sailsmen
11-11-2007, 07:26 AM
Maybe a Thunderbird rear?

It handles better then you think
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19385&highlight=pantera+ferrari
MarauderSM
11-12-2007, 04:42 AM
A longer wheelbase is a lot better as far as performance. It is much easier to control a car that has a long wheelbase through turns than a shorter wheelbase.

ALL sports cars use as long a wheel base as possible in racing. It lowers center of gravity and makes turns a high speed.
cyclopsram
11-12-2007, 05:37 AM
Take out a bunch of the unsprung weight.
rvaldez1
11-12-2007, 08:17 AM
Take out a bunch of the unsprung weight.

I would agree, the handling sucks because of the weight. Independent rear suspension only makes a difference on uneven terrain. Look at the mustang, great handling, live rear axle.
illwood
11-12-2007, 10:19 AM
ALL sports cars use as long a wheel base as possible in racing. It lowers center of gravity and makes turns a high speed.
I question the amount it lowers the center of gravity (center of mass). If you take the same car and just push the wheels closer to the bumpers the same distance (keeping all else the same), it doesn't move where the center of gravity is. I agree that it is more stable, but I believe that the reason for that is the longer moment arm your tires have to your center of gravity. You would have to change how much weight is above or below your current center of gravity to move it up or down. You could also change the geometry of the car, i.e. lowering springs.


I would agree, the handling sucks because of the weight. Independent rear suspension only makes a difference on uneven terrain. Look at the mustang, great handling, live rear axle.
The Mustang does have good handling for a live axle car. However, the 2000R Cobra has great handling due in part to the independent rear suspension. The current Cobra doesn't have an IRS because so many Mustang owners are drag racers (IRS is expensive to get strong enough for hard drag racing launches) and the IRS would have to have been designed from the ground up for the S197 platform and that would have added too much cost.