Dave Morgan Seminars Course Outline

Seminar Course Outline

I offer one-day and two-day seminars. In the two-day seminar, I've expanded the topics to include front suspensions because drag racers are beginning to understand just how important the front suspension is. All the interest has been in the rear suspension so they can hook the car up, but now they realize they have to control the car after the launch. That's when the inter-relationships between the front and rear suspensions come into play.

Adding the extra content will be tricky as the seminar is already packed with information. My plan is to tighten-up on the chassis structure presentation and to streamline the shock and spring presentation.

The goal of this course is to teach drag racers how to balance their suspension combination. Some racers don't know if they are hitting the slicks too hard or not hard enough. At this seminar, they will learn how to find this out. Feel comfortable to ask questions at any time during the presentation.

The one-day and two-day seminar outlines are:

One-day Seminar

Following the torque
1. Drive wheel torque
2. Thrust
3. G-Force
4. Weight transfer
5. Loads on rod ends
Inspecting the car
1. Rear slick
  1. Indexed wheel screws
  2. Tread wear patterns
2. Bouncing on corners of the car
  1. Spring rates
  2. Bind
  3. Listen to the car
3. How to diagnose flex
Chassis structure
1. Floor and frame rails
2. Cage design
3. Differential housing
Springs
1. Storing energy in a spring
2. Sprung and un-sprung weight
3. Leverage ratios and motion ratios
Shocks
1. How a shock works
  1. Twin-tube shocks
  2. Mono-tube shocks
2. Differences in shock graphs
3. Shock hardware
Ladder bar and fourlinks
1. Instant Centers
2. Drawing a map
3. Kinematics (the study of links)

Two-day Seminar

Collecting Data and Finding Problems

Principles of the seminar
1. Simple versus complicated
2. Macro-view versus micro-view
3. Friction
4. Triangles and rectangles (stiff chassis/tunable suspension)
  1. Floor and frame rails
  2. Cages
5. Levers
  1. Instant Centers
  2. Moment Arms
  3. Ratios
6. Weight
  1. Center of Gravity
  2. Polar Moment of Inertia
  3. Sprung and unsprung weight
  4. Aerodynamic load
7. Torque
  1. Drive wheel torque
  2. Wheel thrust
  3. G-Force
  4. Weight transfer
8. Hardware
  1. Rod ends and ball joints
  2. Threaded fasteners
Technical history of drag racing
1. Suspension violence
  1. Not enough?
  2. Too much?
2. Tire design
  1. Wide slick
    1. Stiff sidewall
    2. Soft sidewall
  2. Narrow slick
  3. Radial
3. Engine developments
  1. Big Blocks
  2. Power adders
  3. Programmable ignitions
4. Transmission sciences
  1. Torque converters
  2. Valve bodies
  3. Gear ratios
5. Chassis designs
  1. Stock floor
  2. Back-half Tubeframe
Inspecting the car
1. Rear slick
  1. Wear patterns
  2. Indexed wheel screws
2. Bouncing on the corners of the car
  1. Watching and timing
  2. Listening
3. Locating flex
  1. Stock floor
    1. Floor
    2. Roof
    3. Firewall
  2. Back-half
    1. Floor
    2. Firewall
  3. Tubeframe
    1. Mild power
    2. Big power
Watching the car launch
1. Positioning the eyes or lens
2. Chassis Rotation
  1. Pitch – weight transfer
  2. Roll –torque
  3. Yaw – alignment
3. Suspension motion
  1. Wheel-to-ground
  2. Wheel-to-fender
4. Wheel-tire motion
  1. Rear wheels
  2. Front wheels
5. Data acquisition
  1. G-meter
  2. Engine rpm
  3. Driveshaft rpm
  4. Shock sensors
  5. Heat sensors
  6. Pressure sensors
Scaling the car
1. Placing the car on scales
2. Measuring ride height
3. Measuring suspension height
4. Shock shaft drag
5. Suspension bind
6. Weigh empty
7. Weigh with driver
8. Weigh empty again
Towing
1. Tie downs
2. Chassis support
3. Trailer suspension

