Formula 27 marque owner Peter Allen of Image Sportscars has just issued a warning about the wishbones with end nuts and also the need for all to check forward wishbone U mounts after some incidents of them failing.
He reckons that it probably applies to cars 6 years or older but worth checking.
If in doubt he invites owners to contact him.
His new lower wishbones have adjusters which avoid the need to split the ball- joint to adjust camber - might be useful for Locosters?
Cheers, Pewe

you little ray of sunshine

I thought the welded nut on wishbone problem came to light literaly years ago?

Tangoman has an F27. I'll U2U him in case he has managed to get an engine with 4 cylinders in it yet.

I put a post on this very subject a while ago as it happened to me!!!
got some replacements from steve porter that have the threaded insert tig welded in place ( lower wishbones)
no problems since!
Greg

see here!


F27 lower wishbone snapped

Hello all,

Don't like the look of that design, asking for trouble, I would think a turned threaded insert made to fit into the tube would be a better solution welded around as the nut, but for good measure a couple of plug welds further down would not go amiss.. not just welding the nut back on as a butt joint.. I guess it would be o.k mind if the weld was 100% good. From the pics it looks like the weld penetration was very poor, and this was the problem?

Link to old thread:

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=46257&page=1

Dan

[Edited on 17/8/07 by Bluemoon]

Oh good Lord... that's the worst think I've seen on a car in years. If they'd calculated the torque on that nut they'd find it's effectively 1000s of foot-pounds. I'd like to put this picture in the next edition of my book if that's okay...

what I find alarming on this example is not only the wrong design but the absolute lack of weld penetration on the tube and nut...

This is the work of a major manufacturer? If this is a known issue, should have been a recall.

just to clarify, my car had been built from an early set of plans , The manufacturer changed the design shortly afterwards to the threaded insert design,
I justed wanted to highlight this safety issue on this forum to inform any F27 owner who has the old design to get them changed .
luckily for me , I was travelling slowly on a country lane when mine snapped, I shudder everytime I see the photos.Hopefully It may prevent an accident / injury. I know of one other F27 this has happened to, so its not an isolated incident.
Greg