Got some cheap coilovers...

Yes in luck this week, not wanting to spend my wealth on a set of coilover shocks at this stage I have been scouring the net for some cheap aftermarket. 

 

 

 

By a stroke of luck found a set on Ebay which was local so saved £12 on the delivery. 

Not the best but will do to set the car up for now, can always sell them on. 

 

 

 

 

Seeing that Wales are loosing at rugby to Scotland decided to put the heater on in the man cave and get going on the brackets. 

I have opted for the easy route and fit the coilover shocks outboard, this will make life much easier in the future.

 

 

 

 

Constructing a set of brackets took no time and will be ready for tack welding in the morning.

 

 

 

Look what arrived in the post this week, what will be the rear uprights of my build. Going to have a glass of red wine tonight so I can spend some money to get all the bits required to construct the rear wishbones next weekend, yes off for 4 days and the wife working....................

Do not worry, I bought two.

Rear uprights on the way

Being humming and ha-ing on what to do with the rear. Go for the traditional Sierra hubs which by now costs a small fortune or try something new. Well decided to go for Ford Fiesta MK8-9 front uprights, 2 for £52, should be with me by Wednesday. 

 

So got going on the rear of the build, took the chassis off the table checked the levels and clamped the baby down.

Took the chance to weld the front wishbone brackets and drilled holes to get a good weld on to the steel to add straight, not a very good picture but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 As the track was just over 1300mm, as mentioned before I had no option but to extend the chassis so the track / wheelbase ratio is 1.6:1 .

 

 

All good fun and making sense now.

 

 

 

 

 

Within a few hours things were looking good, yes 9 HRS in the man cave today and my legs are a bit square by now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I will be honest, the steel is only tack welded, will need to clamp the whole rear down to finish the welding. The measurements are there and there about so will I not complain....

 

Looking forward to my delivery during the week so I can get on with the rear wishbones.

 

 

Front wishbones done....

Well its been a long week, a lot of measuring and thinking and googling to check this and that. The weather was not much help being cold and damp and the gas in my heater ran out Friday evening.

 

My first task was to mark up a small table for the jig to hold the steel for the top and bottom wishbones. 

 

 

 

 

Again going back to my Locost build days, simple but effective which will give me a set of matching wishbones.


 

Time is the secret here and not to get too excited with the hacksaw, measure twice cut once as they say.

 

Again only tack welded just in case my measuring is off....

Quick check if the castor angle is the recommend 5 deg, fitted washers between the poly bush and mounting bracket to give me 1 deg either way. 

 

 

A simple and cheap tool which makes life very easy, just make sure the table is still level.








Clamp and tack weld the mounting brackets so the measurements can be checked again and again, and its looking good.

Next its the steering rack, anti roll bar or as the Americans call it the sway bar and the coil over shocks. Not yet sure if going for inboard shocks with a push road system. Back to the thinking and googling  for me in the next week or so.

Got to think about getting a motorbike now........

 

Went the polyurethane bush route.

After thinking and re-thinking, measuring and calculating I have opted for the poly bush as the wishbone mounts. As the build is suppose to be on a budget and where I can, will construct or manufacture the bits myself and also my past experience it was the best choice.

 

Again not cheap as they use to be but found a reasonable priced seller on Ebay, these were the same used on my Locost build, a replacement poly bush for the Triumph Spitfire or Herald which takes a 3/8 UNF bolt.

 

 

So now the challenge is to build a jig to bend 22 suspension brackets the same, out of 40mm flat bar at 3mm thick. This is fun believe you me, keeps the brain ticking............

 

 The jig was constructed of old brackets from work, you need to grind the galvanising first or the weld will splatter and give off fumes.

The bracket in the picture was my first attempt which will the used to mark the rest. Take a masonry nail sharpen on the grinder, drill two holes to the height you require and you have a rudimentary but accurate scriber.

 

 

I will have to manufacture 8 brackets the same so I can start to cut and tack weld the front wishbones in the next few days.

