Front suspension and brakes

Superleggo · Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:48 pm Post subject: Front suspension and brakes

I have recently seen the red9 for a front suspension set up. Whilst it looks a great set up it is out of my price bracket. However I was wandering arround my garage lst week and tripped over a pair of Ford Granada Scorpio front hubs off a car I scrapped some time ago. From this forum I noted that they have the same PCD for wheel studs so cold be used for an alternative front hub. These have got huge Cosworth Ventilated discs and large calipers. Seem to be ideal for an homemade red9 type front suspension for a Bay. It could perhaps be made to fit with a pair of Locost double wishbones and some 6mm plate.

Any thoughts?
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VW Camper 1971
VW Passat 2006
Lotus Elan +2 Convertible 1967
Lotus Elan +2 1968
Mini Moke 1974
Land Rover Series 2a 1967
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famous phil · Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

I've thought of building an axle to fit a split after seeing a burnt out vehicle that was a minibus , was not that old but was of a vintage shape
( not a kit car ) ,,, it had a 4"x2" box that held the lower wishbone then side plates from the box upto the chassis this held the top wishbone ,,, think you can get a kit like this for the old MK1 Mustangs ,,, do'nt think i've seen the red9 setup ,,
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Superleggo · Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:37 pm Post subject:

Yes there are a lot of front axle beams made in the states which allow you to drop in a Mustang style front suspension set up. I guess these would be easy to fit to a camper but are again quite expensive, I think the are about $2500 so the Red9 design is a much better option as it allows for ride height adjustment. I just thought you could build a nice set up for not alot of money with the Scorpio hubs. could also build in air bags quite easily if that is your sort of thing.
_________________
VW Camper 1971
VW Passat 2006
Lotus Elan +2 Convertible 1967
Lotus Elan +2 1968
Mini Moke 1974
Land Rover Series 2a 1967
DB5 replica Work in progress

Another day another car!

Alex (FTS) · Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:14 pm Post subject:

Yer I agree it would be great to make a new front suspension set up, the red9 designs set up is very nice and apparantly every thing on it is from the VAG stock bin so it wouldn't be that hard to replicate some thing like this- just alot of carefull measurements! I'd love to attempt something like this one day when I have a garage and more confidence.

There are a few chaps on here that have fitted 911 front end to there bus's which looks pretty awesome Love

and it proves that there is enough space to do some thing down there.

It would be great if you did decide to go with the ford struts as I think it would make a brilliant build thred!

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ricola · Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject:

I'd go with the early 911 suspension too, you could pick up a complete SC set-up pretty cheaply I would think...
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Superleggo · Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:22 pm Post subject:

Yes the 911 set up is nice but I have yet to find anything with a Porsche badge to be cheap. Wishbone seem to about £75 each on Ebay so I can't seethe whole set up beig bear money. I would agree that there may be VW parts bin alternatives but the advantage of the Ford set up is that all the front suspension design angles are given in the Locost book 'How to build a sportscar for for less than £200'. All we need to do is alter the width and cut and shut the rack to length.
_________________
VW Camper 1971
VW Passat 2006
Lotus Elan +2 Convertible 1967
Lotus Elan +2 1968
Mini Moke 1974
Land Rover Series 2a 1967
DB5 replica Work in progress

Another day another car!

T2 turbo · Padawan Joined: 19 Jan 2009 Posts: 89

The porsche stuff aint cheap, I bought 911 sc complete front apart from rack for £350 from porsche recycled(cheapest place i've found) then had to pay out for clio steering rack and then the shortening of shocks or coil over conversion £300-£550 then when you add bigger brakes it soon adds up to Red9 prices and then some Eeeek

andysamba · Padawan Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 54 Location: CAMBRIDGE

i have made a twin wishbone setup for my bus
a good start is you will need - kit car suspension book - to get all the geometry correct.
bottom arms are bolt on homemade tubular useing 911 bushes.
top arms have welded on brackets in which the top tubular arms are threaded to allow adjustable camber/caster.
the hubs are alloy willwood ones and wilwood stub axle with wilwood brakes, from rally design
and using type 25 rack.
this whole setup allowed me to put intercooler and rad in between chassis rails.well happy with result.
took me 6months to make with every spare moment i had put into it
would i do it again? your joking!!
buy the red9 one unless you enjoy alot of pain!.

Superleggo · Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:27 pm Post subject:

Andysamba
I would agree it is not a project for the faint heartedbut must be worth the effort. I have read several kit car suspension books for my Aston and making the wish bones for it was not too bad.
How long is the T25 rack in between the arm pivots. I think red9 use a T4 rack. Does anyone know the difference in length of the two between the arm pivots/balls.

What did you use to come off the steering column to get to the rack. ie how did you get the rotation through 90deg. Have you got any pictures or is there a build thread here?

I thought it may free up room for a rad glad to hear you got one in here sucsessfully. Makes it more attractive.
_________________
VW Camper 1971
VW Passat 2006
Lotus Elan +2 Convertible 1967
Lotus Elan +2 1968
Mini Moke 1974
Land Rover Series 2a 1967
DB5 replica Work in progress

Another day another car!

andysamba · Padawan Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 54 Location: CAMBRIDGE

yes supperleggo it is certainly worth it if you have the time.
i used at25 rack and t25 bevel box,the reason being is i believe after it comes out of the bevel box the rack has to turn opposite direction to make steering work.
using the bevel box allowed me to to put the steering columb at a much better angle and allowed room for indevidual bias brakes/cylinders front/back,in a much modified pedal box.
top and bottomwishbone pick ups must be inline with rack balljoint otherwise you have bump steer.the t25 rack is to long but you can overcome this by having the bottom wishbone pick ups alot further inbord bringing the top wishbone/bottom wishbone and rack all in line.
i will try to get piccys off cd onto pc and onto vwkd tonite[never done it before],[time permiting].sounds like you want me to send my copy of kit car suspension to you?.
regards andy

andysamba · Padawan Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 54 Location: CAMBRIDGE

as promised-my piccys scroll right for some reason?
hope these help with your conversion

andysamba · Padawan Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 54 Location: CAMBRIDGE

some more piccys while im at it

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