Rear suspension - wheel fouling

[Josh]

I was getting my head round the rear suspension/drive arangement this evening and came across what I hope isn't a problem! I'm using 14" wheels and the gap between the wheel hub and lower wishbone/bolt seems veeery tight? :confused:

I'm yet to cut the bolts down to length so there's quite a bit of thread sticking out and at the moment theres no way its gona get in there?? I've got the rear upright sitting 73mm off the face of the wheel (measurment I took from the rear drive shaft assembly). See photos...

Are people using 14" wheels on the rear?? Can anyone post a photo showing me what it should look like?

Cheers
Josh

[RAYLEE29]

Hi, if your using 14"s and book uprights then you will have a clearance issue.
this was covered ages ago so you prob werent around then. i modded my rear uprights by moving the lower hole up about 6mm. if you search the original thread should still be here somewhere.
Ray:)

[Josh]

ahhh... this is probably going to mean I just make/buy new uprights. My mounting plate is fully vertical not at 45 degrees and I would rather not have 14" on the front and 15" on the rear, or 15" all round for that matter.

By moving that lower hole up 6mm (or there abouts) will I alter the suspension/handelling characteristics?......... Actually thinking about it the top dimensions of the upright are what matter for the rear suspension. Altering the lower hole position should only effect the camber, which can be dialled out with the top camber adjuster?????????? :confused:

Any other issues I should be awear of before I spend more money/cut more metal?! :o

Cheers
Josh

[twinturbo]

Why not 15's?

TT

[Headshot]

Just my opinion, but isn't going up from 14" to 15" a very minor change, if you are dropping a profile in tyre size, you won't have a bigger rolling circumference either, and it will stop the hassle with the uprights :confused:

(p.s. its nuggets of info like this which make this forum invaluable to a fresh starter like me! )

[Josh]

I can think clearer now its the morning, was a little annoyed last night at the prospect of having to buy/make new uprights! And as Headshot says 14 to 15's isnt a big change at all, and lower profile tyres would probably look better too! Just a shame as I already have a nice set of 14" alloys of my sierra - no doubt they'll shift on eBay though :rolleyes:

Only issue now is the disc calipers but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it...

Cheers
josh

[twinturbo]

TBH, Alloy wheels unless they are something special don't realy sell these days.

Tyres on the other hand do.

So, don't pay a lot for 15's with shot tyres and then have to wrap them.

Apart from the ones on my galaxy ( they are Heavy Duty ) I have only bought 1 tyre in 8 years. I just buy alloys with good tyres and swap em round.

TT

[Josh]

Cheers for the heads up TT, your knowledge is invaluable as ever :cool: !

[HandyAndy]

I paid £40 for my 15inch alloys( for all 4 ), admittedly the tyres are shot but I wanted these particular wheels ( Ford Puma "prop style" ) as i think they cover the weedy discs & drums nicely :)
I,ll be buying 4 new tyres for £125 & have a friendly local tyre place that will fit them for me ;)
Tho it depends on your budget etc but Halfords have some good deals on wheels/tyres combinations for around £300

cheers
andy

[Big Vern]

TBH, Alloy wheels unless they are something special don't realy sell these days.


TT

Really? guess I've been lucky then - I've been getting between £25-£50 per rim depending on condition and desirability.:)

BV:)

[AshG]

the car was designed to run on 15inch wheels. if you want smaller then downsize the rear carrier at the bottom

[twinturbo]

I bought some 17" Toora's last year with two new P-Zero's and two other good tyres for £130 delivered. The PZ's new are worth 80+ each and the other tyres about half that. so £240 of tyres. The wheels were just somethign to keep teh tyres on ;)

I got some mondeo 15's for my Sierra for £70, wheels are worth maybe £20 for the lot but had a full set of good tyres.

Also have a nice set of 17" OZ Super t's that came with good tyres for £128



HAve a set of OZ Polaris 17's with shot tyres, the wheels are a little scuffed but are more or less worthless, as are another set of 15's multispokes with2 worn tyres.

I could not give away a set of Sierra Azura/GT wheels even at £10 each with almost new tyres!!!

TT

[Enoch]

Josh, if you are fitting rear discs be careful with how you weld your rear uprights together, if you do them as per the book you will not get them to fit. The drilled plates need to be at an angle so that the brake pipes and handbrake cable don't foul anything. Have a look at my website - www.deepfolly.co.uk - to see what I mean. I was lucky enough to read on here about someone who had encountered the problem before I did mine.
Enoch

[twinturbo]

I think he's already come across that problem.

TT

[Josh]

yes unfortunatly I brought my uprights over a year ago from 3GE as per the book design - only just got round to getting the chassis on its wheels. Shame it doesn't mention in the book that it was designed for 15" wheels!

