LocostUSA.com

Nice. Cant wait to see the new uprights!

ok, had some mates over, my back is too bad to lift the engine alone (even though it is only 64 kg..)... so we dropped it in the frame..

it is real nice and low, bottom of the (shortened) pan is only about 4 mm from the bottom rail.. Rear two mounts have their tube to attach to, so that is a no brainer... the question is what to do with the other two, one on the block and one on the head (per side..)..
When I designed the frame I took the easy way out and did the engine bay wide as the driver compartment so no tubes are close by.. I sketched some possibilities.. The other question is do I need to use both or can just use one?




Other question is the steering column..

I somehow put a tube right where the steering column should be... Have two choices..
If I run it under, it is a bit low, and there is some possible packaging problem with regard to feet and steering column... because it should go just above the brake pedal.. but the steering wheel would be low..
Other choice would be to drill a 25 mm hole in the middle of the tube and weld in a 25x1.5 tube, and run the steering shaft right trough that.. (shaft will be 20x1.5 mm..) This would be very cool solution..
Choice two, would be to run the steering shaft above, like in the pic, and my driving buddies like that solution.. I could lower the steering wheel by about 3 cm further down , by notching some 15 mm from the top of the tube it is sitting on right now and welding in a reinforcement.. .. think this is the solution, but will decide on that when I mount the steering rack...

All in all, looking at the engine bay, it ended up being a bit crowded.. exhaust manifold will be a blast...

in other news, I really do not like the wilwood floor mounted pedal..



first of all, it uses too much space, as I have possible interference issue with the tube in pic/bulkhead.. it is unnecessarily wide..
Also the geometry is funny, so when you press it the pedal goes up a bit... I know the travel will be small, but I do not like it.. it is because the pivot point is so far back with regards to the pedal.. I think I will need to make a custom one..

also..

got back from karting yesterday, and couldn't sleep... had a bit of an epiphany..

Upper A arms are in question..

The lower A arms have a following design for the outboard joint.. (excuise the Photoshopped illustration, I am too lazy to finish my 3D models)


So, a spherical pressed in a housing, welded to tubes..

But the upper A arm was to be more conventional heim joint as in pic (please disregard everything except the upper outboard joint, I just took this pic from the net..)



Now, I even bought large heim joints and I know it is used like so all over, and I do not like to dis this solution but I really do not like it.. At full braking with some potholes, I could have more than one tonne acting on the heim joint, and doing so at 90 deg angle to the threads.. I do not like it at all..

So, I dreamed up a different solution.. pure spherical in a housing just like the lower one, and the camber adjustment to be done in the upright with thin spacers.. but not like the usual way.. watch this space..

I get that from the spicy food here.

I'll show you a picture of my master cylinder setup but can't till Tuesday - think Alfa 105, pedal and pushrod that operates back to the master cylinder that's under you knees.

actually, the master cylinders are OK, they have enought space where they are... the shocks will go either side...
the pedal itself is too wide, when you look at it from the side... Tillton has a much slimmer design..

I am very much interested in your solution, as I need to do that with my clutch cylinder,... for that one I have no space..

I somehow put a tube right where the steering column should be... Have two choices..
If I run it under, it is a bit low, and there is some possible packaging problem with regard to feet and steering column... because it should go just above the brake pedal.. but the steering wheel would be low..




Actually you have another option. If you use a steering quickner with an offset you can still put the wheel where you want it and bobs your uncle.

I had problems with Wilwood pedals also. I used one from this company.(http://www.desertkarts.com/item172484.ctlg)

Just got back home from a longish trip so maybe tomorrow.

I'm watching

ok, gimme a day or two... I am in full on panic at work more right now.. Plus, I just saw my upright material and shock budget burn in a day.. .darn..

On a positive note, visited a local collector of old cars... talk about aladin's cave... alfas, porches, and tons and tons of old Abarths.. Abarths galore... and everything in dire need of restoration..

Just a fwiw. You mentioned not liking the Wilwood unit because the pedal rises when pushed. According to Carroll Smith in Engineer to Win, this is preferable to going over center during travel, which will give confusing feedback when you are at max pressure and in need of an intuitive and "linear" response.


Enjoying your build and stealing bits here and there,

Pete

good point.. I think I need more "seat" time to figure out if I like it or not.. Also, it has to do with relative position of the pedal and seat + I do not have much driving experience with floor mounted pedals..

However, the fact is that the pedal itself has too wide a profile.. Tillton pedal has much slimmer profile... so I might just fab a new pedal..
Clutch pedal will not fit anyhow (no room for cylinder) so I need to fab that one too..

thanks for the tip, steal away at will ..




In other developments, I worked on the diff design today... it is interesting how some cool solutions get thrown away because of non availability of some basic parts..

I made one design that needs a ball bearing with 110 mm inner diameter.. Then, I checked the price for such a part..



I wanted to use a torsen unit as a base of the diff, and convert it to chain drive in a more or less conventional manner..
At first I got a Lancia Delta integrale unit, complete... Took it out of the housing, got stub shafts also, ready for 100 mm lobro joints..
This is the unit on the right



Then, I had that incident with the gearbox on my mitsubishi, and after buying the whole new drivetrain, I was left with one extra transferbox... that houses the front torsen diff... this is the unit on the left... a really nice small unit..

Plus point is that it is smaller and quite a bit lighter.. (a bout 3 kg for just the diff). Also, interesting for you guys in the US, it is widely available, as transfer boxes are not all that expensive... but a word of warning.. not all mitsubishi evos 8 came with front torsen diff... 8 MR and evo 9 do... for plain evo 8 it was not always the case...
Also, a plate diff is available in aftermarket, so If I really need it, it will be a simple swap later on..

Minus point is that I need to make stub shafts..

The two torsen diffs are of different design..


Lancia diff is a more conventional torsen, while mitsubishi unit is a design used by a Japanese manufacturer that uses a similar design on all the diffs they make, as I saw the same inner design on a honda S2000 unit I have...

I wrote down a couple of design goals initially..

1. NO torque steer
2. centrally mounted diff, equal length stub shafts, equal length driveshafts.. (to eliminate torque steer)
3. light design
4. diff housing has to be fixed, not rotating, so that I can have a vent for the diff, in order to eliminate the possibility of gear oil leak..
5. Minimal or no driveshaft length change during suspension travel


However... with engine output sprocket some 120 mm from centerline, the diff would be really wide (at least 300 mm)....
So, nr.2 went out in favour of nr.3. To get nr.1 right, I will play with driveshaft diameter...

I need to check the availability of various bearings and seals, then I'll finalize the design..

Slightly off topic, but the suspension pic you posted (the MG Midget), who's set up is that? I've been thinking about building a resto-mod Spridget and that set up looks very cool.

Other than that, your build is awesome, i wish i had the skills that you have.

Cheers,
Rod

thx...

as for the MG pic.. this is just something I found via google. You should take a look at the pic origin http://www2.mgcars.org.uk it comes from their bulleten board, I think..


In related news, I was brainstorming my diff design today, and suddenly realised I had turned the diff around the wrong way, initially... Darn, this changes the whole design.. Torsen diffs have to turn a certain way...