Sourced Suspension & Drivetrain Parts

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It's been a little while since my last update and some folks have been emailing me wondering what's been going on so a quick update seems in order. Unfortunately I've not had much time to spend on the Locost lately since I've had some gardening chores to attend to such as building some brick walls and laying a patio. Anyone else out there who's building a car will probably appreciate the need to keep your other half happy by completing the occasional domestic chore... It's also been MOT time for my other car (Rover Vitesse) and I've had to spend some time on that too. Anyway, enough excuses!

Progress has mainly involved sourcing parts. Since the last update I've bought some front wishbones from Lolocost along with all the ball joints. I also got a panhard rod and trailing links but since these were supplied with Nylon bushes they are not suitable for use on a Live axle car. This is because you need a bit of "give" in the bushes to cope with twisting loads which are inevitable on a live axle car and since Nylon doesn't "give" it will create large stresses in the chassis and may cause premature failure. Instead, I have sourced spherical bearing rod-ends from Rally Design (http://www.raldes.co.uk) and will build my own trailing links and panhard rod from these.

Other purchases include a set of Cortina uprights, hubs, discs and calipers from a fellow builder in London (thanks John). I've not actually got them yet but a good friend of mine is bringing them up from London next week (cheers Jack). I've also found a set of engine mounts for the V8 which should allow me to finalise the engine position and I've found a source for a suitable propshaft to link the V8 with the Sierra diff (http://www.autopropuk.co.uk). My Dad (thanks Dad) has sourced a bunch of Sierra bits including a pedal box, steering column, steering rack, handbrake lever, brake master cylinder and a few other bits and pieces and he has also sourced a set of Capri "Laser" wheels with the correct PCD and offset to suit the Locost. These might not fit over the Sierra rear brake calipers but will do to get the chassis rolling.

So, the procurement of the above bits should let me get beyond the recent slowdown and move towards a rolling chassis over the next month or so.

Tonight I was busy fixing my differential mounting brackets in the correct position and starting to build the rest of the transmission tunnel. Tomorrow I hope to build the mountings for the trailing links and then build the trailing links themselves using the new rod-ends. With a bit of luck I might have the back axle in place by next weekend.

I'll post some photo's tomorrow night showing all the above in place.

Starting To Take Shape

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Quite a bit of progress from last update, both visibly and "non-visibly". When I say "non-visibly" I mean that some key decisions have been made or key parts have been sourced which may not be visible but are equally important.

The main non-visible progress made was in the resolution of the rear suspension dilemma. This has been my main source of delays in the past few weeks and it is a real step forward to put that behind me. The resolution came in the form of an MK Engineering de-dion suspension kit which I bought second-hand but unused from one of the other LocostBuilders.co.uk forum members (Thanks Chaz!) He bought it a while back but it is now surplus to requirements. He also supplied me with Sierra rear hubs, disks, hub carriers, driveshafts and a differential with mounting brackets. This comprises most of the rear suspension system with only trailing links, panhard rod and brake calipers left to be sourced.

The only problem with the above setup is that it is designed for a standard width chassis and I am using a +4" chassis. This has meant that I have had to effectively re-engineer the rear chassis to make it standard width in some ways and +4" in other ways to allow the suspension to mount correctly. In practice this meant moving tubes K3 and K4 outboard 1" each so they are now in line with A1 and A2 and also moving tubes RU1 and RU2 inboard 2 inches on each side to allow the de-dion assembly to articulate correctly without fouling. This also means that I have to mount my rear trailing links on the inside face of tubes M1 and M2 instead of the outer face. I intend to use spherical bearings to help minimise the intrusion into the cockpit and create a box section around the arms which should be okay. Since my chassis is 4" wider than standard the 1.5" intrusion on each side should not be a problem.

Recent Progress

As you can see, the rear suspension tubes are now in place behind the seating area. Note also that I've created the first section of transmission tunnel. I can't complete this until the diff position is finalised though.

Here is the diff and one of the shafts in place (roughly).

This image shows the changes made to accommodate the de-dion axle and ears. The changes are designed to allow the ears freedom to come down below the plane of RU1 and RU2 which is necessary on full rebound. You can see that I have highlighted the tubes involved and shown how they have moved. Note that there is now a clear line between the mounting lugs on the "ears" and M1 for the trailing links.

 

Well that's about it for now. I'm busy creating a CAD drawing of my chassis in Solidworks so that I can see how things will go together before I actually weld them from now on...