S1 Rebuild(s)

[Dave Adams]

some pics of the rebuild process,

the top trailing arm bracket is broke......

the diff is sloping back a little (looking up) so that will need sorting.......

As you can see there isn't a lot of bracing in an S1 chassis, that will be sorted.

[Dave Adams]

Castor angle does come out at about 5 degrees.......the hole centers for the bottom wishbone mounts are 3/4" different front to rear.

[Dave Adams]

Well i ended up cutting most of my previous work out of the car, it was just easier to do that than correct what was there. there is a little more to do, but i run out of welding wire so thats it for today.

and....

some bracing to do, and the rack mounts need fitting. Oh!... and the brackets for the wishbones.....Doh!

I also need to remake the radiator mounts

[Paul Thomas]

Well dave sometimes its better to go back and redo the job,  Its far better to correct at this stage. Time is marching on , it seems to be takeing longer to repair than the full rebuild before the accident. lets hope the rest of the work is straight forward and no hicups. By the way nice looking siera what sort of money will you be looking for that when you decide to sell ?.

[1midz0wwbl268]

In what way does the design Dave is trying differs from the Dutton design? Steve how would you tackle the redesign of the front end?  prehaps you and Dave should have a chat about this, but not on here, by personal message?  whats the old saying two heads better than one?  or bettter still is there anyone who is a professional  chassis designer or knows one? that could advise on the best way to improove on the Dutton chassis , where the original is lacking   what ever anyone does , it has to be done so that it's  safe   

[Dave Adams]

As ever steve i am having to compromise......the rear mounts on the top wishbones will be an inverted “Y“ once i check it won't block the bottom hose routing. there is also a 1“ upright from the top rail to the bottom chassis legs to sit behind the top wishbone mounts. i figure this combination will be as good as the dutton 1 1/2“ tube. it does allow me to weld the bottom wishbone mounts, clears the steering column as well as the top wishbone mount. a locost front end was on the cards but i wanted it to look like a dutton front (at first glance)

[Pete Clayton]

This is how it would have been originally

 

[Dave Adams]

Its effective and simple. and to be honnest it would have so much quicker to just copy it.......but i like a challange, and i will end up with fully adjustable front geometry. :-)

[1midz0wwbl268]

And Steve, thats my point, get it wrong and  you could kill yourself, or someone else,  The early s1  Chassis does look to be basic in the extream,  when compared to the S3/Melos  .   

[Big Vern]

Best of luck trying to convince DA he's wrong!

[Dave Adams]

Vern.......how can i be wrong if i am always right? Cor its like being married twice ;-)

[Dave Adams]

The S1 chassis might well look basic in tbe extreme, however it was loosely based on a lotus chassis apparently. as such with only a little work it can be made to perform very well. and was designed for engines of much lower power than is common today. the lotus twin cam was considdered a wild racing engine for normal road use. 105hp! About the same as a 1400 Focus.
The chassis is well up to the 70-90hp engines it was designed for. neither would i say that the S3/4 melos chassis was better.

[28ullkq4hau58]

dave,,, the ,giggling,, pin isnt level with the ,,lavvy,, shaft,,,