Front suspension

[gaz05]

I'm a bit p##sed off with this whole project. Making a template for the ali sides so put the front suspension on with the rack and steering connected.

First issue is rack fouling the bottom suspension arm on full lock. I saw a pic somewhere recently of bottom wishbones that were bent to get round this. How do other people get round it.

Second issue I've noticed is the transit drag link is stopping the suspension going all the way up when the shocks not fitted . That means that on heavy compression the drag link is being stressed rather than the shock acting as the stop. Seems to me the angle of the threaded tube in the top wishbone is wrong. I got the wishbones from Phil@talon so I'm sure they'll be right to the book.

Any thoughts. I'm going to a christening so probably won't be fit to answer till tomorrow morning.

[Talonmotorsport]

What is your donor is it Sierra or MX5 I can't remember?

[Talonmotorsport]

Do you have your engine in as this will affect the ride height and where do you have your spring seats set? The top wishbone needs to be pointing upwards when viewed from the front. The other thing is the front suspension will only ever move by about 2.5" - 3" max when the coilovers are fitted and thats only if you hit some thing very hard like a curb.

[gaz05]

Phil
Mines based on Sierra. There just doesn't seem to be enough movement on the top ball joints. Without the shocks in there should be nothing to stop the top wishbone hitting the headlamp mount. If I swap the wishbone for the opposite side one the problem moves to not being able to get the shock in. It happens after about 3" of movement and given the state of our roads I wouldn't enjoy driving the car if I couldn't trust it. And it's worse again when you move to full lock.

I did buy the ball joints from EDS though and given that they F###ed up with the TREs then it could be that.

TBH I think it's yet another book design fault. I'm going to do some more measuring in the morning and see if I can find something I'm comfortable with.

It's things like this that kill peoples enthusiasm and probably why so many give up before they finish.

[Talonmotorsport]

Post some detailed pics on here of your brackets,wishbones and head light mounts.

[deezee]

Even when I assembled my front end in the workshop, no engine, no wheels the suspension had loads of movement and no fouling. I can only surmise that either the parts or the assembly is incorrect.

If you could chuck a few photos up, it would help a lot.

[gaz05]

I'm very confident everything on the chassis is exactly to book.

I've took the springs off the shock and notice it's 275mm closed to the bump stop. Protechs with the 1" extension. That should be enough to keep the stress off the top ball joint. I still think a 5degree change in the top wishbone threaded tube would have ensured the problem wasn't there in the first place. It also wouldn't be a problem if there wasn't so little angular movement on the transit drag link.

I'm maybe being a bit of a wuzz but I don't want any components being stressed when they shouldn't.

I've got the rack all the way forward so I'll move it back a bit. I'm guessing this is a known problem as I think Phil is making bent bottom wishbones to overcome it.

[beardydave]

Originally Posted by gaz05

I've got the rack all the way forward so I'll move it back a bit. I'm guessing this is a known problem as I think Phil is making bent bottom wishbones to overcome it.

If you have the option when you're setting up the suspension when you've finished the build and have a running car, the rack should be positioned to keep the track-rods horizontal when static. This will keep bump-steer to a minimum.

[baz-r]

i had no issues with my sierra base build

i used QH o.e transit drag links

[BORNXenon]

Originally Posted by gaz05

I'm guessing this is a known problem as I think Phil is making bent bottom wishbones to overcome it.

The bent bottom wishbones are to overcome an issue with MX5 based builds, you shouldn't need them on a Sierra based build.