My new car for next year......

[SteveW]

Well yes all was going a bit too well  I hit a major snag today, with the body off I just thought i'd check the ride height again and it turns out that the A Arm catches the shock tower coming off the torsion tube  I need 2" clearence so I'm a bit stuck at the mo! I've spoken to Chris and he thinks the A Arm might be able to be cut into and a gusset added to re-strengthen it. Bugger! I'll put a picture up in a mo when I download them off my camera.

[SteveW]

So this is what we're up against!





Wayne and Chris are both looking at it and seeing what ideas they can come up with, I'm not sure what can and can't be done with regards to keeping the strength.. 

[WhiteTrash]

Steve

What sort of shocks were you plannin on fitting with your trailing arms heigh up like that?
Surly at this angle your axle shafts are running up from gearbox to stubaxle, constantly angling the cv's which makes them more prone to fail.

[SteveW]

I'm planning on running coilovers.. Basically the photo's on the previous page with it sitting nicely, I measured the ride height from the centre of each shock eye hole, which measured 12", and its only when the body was off I had a good look at it  Its the ride height I want to run at as I don't like high rear end back ends on racecars!

[WhiteTrash]

Your car should't squat down at launch as much as that the arm will hit shocktower, the coilover would bind before that

[SteveW]

Trouble is the measurement of the eye holes when the a arm hits is 12" which is exactly where I want the ride height, and from what I've been told you need 2" of movement on both upwards and downwards direction! Just been speaking to Wayne and thinks the way to go would be to remove the shock tower and fabricate a shock mount, coming off the torsion tube and tied into the frame horn tubes (the ones Chris welded in to to tie the cage in)

If that solved it what about the issue of the CV joints? When the car launches and squats the CV's would move back into a straighter line so would that not help? I no nothing about this sort of stuff so you'll have to forgive all my questions!

[WhiteTrash]

Agree with Wayne, if that's were it sits fab some new mounts.

With regards to the axles and CV's, to have them in a relativly straight line at launch when the car squats, they would have to run slightly down from the gearbox to the stubaxle (wheel) when stationary.
I always thought that cv's should ideally run straight, yes their design is to move and still turn, but there wiill be more stress on them angled which in a race car can cause them to lock and then break.
Similar to a prop shoft in a front engined, rear wheel drive car, the UJ's should always be straight to minimise stress.
But please check with some other people who run IRS, ie Cogbox Pete, Richie, Bernie etc

[kev d]

Hi Steve,

Could the shock tower be notched for 1/2 the clearance you need & the A-arm for the other 1/2 without losing too much strength?
How different are the shock towers on your pan to the towers on an IRS pan?
Cheers,
Kev

[SteveW]

We thought that but I think it would weaken both parts too much. I think the shock towers on a IRS pan are a totally different shape so shouldn't interfere, perhaps I should have welded on a complete IRS rear when it was first done!

[Deanodynosaurs]

Hi Steve,

Why dont you loose the shock tower all together and mount the top of the shock to a bracket on the cage/ body?

That way you could set the ride height exactly as you want it.

Dude 

[WhiteTrash]

yes the shock towers on later floorpans are different.
they lean slightly outwards and are shaped different plus have the little pan for the bumpstop to hit in them. Were you planning on running any or have you cut the pedestal of the arms?

[RhoadsVW]

That irs arm angle looks horrible,if you are more concerned with looks you are in trouble   ideally with the car at a standstill you want the axle angle slightly lower at the outer end so on launch it straightens itself giving the cv as little angle as possible,as it looks there they will already be over center and just get worse/weaker.
Its quite normal to notch the shock tower but it isnt designed to take a coil over anyway and will flex without being tied into the cage.

cheers richie   

[Mike Lawless]

One solution would be to cut off the early shock mounts and weld on later style.

Or if you are going to build new shock mounts, perhaps something like how I did mine.

http://home.comcast.net/~mlawless29/rollcage.htm

[SteveW]

Well just after my last post I spoke to Wayne again and we have come up with a plan, he is going to fab some shock towers up from scratch and tie them into the frame horn tubing I have. (Kinda like yours then I guess Mike!) The old towers will be cut off too.

Richie, I know not everyone gets my way of thinking but yes the look of the car is really important to me! So now I've gotta figure out a way of sorting it! So forgive my ignorance but are CV joints by there design meant to be able to run at angles? What are the failures I would see? Before we started the full build of the car I asked questions about ride height and everyone come back to me and said I didn't to do anything like raise the trans and I can just run it low (this included Ron Lummus) so I'm a bit stuck!

[richie]

The greater the angle the weaker it will get,you may find the limit of the bus size cv a lot sooner than you would like,they are desinged to work in an angle but only with about 65hp and not with the shock loads it will see when adele launches They seem to usually bind and then something breaks,mainly the cage in the middle,stronger chromoly ones are available to help with this.The easiest way to lower the car without this is to raise the torsion housing instead of the irs arm but you will proberly find nthing else will clear if you do it now.

cheers richie,uk

[SteveW]

I had a bit of a play yesterday  but until the body is back on the shell I can't gauge the ride height, but by dropping the arm 1/2" the axle sits totally straight so a touch more and it will drop the axle 'downwards'. I'm going to see if Wayne can fab up a new shock mount of the A Arm too so I can run a slightly longer coilover which means I can have a bit more adjustment for the ride height and hopefully see what I can come up with!

