August 2013
About 80 photos for this huge update so it may take a bit of time to load, sorry.
First of, I want to say thankyou to everyone that bought the book. It has helped me out a lot with this update as it paid for the metal and other bits and bobs and has kept everything up to date, really appreciate it.
I done a lot of research on setting up a vehicle to take 4 link suspension. I needed to get my finished ride height sorted. To do that I had to work out roughly how much weight to add and where. The engine will be sitting over the front axle and checking Google I found out the 1uz-fe weighs around 220kg , add a portly driver at 85 kg and a passenger of the same weight. That brings it upto 390kg, the rest of the weight I wasn't sure about so I bought 18 bags of sand weighing 25kg each, giving me a total of 450kg. I laid these bags over the front half of the van which lowered the front by about an inch and a half. I then raised the rear of the body up to just over level and welded the rear lower dodecagon to the improvised level floor to stop it from moving.
Giving me my ride height.
I had a little bit of spare time on my hands so I took a few quick measurements as it was and mocked up how I would like the brackets to look.
The next time I went down to the garage I decided to get the axle in the exact location. I must have spent about 6-8 hours measuring and double measuring, then triple measuring to make sure the axle wasn't skewed and in the place I wanted it to be. Using my axle stands with shims to get the right height and measuring down from where the old bumps stops were I got the wheelbase sorted. Then measuring from the wheel hubs to the chassis rails got it centered.
I used the vans screw jack to get the pinion angle at 2ยฐ ( with a 4 link for street you want the axle rotated between 1-3ยฐ). Really I should have the engine in first to make sure 2ยฐ is suitable so my plan is to just have really strong tack welds on the axle brackets until I have the engine in, just incase I need to adjust it.
When I was happy with where it should be I welded in a couple bit of box between the chassis and axle to make sure it never moved.
Then it was time to take real measurements for the brackets. I got my notebook out and started scribbling like a maniac. Coming up with a slightly different design from my mock-up.
Then when I was settled with my sketches I drew up the plans.
I bought a length of xx and 50x6 to make up the brackets. I know the thickness is maybe a bit overkill but I don't want these brackets to move at all, plus chunky looks cool. I scribed my plan onto the 100x6 then cut out with the plasma cutter. I cleaned the edges up individually then tacked all 4 plates together, drilled out the holes and then went over them again with the grinder so they were all the same size and shape.
Using the 50x6 I joined it all together. The good thing with how I worked it out was that I'd get a really good strong fillet weld when welding.
To give me a little bit more clearance for the upper arm I used 3mm flat bar here.
Then the front of the bracket got its bracer.
Lather, rinse and repeat.
One thing I couldn't do was the shock mount. I got my local engineer shop to make me up 2 47x30x80 blocks with a 13mm hole down the centre.
Then tacked them to the brackets.
Next came the chassis mounts, bit of scribing.
To make sure I made a left and a right I thought it would be wise to mark them up.
Same as before, cut the plates out, tack them together, mark the holes and grind them all the same.
Once I had drilled the holes I placed the plates over the axle brackets with bolts sticking out to confirm the holes were in the right place.
Then building them up.
Quick little pre-assembly to see how it all looks, cool.
All tacked up and ready to weld.
I decided to use my Arc welded for welding the brackets. My arc has a higher amperage and I hadn't used it in a while so I thought it would be good.
All welded up, I took my time and had lots of tacks on the brackets to minimize distortion. They were quite solid so remained warp free. Left them to the side to cool down.
Grinder out and time to clean them up.
Nice and smooth. The other good thing about the fillet weld is it gave me enough to put a nice curved shape around the edges without losing strength.
Another mock-up of the finished brackets.
Time to get attaching them to the van. Some of the more astute of you out there will have noticed the axle brackets are made as a whole unit, how am I going to slide them onto the axle tubes. Well, its all part of the plan. I cut the axle brackets in half, like so.
Then placed them over the axle tube and tacked them back together. Here is where my photos begin to lose detail. I was so pre-occupied with getting all my measurements right I neglected to take more photos as I went. Once the axle bracket was leveled up and tacked into place I attached the arms and raised the chassis bracket to the right place. I determined the right place by having a 2.5ยฐ rake in the arms. You want the parallel bars to be between 0ยฐ-3ยฐ raked upwards from the axle. I decided to go with a 2.5ยฐ rake on the basis that if the back end of the van is heavier than I think then the angle should only go down 1ยฐ-2ยฐ keeping everything OK.