I'll see how I get on with the calipers, I've red that someone managed to get them on by swapping sides and putting them upside down... If I can't make it work then there may be a pair of (useless) uprights going up on eBay :(

[twinturbo]

Only 2 models of sierra ever came on 15's tooo..

TT

[davidimurray]

Josh

No need to scrap them - why not find a local engineering company with a big lathe to machine the plates out and then buy some new ones to weld in. Should be a simple job as you could hold the back of the tube in a 3-jaw and then bore the plate out.Unfortunately my lathe isn't big enough otherwise I would offer to do them for you.

[twinturbo]

I would imagine that by the time you have paid for the setup, enginering time, new plate, etc... your not going to save a vast amount over replacement components.

TT

[Josh]

One of the lathes at the school my dad teaches at is probably big enough to take the uprights actually... I'd just be worried about getting it ballenced? That lot swinging round might generate some nasty forces???! :eek:

[davidimurray]

You should be ok as even though the weight 'either side' of the tube are different they should help balance each other out.Just take it slow to start with and see what you are happy machining at. You might also want to look at tack welding your new plate in the opposite end to provide some more support for gripping. Alternatively you could clamp the upright to the mill and bore through (slow!!) or put it on a rotary table, get a cutter and rotate the upright cutting out the inside. Personally I would go for the lathe option as it is the quickest!

[carlknight1982]

I have mine mounted upside down on the wrong sides and they fit great, ive also seen a couple of other kits mounted like this, I am using 3GE uprights too so I wouldnt worry too much, hardest part is bleeding them, i just moved them to the to of the disc to bleed them being careful not to crimp the flexi hose and seem to have a decent feeling pedal.

biggest problem i have is im using larger 60mm single piston calipers up front and they fowl the balance weights fitted to the inside of my alloys, might have to move up to 16" alloys due to this.

Carl

[Josh]

I can see what the problem is now, did a trial fit last night. I think I'm going to mount the calipers upside down on opisite sides, id rather have an upside down bleed nipple than spend hours modifying my uprights :rolleyes:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/4638509542_3aa0f12b80.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/4638509056_067599f6e6.jpg

[twinturbo]

Looking at this.

Would the drum brake uprights not give more or less the correct position for the caliper above the hub?

TT

[Josh]

I think it would probably foul the top part of the upright, upper wishbone and damper mounting points.:confused:

[Big Vern]

Hi Josh,

Switching to 15" wheels will be easier.

There are loads of Focus's with ally wheels so you should be able to get a good set for sensible money. (see my note below about wheel nuts and centre caps.)

I would never use second hand tyres - there just too much of a risk so they represent no value but this can be a good bargaining point when buying especially as it'll cost you money to get them removed!

Rare or unusual/interesting wheels still fetch reasonable prices especially if they are in imaculate or refurbed condition and complete with centre caps and appropriate wheel nuts. Getting replacement centre caps and wheel nuts (especially the floating Ford type nuts or tube nuts) can cost as much as the wheels:eek:
Whereas wheels in abundance like those on the ford focus will never be more than scrap value as there are so many of them.

If your 14" wheels are rare and in good condition then you could get much of the cost of your replacement set back. - choose carefully where you sell them to maximise your return.


HTH BV:)

[squbti]

Hi guys, I just bought a set of 16" weels & was just wondering if they would be ok on the roadster & if so do I still need to have the 1" extension on the dampers?
Cheers
Samy

[Neil P]

Is this problem peculiar to a disc set up? Mine sits on 14" wheels with rear drums without a problem.

I understood that 14's fit but 13's won't.:confused:

Neil

[spud69]

It tends to be 14" alloys that dont work, 14" steelies can work due to their thinner bodies. 16" will be fine but you need to measure the overall diameter of the wheel and the tyre ratio, the sierra speedo is designed to work with 55cm diameter wheels. The 1" extension to the dampers is to help getting the correct ride height.

If your wheel above 60cm then you probably wont need the 1" extensions but then you will need to fix up an alternative speedo as it will be reading too slow.

AndyH

[3GE Components]

Hi guys, I just bought a set of 16" weels & was just wondering if they would be ok on the roadster & if so do I still need to have the 1" extension on the dampers?
Cheers
Samy

Hi Samy,

The 1" extension is to provide more suspension travel in drop and has nothing to do with altering ride height.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards

John

[Spikehaus]

Just a silly idea that may have been overlooked? Have you considered using wheel spacers to allow the wheel to sit out by 30 mm, thus clearing the threaded bar? That is what I did when I mocked the car up with the doner 14" wheels. Pics on my build thread somewhere.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3366/3502017712_c6325e63a5.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3453328666_6ce58b6898.jpg

[Spikehaus]

I can't get this picture to upload to the link shows the re-modelled rear upright

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41021922@N03/4709472881/