 

Yes enjoyed the afternoon in the man cave, please be aware there was some tinkering of the jig along the way but only one wasted bracket. 

 

 

 

No intentions of posting anymore now until the front wishbones are done and the rear end extended which should look something like this...

 

 

But before I  do I will have to decide on which rear uprights and hubs to use as this will have an effect on the height of the box section which holds the rear wishbones and chain differential.

All good fun...

It's now getting techincal....

Well what can I say the front uprights have arrived and I am impressed. The bottom hole was to accommodate a Transit MK1 top ball joint but opted to drill the hole to take a 5/8 UNF studded rose joint as the top.

As I am not following a definitive set of drawings just a picture off the web I can't cut and shut a set of wishbones. Taking my experience from my Locost build and doing a bit of digging it came apparent the ratio between wheelbase and track  is 1.618 to 1. So the first job was to widen the table and try and work where the front wheels would be and use the above calculation.

 When I measured and re-measured, taking the steering into account it came apparent the chassis is a around 100mm short, its no problem as the back end is still to be finally welded.

The track will be 1340mm and wheelbase 2160mm

 It looks daft but once I get the geometry correct I can construct a set of front wishbones. Again I will use the same method as the Ron Champion book.

Got a bit bores today so decided to weld in the 5/8 inserts to take the studded rose joints, gave the MIG a good service as my welding was still not up to scratch. Purchased the relevant bits to go with the uprights form McGill Motorsport even cheaper than Ebay.

 

 

 

Took the tube and drilled 4 holes and left 2mm of the threaded bar protruding for a good weld.

 

 

The welding is getting there now, a bit of user and equipment issues I think.

 Still undecided on how to attach the wishbones to the chassis, either polyurethane bushes or rose joints.....

Front uprights ordered but a bit bored

Yes finally spent my money on the front uprights of my choice and the relevant bits apart for the steering rack. Can't complain as I have not spent a penny since Christmas week which is good.

But as always a bit bored so acquired an old motorway sign and found this drawing of a seat on the internet.

The only issue was I could not upload the dimensions for some reason so had to 'gestimate'. As the bottom front of the seat couldn't  be wider than 400mm I worked from there using the ratio of  x 3.3 from the drawing and the result is not too bad at all. All I need is a friendly Aluminium welder to finish the seams off.  

Will cut the 5 point harness holes after the seat has been welded.

I can honestly say it was hard work banging and sweating trying to bend the Aluminium sheet but it was well worth it, this is why I enjoy my hobby and if you have no interest in pottering in a garage, sorry you will never know the feeling and satisfaction of creating something mechanical ..............

Still bored with grinding..

Yes the welding is still not up to scratch but the grinding is getting less and less so slowly getting tidier. Got the cockpit done ( tack welded only ) and decided to sit in the car. 

If you know me I'm not the tallest person in the world but a bit rotund and yes it was tight. After a night's sleep and giving the pillow a good talking to, I decided to chance and just widen the seating area by bending a kick in the top bar at shoulder height and yes it had made a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also got the front end finished and welded which will support the nosecone and some sort of a spoiler.

 

No choice now but to purchase a set of front uprights so I can complete the basic front end. Good news the financial adviser has give the green light as she knows it will keep me quiet for anther few months.

Not going to think about the rear end so threw a temporary brace in to hold the chassis in place.

Looks like a single seater car now.

Yes got bored with the grinding down of my fantastic welding from yesterday so decided to have a go at the rollover hoop. Got the pipe bender out and went for it with a reasonable result even if I do say so myself.

Starting to look like a car now. 🙂

Not following the CAD drawing to the actual size as some of the measurements do not make sense but it looks quite similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned yesterday I will need to spend some money now to move forward with the build with only a few evenings of welding and grinding to finish the current steel assembly. 

Either I purchase a set of uprights and steeting rack or the rear differential assembly, either way its not going to be cheap.