Tuesday, January 31, 2012
D82: Front Suspension Rebuild #4 D2
I built new mounts for the upper a-arms. I've got the mounting bolts vertical now instead of horizontal. I wanted to try this out and see if it would work better than the old design.
With the new suspension design, I needed to move the steering arm from mounting on the bottom of the spindle to the top of the mount. This required a new steering arm. I've used 1/2" rod ends on the spindle side. On the steering rack side, I cut the threaded portion of the factory arm off and used it as an "M14x1.5" weld bung. Saved me having to buy a random metric tap.
A picture of the completed lower control arm and the upper a-arm along with the new steering arm all assembled with the tire.
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Hey,
ReplyDeleteI was playing with my steering rack placement over the weekend and think i am going to have to put my in front of the chassis else it will clash with the lower A-arm due to the bottom mounting position of the steering ball joint.
Then i saw this post, have you found any problems with this set up yet? I will have to investigate if i am allowed to have welded sections in my steering, but if so might be borrowing another of your ideas.
Also i had to scrap the top mounted pedals and went for a internal floor mounted set. as my car is RHD the exhaust also goes on that side and leaves no clearance.
Keep up the great work, nice to be able to take a sneak peak at the next stages.
Cheers,
Taffy
Hey,
DeleteI haven't found any issues yet with this setup. It allows for MUCH more flexibility and adjustment with trying to remove things like bump steer. It keeps the steering tie rod from hitting the rim at high turn angles too. In Colorado, I've looked up the laws and haven't found anything about welded steering components, but obviously that doesn't help you much.
I couldn't imagine that welded upper/lower arms would be allowed but tie rods wouldn't. Although... that's probably a debate that has cost tax payers some cash.
I saw your new pedal box. I would have liked to do something like that, but the cost was a bit prohibitive for me. I had to scrap my original steering too. Caused me some headaches and went with a "simpler" custom solution.
I can imagine the exhaust is going to cause some issues with a RHD... right now I'm trying to figure out how to mod the factory header to allow me to run the exhaust out the side instead of the factory one under the body.
If you use a custom straight column, you might be able to run the steering above the exhaust. http://samsv8locost.blogspot.com/ is a guy that used a BMW V8, so he had to route his steering around the exhaust on the right side as well. Not great pics, but someplace to look.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Have been following your build since you commented. Looks great so far!
Dan
Oh, and I'm planning on getting the tie rods and lower/upper a-arms welded by someone that does this for a living. There are places I'm not very worried about my welding skills... and well... then there's the key pieces holding the front wheels on. :)
DeleteHey Dan,
ReplyDeleteI was in the shed of a lotus owner/rebuilder who showed me how he does the exhaust and reuses the factory header. Cut the exhaust at the header around ~50mm (inside the straight section) then just get some 90 degree elbow pieces and sleeve them on after trimming so there outside the chassis, then use more elbows to get them to the right postion. The length differences will be minor if you get the heights of the elbow cuts right.
All that said, a westfield builder has found a mobile exhaust maker who will make a custom exhaust using the factory header in an arvo for not alot of $. So its worth asking around.
The laws in australia are sometimes strange, its easier to just go with them then stand around arguing with the government then getting told to go with them or they wont rego your car!
Thanks for the link, wish he would have added topic links like yours does. Finding the right posts is a PITA lol.
I will let you know if i make any great progress on the steering front.
Though at the moment borrowing your rose joint from top idea might be winning. Though i will cheat and get a machinist to turn up a non welded tube with the the threaded ends.
Did you drill out the steering ball joint ends?
cheers,
Taffy
Thanks for the suggestion about the exhaust. I haven't had a chance yet to look into that, but cutting the original and welding on from there seems pretty easy.
DeleteYeah, laws here can be strange too. I'm just glad I don't live in California. I don't think I'd ever be able to get this thing on the road there. Thankfully, from everything I've found CO is pretty lenient on a lot of these things (for better or worse). I figured I could always start welded and if I needed to later, it wouldn't be hard to get a custom rod turned with the correct threads built in. For now, it'll let me keep going at least.
Oh yeah, forgot to warn you. Enjoy scrolling through pages and pages to find the posts you want. That blog is WHY I have topics on mine. HA!
I drilled out the steering ball joint ends to 1/2" for the rod end. I'm actually not thrill with this either. The large end of the taper is probably closer to 5/8", so I'm trying to decide if the appropriate amount of torque on that 1/2" will eliminate any shift. My other thought is getting ball joint ends with a tapered shaft and reaming out the opposite side. I'll keep you posted.
Dan