FRONT SUSPENSION UPGRADE

kaiserbilly1 · Post by **kaiserbilly1** » Sat May 19, 2007 7:57 pm

Have now stripped the front suspension of the 289.
Had a good day in the garage today cleaning everything up, re-painting, and fitting new bushes.
All now read to go back on the 289.
Will post more photos when all in place.

regards

Bill

Post by **clive** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:21 pm

Hu Bill,
Looking good! Have you gone off the idea of extending the front hubs then?

Hawk289 · Post by **Hawk289** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:56 pm

Bill,

Spoke to my man, he looked at the picture and said yes, but "I hope you have a lot of cash!!". As Roger said, he will need a lump of metal, then mill away. He recon it would be cheaper to change the suspension arms?

Anyway, sorry it does not help

Thanks

John

kaiserbilly1 · Post by **kaiserbilly1** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:04 pm

I have gone off the idea of making the hubs wider, cost etc.
We are going to cut & weld an extra inch into each of the wishbones.
This will put no extra load on the front bearings, and will give me that extra inch to fill out the front wheel arches, whilst increasing the front track width.
I'll post some more photos during the alterations, and once the job is finished.

regards

Bill

Post by **clive** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:29 am

Hi Bill,
I think this is a better way to go rather than the "hub method" Are your shocks adjustable? The reason I ask is that there will be another inch of leverage on your suspension arms and I'm not sure if it will make any difference to movement and ride height.

kaiserbilly1 · Post by **kaiserbilly1** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:35 am

Hi Clive

This is the front set up that Colin Newbold runs on his 289, with a Ford 305, so it should be no problem

regards

Bill

Roger King · Post by **Roger King** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:41 pm

kaiserbilly1 wrote:I have gone off the idea of making the hubs wider, cost etc.
We are going to cut & weld an extra inch into each of the wishbones.
This will put no extra load on the front bearings, and will give me that extra inch to fill out the front wheel arches, whilst increasing the front track width.
I'll post some more photos during the alterations, and once the job is finished.

regards

Bill

Your roll centres will change...

Roger

David Large · Post by **David Large** » Mon May 21, 2007 5:50 am

You may run out of threads on the ends of the steering rack where the track rod ends screw on.

Simply cutting and shutting the suspension arms and inserting 1" sounds a bit hazardous to me with a lot of reliance on butt welds in the middle of the arms.

Just a thought.

I have negative camber lower arms on my car which were a bought as opposed to a modified item. Not quite sure what you are trying to achieve here Bill.

Cheers

Roger King · Post by **Roger King** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:54 am

David Large wrote:You may run out of threads on the ends of the steering rack where the track rod ends screw on.

Simply cutting and shutting the suspension arms and inserting 1" sounds a bit hazardous to me with a lot of reliance on butt welds in the middle of the arms.

Just a thought.

I have negative camber lower arms on my car which were a bought as opposed to a modified item. Not quite sure what you are trying to achieve here Bill.

Cheers

...what he said.

Cutting and welding suspension arms and wishbones would require the accurate construction of jigs. Wishbones, by their very nature, converge, so you'd need to change the angles at the fulcrums. You would clearly do better to make fresh wishbones from scratch.
I'm assuming you have Gerry's tubular front suspension setup - if you haven't, that is an obvious way forward. There are two different sets - one for a 'slabside', and one for a 'FIA'. You might benefit by asking Gerry for advice.
You could, of course, simply change the offset on your wheels.

Roger

Post by **clive** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:11 pm

Hi Bill,
I've been thinking about your upgrade today and I can only agree with Roger. To me it is the only safe way to go.