Wide bones.
 

A question for Chris, or any other smarty pants...:D

If I make a new set of front upper and lower front bones 15mm wider each side, will I screw up the steering suspension geometry?


David

15mm longer from the bush tubes to the ball joint or 15mm wider across the bush tubes?

After widening his scuttle, I would imagine it is wider from bush tube to ball joint.

As Sean says, 15mm wider from the bush tubes to the ball joint.

But having said that, if I make the chassis brackets 15mm longer,
I wouldn't have to remake the bones.

So secondary question, If I just moved the brackets out 15mm each side, can anyone see any probs?

David

depends if you are talking about just packing them out (with a bit of box behind them) or making the actual bracket longer, with the hole a lot further out.

If the second option, I would be dubious, because you are moving the actual pivot point further away from the area of support (weld and bends in the steel).
There would be a greater likelyhood of the bracket distorting.

That's only my opinion of course, you always do a calculation, based upon the shear strength of the steel:D (And I haven't done that since college - 10 years ago)

I am by no means an expert David but.......... there may be some merit in moving the mounts 15mm out.

If you remember some of the earlier discussions & a little bit in the book about the ideal rack length

It was mentioned that for the Escort rack to be ideal, it needed to be shortened a little ;)

I am sure a man of your caliber will be able to move the mounting brackets safely :)

I would be reluctant to make longer brackets, although I suppose 5mm thick ones would be fine ;)

Can't see it affecting the steering or suspension geometry a great deal, after all, most of us have made the rear track wider by 10mm each side.

That's my thoughts :)

Well pointed out about the steering rack Ronnie,
I hadn't actualy thought of that.

Think I may look into what Chris actualy said about the ideal rack length.
I could then move the brackets out by that much.
I'm not worried about beefing up the brackets, I tend to overengineer anyway:eek:

I could also use the adjuster on the top bone to make up the 15mm I'm looking for. Then I would only need to remake the lowers.

Any other comments appreciated

David

David
by widening the track you will alter the Ackerman angle
this may cause some tire scrub on the front but i dont know if it is enough to be relevant as these sort of cars dont do 35,000 miles a year as a rule
you should be able to alter the steering arm angle should you find you need to with a bit of heat and a bar
cheers les g