It looked so simple at first!

[chrisflaco_fc]

Great thread, I'd love to see what exactly you have in store for the motor later.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by chrisflaco_fc

Great thread, I'd love to see what exactly you have in store for the motor later.

Thanks. I'm not quite sure which way I want to go on that myself yet. I'm trying to get all of the supporting hardware in place first. I will be shooting for the 350 HP level and staying rotary, so it will probably be a single turbo 13B REW based engine, we'll have to see when I get to that point.

While I was off playing farmer, I'm temporarily home as you can't cut corn in a snow storm, I ordered the upper A arms and hardware from pitstopusa.com. The parts are already here and exactly what I ordered. Which for those of you that know of my supplier travails, came as a pleasant surprise.


new upper A arms by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

They are Joe's Racing upper arms made for racing, but should work for what I want. They provide for adjusting camber and caster with minimal fuss using spacers (the blue things in the back) and slugs to adjust side to side and up and down for roll center adjustments. The arms are replaceable in different lengths if I need to change the camber gain as the tire moves through it's arc. They use a standard screw in ball joint, which I will pick up locally.

The only concern that I have is that the arms are suspended with non compliant bearings instead of rubber or poly bushings. Which is great for free movement, but they may be a bit harsh on the street. They are not the load bearing arms, so it shouldn't be too bad. The only way to find out is to try it I guess. Appropriate since this whole thing is one big bloody experiment anyway.

[RXtacy]

Looking really good Kevin. Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing it at DGRR!

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by RXtacy

Looking really good Kevin. Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing it at DGRR!

Thanks Mike. I finished up the other wheel arch and was trying to figure out how I was going to mount the arms this weekend, while I had a little time off. I came to the conclusion that I need to get some ball joints before I can finalize how I'm going to do it though. I need a week day off so I can do some shopping at the local race chassis shop.

[RXtacy]

Originally Posted by GySgtFrank

Thanks Mike. I finished up the other wheel arch and was trying to figure out how I was going to mount the arms this weekend, while I had a little time off. I came to the conclusion that I need to get some ball joints before I can finalize how I'm going to do it though. I need a week day off so I can do some shopping at the local race chassis shop.

Sounds overpriced already

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by RXtacy

Sounds overpriced already

This is Kansas. Local redneck circle track shop. Prices don't look too bad. Not O'Reilly's level of pricing though.

Need a couple of threaded upper ball joints, so normal auto parts stores aren't an option. Could order on line, but I want to make sure they're going to actually fit before I plunk down the dollars.

[GySgtFrank]

If anyone needs more proof that I'm an idjit.


upper arm by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

When I put the upper mounts in they needed to sit where my new frame rails were at in order to get my Instant Center/Roll Center correct. Sooo. More cutting and fitting will be called for. Waiting on a digital caster/camber gauge so I can do final positioning on the A arms. (This is where I think it has to be, we'll see)

Setting my roll center to 1/2" above the ground and centered on the chassis. Initial setting for caster will be 5 to 7 degrees positive. Camber will be at zero with my adjustment all the way down. I'll use spacers to set that where I need it later.

[GySgtFrank]

Done with farming, back to work on the car and the never ending build thread.

Trying something different can be ... trying. I think I finally have the right side upper arm in position. 1.5 degrees camber, 6 degrees caster, 10 degree down angle on upper arm, 0 degree angle on lower arm. With full adjustability to make changes (which was what I was really after). Time to weld it in again. I've had to cut out so many previous ga-genius ideas that my engine bay looks like something from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. Lots of grinding ahead.

[GySgtFrank]

Doesn't look like much, but a lot of work to get this far.


Front frame arch 2 by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

[GySgtFrank]

shock tower rough by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

OK, go ahead and laugh. The passenger side is roughed in and back on the ground. Had to modify the original struts to take a heim joint at the bottom and weld on a perch to accept the coil over spring. Did some clearancing on the lower arm and added tabs to mount the shock as far out on the arm as possible. Then the real fun began trying to get the upper plate at the right height and angles so that nothing binds as the wheel moves, keep it within the bounds of ride height adjustment, and make sure the shock doesn't stick through the hood (the last was harder than it sounds). Also modified the coil over tube and went to a 275 pound 12" tall spring. I need to get some more measurements and do some adjusting now that it's on the ground. Then close and clean it up. Not looking forward to doing the other side, but it should go a bit faster now that I have some idea of what the he** I'm doing.

[chibikougan]

Nice!

[GySgtFrank]

Just to let y'all know I'm still at it. Now that I trial fitted both sides, found that my top mounts were about 1 1/2 inches too far back. I was unable to move them far enough even with the adjustment I built in. Put in new upper A arm mounts and pulled everything back apart to put in the actual bracing and shock/spring mounts. Starting to get it ground down and cleaned up. Slow, but getting there.

[JL1RX7]

Gunny How much original stuff is left? Lots of hard work is see.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by JL1RX7

Gunny How much original stuff is left? Lots of hard work is see.

The front and rear frame stubs are still original.

[JL1RX7]

Oh and the VIN plate on the firewall. Don't forget that!