Once I had attached the other side and was happy with the bracket positions I measured up for the rear shock mounts. To be honest, this was a bit of a hit and miss. For convenience I am re-using the scimitar shocks just now. The springs are 200lb/s standard I believe so may just be upto the job. I wont really know until I am driving it around. I guess-timated how much the coil-overs will drop when supporting the van. The coil-overs have enough room to stand upright, allowing me to use the shocks to there best abilities.
I made up a set of mounts for the top of the coil-overs. I thought id make them look nice just incase I had magically found the right position.
With a piece of box section, I drilled the holes the length I thought the shock would compress by under load and used them to mount the upper brackets.
I took the rear part of the dodecagon away and lowered the van to the ground, would my tacks hold?
Yep, they did. Although the van was a bit too high. Even with weight added it wouldn't go down as far as I needed.
I had 4 more bags of sand that I added to the back of the van but it only moved down an inch. I worked out that the bracket was 30mm too short and that I needed to make different shock mounts, so , take 2.
Before,
After,
Now, it sat nearer to my ride height. I made a .GIF of how it is unladen, then with about 200kg on the rear.
Much better. Now the 4 link bars were all in place. I added a few extra strengthening plates.
Then 2 more braces between the chassis rails using the 100x50x5 I used for the flooring with yet more bracing for the brackets.
I was going to do the watts linkage at this point but I settled on re-drilling the scimitar hubs to ford pattern. The Scimitar PCD was 4 x 4.5" and I needed 5 x 4.5" to use the Ford wheels. First of all I had to get the hubs off. These hubs are notoriously difficult to remove.
I tried using one of my granddads old pullers, didn't quite work as I couldn't get it to seat right on the studs so it started to bend them.
Next up I made a crappy puller using an old brake drum and some scrap box section. I welded a M20 nut and used some M20 threaded rod to make a basic puller. This also never worked, infact, the hubs were so well attached I actually sheared the M20 threaded rod as you can see in the photo, bugger.
After a bit of thinking I thought id use the studs to my benefit. I got a piece of 12mm plate, drilled 4 holes and created a dished part that would press up against the end of the axle. The principal being that as I tightened the stud nuts up, the plate hits the end of the axle and the force pulls it off.
Good bit of heat also helps.
I put the castle nut nut back on the end of the axle to protect the threads then put my plate over and tightened up the studs, half turn at a time. They were so tightly on there that I was literally jumping on the 2 foot breaker bar to get the force it needed to pop them off.
But I won!
Time to re-drill the hubs. As im really keeping the distance between the studs the same and just adding an extra stud it wasn't as bad as you would think. I knocked out all but one of the studs then placed the old Thames brake drum upside down and over the hub.
It would be great if I had access to a lathe and make up a spacer ring to fit snugly in here but I had to improvise. I found if I used a 5.5mm drill bit it wouldn't fit in this gap, but a 5mm drill bit did, and could wiggle ever so slightly. I used that to locate the drum to the hub centrally and added a nut to the stud, tightened it up and added a few tacks underneath to stop the drum and hub from moving apart.
The holes in the old drum are 1/2. I found a piece of brass plated tubing at work which was a really good tight fit in the brake drum. The inner diameter was also a really good tight fit with a 10mm drill bit. I used the 10mm drill bit to just mark my new holes.
Then I removed the drum.
I placed the hub back on the axle and made up a little stand with a punch to act as my marker and rotated the hub to make sure my holes were on the same place.
With good clear marks and happy they are int he right place I set up the hub level and true with the drill press and drilled my pilot holes.
Then I done the same as before and checked my pilot holes were in the correct place, I made a quick little youtube video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QQwsQTDIVc
I wanted to fill the old stud holes so with a piece of copper I blanked off the end and filled with my mig.
And cleaned it all up, ready to get drilled out for the new studs I have on order.
I also used the hub to drill out the Scimitar brake drum.
That's all for now. I should be getting my new studs next week sometime and that will allow me to get my Ford wheels back on there.
On the 1st of September I will be taking the van along to the Scottish ford day. If anyone here is going, feel free to come over and check the van out. It will be on the Pre67Ford club stand.
Thanks again everyone who bought my book.
Shameless plug : -
๐For the ยฃ6 version, please follow this link. https://sellfy.com/p/zFxy