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Z-Link Suspension
Now here is the most confusing monster suspension of all times. The Z-Link suspension has been around for years, but has most recently made a come back into racing. This hot setup can win races, the last two years have proven it. Designed and tested out in the midwest, its slowly making its way to the east coast. The Z-Link suspension is primarily used on the right side of the car and can incorporate any of the other suspension types on the left side of the car, I have seen leaf spring setups used on the left with Z-Link on the right side. more often the Z-Link is paired with a coil over eliminator mounted spring. This combination is one of the best ways to get the most out of your suspensions movements, The spring mounted to the front and shock to the back can be interchanged to affect bite and corner entry.
Typical and most used combination would be 4-link Z-Link suspension components, giving the most adjustment to your suspension during the most diverse race track conditions.
The Z-Link suspension can be summed up by stating that the axle is held in position by two Heimed arms that are mounted in front and to the rear of the axle acting as control arms or trailing arms, the front mounted bar is usually mounted at the top of the axle to the front and is horizontal, the rear bar is mounted to the bottom of the axle to the rear of the chassis and can be mounted on a slight down hill angle to the frame, this increases bite providing that both bars are the same length. Changing lengths of the bars will change the suspension geometry and remove rear steer or increase rear steer. The pinion angle is held pretty much at a constant, depending upon how much suspension travel you have the pinion angle can change as much as 3/4" forward and back at the top and bottom of the suspensions travel, This is a good thing considering body roll going into the corner, your pinion will stay in better alignment with the transmissions output yoke. This is achived by the action of the bars, when the suspension is compressed the pinion is pointed downward to help its angle, when the suspension is extended the pinion is pointed upward to help correct its angle, as the suspension is neutral so is the pinion angle, it will be at the setting you place it at, the same principals of pinion angle hold true with this suspension style as any I talk about through the website.
Z-link suspensions work best when mounted on a free floating bird cage, using a monte bar, or pull bar to keep the correct pinion angle.
This suspension type offers the best movement without binding you can get, Fine tuning is done by raising or lowering the front and rear bar to this set up, Altering the overall bar heights will affect the roll center for the right side of the car, also providing different degrees of side bite and forward bite.
The left side suspension should also be mounted on a floating bird cage to let the rear end move as free as it can to eliminate binding, remember binding is bad, it can cause your suspension to work slower than what it could, and limit the amount of movement of the rear end.
You will need to use a track bar, or J-bar to adjust the track of the rear end keeping it from moving from left to right, or vice versa.