Fixing the Car

Chassis Structure
1. Floor and frame rails
  1. Track and wheelbase
    1. Centerline (track)
    2. Perpendicular line (wheelbase)
  2. Stock floor
    1. Stock frame rails
    2. Connectors
    3. Transmission tunnel
  3. Back-half
    1. Cross-member
    2. Framerails
  4. Tubeframe
    1. Mild power
    2. Big power
  5. Engine/transmission support
  6. Differential housing support
  7. Suspension linkages
Springs
1. Coil springs
  1. Storing energy
  2. Sprung and unsprung weight
  3. Suspension travel
  4. Leverage ratios and motion ratios
  5. Spring rate calculation
2. Leaf springs
  1. Locator
    1. Wheel hop
    2. Slapper bars
    3. Caltracks
    4. Slide-a-Links
  2. Spring
    1. Load-jacking
    2. Sliders
  3. Super Stock springs
  4. Measuring spring rate
Shocks
1. Oil
  1. Follow the energy
2. Ratios
3. Adjusters
  1. Extension
  2. Compression
4. Shock travel
  1. Extension
  2. Compression
  3. Taking measurements
5. Types of shocks
  1. Twintube
    1. Bore layout and footvalve
    2. Guide area
    3. Shaft and low-speed circuit
    4. Piston design
    5. Nitrogen charging
  2. Monotube
    1. Nitrogen charging
    2. Bore design (radiator)
    3. Low–speed circuit
    4. Piston design
6. Tuning with shocks (part now, part after suspension presentation)
  1. Extension
    1. Front suspension
    2. Rear suspension
  2. Compression
    1. Front suspension
    2. Rear suspension
Front suspension
1. Basic angles (adjust in this order)
  1. Caster
    1. Positive/negative
    2. Effects
    3. Offsets
  2. Camber
    1. Positive/negative
    2. Effects
    3. Offsets
  3. Toe
    1. Total toe versus side-to-side
    2. Dog tracking and wheelbase tricks (thrust angle)
  4. Steering Axis Inclination
    1. Wheel offsets
    2. Caster chatter
  5. Bumpsteer
    1. Rack & pinion
    2. Parallelogram steering
  6. 6. Ackerman Effect
Rear suspension
1. Recall centerline and perpendicular line
2. Thrust angle
3. Pinion angle
4. Instant centers and center of gravity
5. Stock leaf springs
  1. Bolt-ons
6. Ladder bars
  1. Set for square
  2. Preload
  3. Wheelbase
  4. Tuning
7. Fourlinks
  1. Instant centers
  2. Percentage of anti-squat (rise)
  3. IC length
  4. Set-up
    1. Lower bars
    2. Upper bars
  5. Kinematics (the study of links)
    1. Upper bars
      1. Equal length
      2. Short top bars
      3. Bar angle
      4. Bar position
    2. Lower bars
      1. Angle
      2. Position
Lateral locators
1. Panhard rod
  1. Lateral travel
  2. Roll center
  3. Load jacking
2. Watts linkage
  1. Lateral travel
  2. Roll center
3. Wishbone
  1. Lateral travel
  2. Roll center
  3. Symmetry
4. D. Track locator
  1. Lateral travel
  2. Roll center
  3. Roll rotation
  4. Adjustments
5. Trussed fourlinks (AKA swing arm)
  1. Hardware
Anti-roll bars
1. Position
2. Leverages
3. Spring rates
Wheelie bars
1. Length
2. Sprung versus unsprung
3. Alignment
Tuning at the track
1. Rear shocks and IC location
2. B. Front Shocks and travel adjustments

Dave's knowledge is much wider than these topics, so please bring your questions with you.

To Register

Register online using the Dave Morgan Seminar Registration form. The price is still just $85/person for a one-day seminar (2-day seminar is $170) and includes the workbook. There will be a one-hour lunch break (not included in the tuition) and short breaks will be taken as needed. The seminar will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Visa, Master Card and American Express accepted.