So it may seem I would have to move up to bigger CV joints sooner than we thought if they breaking as the 930's can run at a bit more of an angle!

[Jonny Grigg]

Guys,

what is your quick-release steering wheel arrangement? Where did you get all the components and what machine work had to be done to the column?

After fitting up my MSE V Gate (which is lurvely!  ) I really have quite a job getting in and out of my car as I have a Kirkey seat with the rib protector bits in. I reckon a removable steering wheel will really help so was thinking of looking into it a bit more.....

Any help would be appreciated! 

Cheers,

J.

[SteveW]

Its all Mark Williams stuff which Chris Isaacs supplied, its really nice!!

The wheel is a Momo 80 which is the 6 stud pattern, I then fitted a 6 stud to 3 stud adapter (as most fly off wheel adapters are 3 stud) and gave it to chris with the car..

I think this is the MW adapter Chris supplied..



You also need a spline adapter which welds onto the stock steering shaft..



This is with it welded into our steering shaft



Its a really nice bit of kit, it has a 'master spline' too so you will always line your wheel up straight too.

http://www.markwilliams.com/chassisHubs.aspx?CategoryID=158

Thats the direct link to Mark Williams website..

Hope that helps!

[SteveW]

Well I nipped up to the see the shell in the paintshop today 









The wings have also been prepped and he was working on the decklid as I was there, I'm going back up again soon and I can't wait!

[AntLockyer]

Jealous.

Of that nice big electric DA

[Jonny Grigg]

Its all Mark Williams stuff which Chris Isaacs supplied, its really nice!!

The wheel is a Momo 80 which is the 6 stud pattern, I then fitted a 6 stud to 3 stud adapter (as most fly off wheel adapters are 3 stud) and gave it to chris with the car..

I think this is the MW adapter Chris supplied..



You also need a spline adapter which welds onto the stock steering shaft..




J.

This is with it welded into our steering shaft



Its a really nice bit of kit, it has a 'master spline' too so you will always line your wheel up straight too.

http://www.markwilliams.com/chassisHubs.aspx?CategoryID=158

Thats the direct link to Mark Williams website..

Hope that helps!

Thanks Steve. I am probably going to go for a MOMO wheel and WTCC boss. What mods did you do to the column 'tube', as I notice it now bolts to the bar below the dash on your car. Did you use the existing tube and bearing housing etc? If you have any photos of this area it would be much appreciated.

[SteveW]

Hi Jonny,

Yes it is the existing stock steering tube which has had a aluminium insert made for the steering shaft to slide into and then the 'bracket' is welded onto the steering tube and bolts through the dash bar. It's probably just me but it feels really nice and more secure than the stock mounting position!



Thats about the best picture I have, I could get some more when I next visit the paintshop if you need some!

Steve

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Ok Steve you need to Change the Title of this Thread to This Year no more lounging around lol

[SteveW]

Quick update, I went up to see Martin today and took a few pics of the panels in colour!







None of the panels have been polished yet so the paint is straight from the gun, I'm quite pleased! Martin has also started painting the exterior of the shell tonight. 

The pan was sent to Wayne's last weekend and should be back sometime next week with the new shock towers fabricated and mid mount welded in. I ordered a pair of rear Coilovers from GAZ shocks today too, spoke with them at the Autosport show and I liked what I saw and heard! Got a good deal on them!

[Harry/FDK]

Ooofff! Nice Paintjob !

[Martin Greaves]

Blue where the Pink 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Dude, the paint looks stunning!   

Exactly the same colour i was gonna paint my bloody 58!! 

Dude

P.S. What colour is it dude? Fyord Blue? 

[Wünderwolff]

Great colour !!!

I loved the car up untill now, but was so afraid of how the paint would turn out. With it being so high-tech and modern, you could have chosen fluorescent kamikaze green. That would have been highly recognisable on the strip, but equally highly dissapointing.

Get it built and driven before EBI3, but please don't crash it!

[Adele AW]

Thanks, It was always going to be this colour because we wanted to keep it as original as possible, which is also why we didnt cut all the rear luggage area out and tried to have the welding done to factory standards. OK, its never going to be what it was back then, but i personally wanted to keep something 'original' on it and i think we have just about achieved it. Its not the most stunning colour in the world but definetly suits

Great colour !!!

I loved the car up untill now, but was so afraid of how the paint would turn out. With it being so high-tech and modern, you could have chosen fluorescent kamikaze green. That would have been highly recognisable on the strip, but equally highly dissapointing.

Get it built and driven before EBI3, but please don't crash it!

Dude, Its Capri Blue


I have also banned Steve from posting any more photos of the actual car until its done!! Maybe a few peeky shots but no full one's. We have got to have some suspense Only 9 weeks and 6 days to go 

[Jonny Grigg]

Looks great guys- just saw these pics on Facebook too 

Can't wait to see it.