Dash fuckwittery, etc.

[Roy Kemp]

Hi all,

Actually managed to wangle a few spare hours to work on the Dutton yesterday. Which, given present commitments, is a minor miracle in itself. So, you may recall from previous blog posts that I've got a pile of fancy bits to fit, stuff to fix, things to modify/improve, etc.

So, I decided to have a decent loo at my front suspension which has always been a bit of a bugbear of mine. The car is phenomenally understeery, even taking the locking diff into account. I've got adjustable bottom arms which need bottom shock mounts welding on before I can fit, however, looking at the front struts it appears I've got the cheapo motorcycle shocks. I've always suspected my car is way too high at the front, and it needs to come down a fail old bit. Anyone know if you can change the springs on these crappy old struts? If not, it doesn't make sense to fab up brackets for the new arms to suit these if I'm going to have to go down the coilover route. So, this job was successfully f**ked off for now.

Next, I pulled off the dash and steering wheel for a look at what's under there for fitting the Corsa PAS column. Oh, wait, sorry, I skipped a stage. I was trimming all the old Corsa switchgear off and managed to completely butcher the top bearing in the process. So, that's that fooked. I guess this column will only get to serve as a dummy for test fitting! Anyway, removing the dash revealed not-as-bad-as-feared wiring, but a complete abortion of an arrangement holding the steering column into the car. As per the photo, there's a bit of angle iron bolted loosely through the tub running vertically. Then, loosely "bolted" to this, a horizontal piece hung from a broken part of the tub, from which the column hangs. Horrendous. Needless to say, this is all coming out.

Current plan is to run a bit of tube across the car behind the dash. This will pick up two backing plates to sit behind where the screen bolts onto. This should hopefully cure the tub flexing that's cracking my windscreens. This will be bracketed down to the chassis. Hopefully I can position this so it's not a total nightmare to hang the rear steering column mounts from. Will see if I can retain the collapsibility of the column with this arrangement. Not had a look at the front column mounts yet but suffice to say they look fairly poxy. Might need another cross-tube.

Bloody thing will weight a tonne by the time I'm finished.

[Dave Adams]

i got tca's from a an S3 phaeton to mount my new shockers on my Legerra....i really didnt like the top wishbone  mount.....it also was wrong for the shockers i had for length. also moving the ARB mounts solved many of the issues that gave crappy geometry on the Legerra. the stock TCA's seem fine now.

[Dave Adams]

you can buy TCA's with shocker mounts.....they are designed to be rose jointed but they are available.

TCA....

[Roy Kemp]

Morning chaps, just read through all of the replies. Particularly interested in the replies to the effect that fitting brackets to adjustable TCAs would be a cardinal sin. In layman's terms (I'm an electronics not mechanical guy) please explain why this is the case? It's a kit similar to this that I have bought:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Escort-Mk2-Adjustable-Track-Control-Arms-...

[Adrian Southgate]

@ BV - Weird as the bolt is a good fit in the tube and it's not bent but I can see what you're saying as the picture makes it look bent downward. Not only is fitting those brackets to the lower arm 'wrong' its also a pain to do if they are cast originals.

@ James - which Is why I suggested moving it. My 15's fouled after changing to vented discs, I think both ball joints (used) got 'reversed' and are now a bit notchy.. I do have new ones for the white one but can't find a sensible trade source for those.

[James Doulton]

The other problem with the Legerra arrangement is that the tyre moves towards the shock absorber as the steering is turned. It requires quite a lot of extra clearance compared to straight ahead that it wouldn't need if it was central to the wishbone.

[Big Vern]

Ade, ther version you have does not put the coil over load on the bottom arm thus the load on the arm is the same as would be when used in the donor escort, though the way the lower damper bolt has bent looks a little alarming. Many Duttons however have the ciol over located on the bottom arm and Roy is discussing fitting the coil over brackets to his adjustable bottom arms. From an engineering perspective thats very wrong.

[Paul Thomas]

Roy I do believe that if you use cut down capri front struts It will lower the car approx 25mm. Be very carefull just cutting the springs because too much and the top wish bone will bind on the top chassis rail.

[Adrian Southgate]

This is the view from the inboard side.

That tower goes all the way down to the bottom chassis rail on a legerra. All this would require a bit of welding skill.

If you do decide to go down this route then move the lower mount away from the end of the wishbone, maybe onto the back of the flat plate the maxi ball joint sits in. If you fit wider wheels they may hit the spring (as mine did)

[Adrian Southgate]

The later Legerra's and some very late Phaetons use a higher upper mount and a shock mounting on the upper wishbone.

You can see where the tower extends up behind the shock. This idea could be adapted to fit a phaeton and avoid modding the lower arms. It would mean modding the upper wishbones and making a new tower though.

[Big Vern]

I wouldn't have thogut it a good idea to have the coil overs acting on the bottom arms if the have been cut and welded to make them adjustable. The coil overs impart a considerable bending moment on the bottom arms especially in full bump. When used in the donor escort adjustable bottom arms only have the transfer load to deal with though that can still be considerable it will be less than the full load from the coil over.