Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: Sierra Front hubs, bottom ball joint
danro

posted on 26/3/05 at 10:19 AM Reply With Quote
Sierra Front hubs, bottom ball joint

Hi all, I'm at the stage where I need to make the front suspension.
I'm trying to build the car as much as possible with the single donor.
Having searched the archives I discover that the lower ball joint needs to be reamed out to 14.something degs to accept the maxi ball joint.

So first question.. Are there any other ball joints out there that have the correct angle that could be used?
I have no problem with the prospect of redesigning the lower wishbone to accept something totally different as some redesign will be needed anyway to get the correct castor &camber etc

Question 2. Currently I have the sierra ball joint that fits. Would it be daft to cut this off the donor, drill and tap it to\weld it to the lower wishbone? If so why? (I'm no engineer so a simple explaination would be fine )

Question 3 Failing a successful answer to Q1 & 2 what sort of money will I be looking at to get the reaming done?


Many thanks for your help
Danny






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
flak monkey

posted on 26/3/05 at 10:30 AM Reply With Quote
IIRC a Mk2 Astra lower ball joint will fit the standard Sierra taper. Someone else may be able to tell you for certain though.

Welding the sierra one to the lower wishbone isnt a good idea as the heat wont do it much good.

David





Sera

http://www.motosera.com

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
JoelP

posted on 26/3/05 at 10:49 AM Reply With Quote
the reaming process is cheap anyway, get it done at one of the manufacturers places as they will have the jig ready made to sort it all. I had mine done at MK, maybe a bit far north for you.






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
danro

posted on 26/3/05 at 12:24 PM Reply With Quote
Hmmmm
MK seem to have very little in the way of prices on their website...
http://www.mkengineering.co.uk/start.htm
Even the 'price list' page

Can anyone give me a ball park figure?

Flak monkey - Excellent! i'll investigate this at the local motor factor and report back to the list... Cheers

Many thanks everyone - have a good Easter!

Danny






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
Liam

posted on 26/3/05 at 12:32 PM Reply With Quote
The main problem in using the sierra original, or astra for that matter, is that they aren't designed to take all the suspension loads pulling them apart. In a mcpherson strut car like that all the loads go through the strut. With double wishbones you need a bottom ball joint designed to cope with high tensile loads, like the cortina or maxi joints.

If you find a friendly precision engineering place on a local industrial estate you ought to be able to get the reaming done for a tenner tops I'd have thought.

Liam

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
James

posted on 26/3/05 at 03:44 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by danro
Hmmmm
MK seem to have very little in the way of prices on their website...
http://www.mkengineering.co.uk/start.htm
Even the 'price list' page

Can anyone give me a ball park figure?



It's MK Sports Cars you want:

http://www.mksportscars.co.uk

I got mine done there. Luego will also do them for you. Darren of http://www.gtstuning.co.uk could probably do it or tell you where to (that's assuming one of his kits is Sierra based). That might be easier for you as he's Surrey/Kent based.

Hope that helps,

James





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
ReMan

posted on 26/3/05 at 05:48 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by snoopy
we do them while you wait for a decent price list see here


Strangely, when I use your link above I get this screen full of junk, any idesa? Rescued attachment scrn.jpg
Rescued attachment scrn.jpg

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
ReMan

posted on 26/3/05 at 06:50 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by snoopy
beats me heres another one to try
hope this works



Yeah, that works fine
Thanks Snoopy.
FYI The same thing happened on a previous post and link you`d put up a few days ago, just did`nt bother mentioning it then guessed it was a one off.
So I dont know what you just did to fix it but it worked

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
uglyelliot

posted on 27/3/05 at 11:44 AM Reply With Quote
sierra bottom joint

hi

for what it's worth, I used cortina bottom joints on a wishbone conversion for a robin hood a couple of years ago, these come with a built-in plate for bolting to the wishbone. got them from the lolocost trailer at kit car show, £5 each

cheers

greg

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Stu16v

posted on 27/3/05 at 08:37 PM Reply With Quote
quote:

With double wishbones you need a bottom ball joint designed to cope with high tensile loads, like the cortina or maxi joints.


Whilst there is no arguement about the Cortina balljoint, the Maxi joints were never designed to take the loads. The 'springing' was done by the top wishbone acting on the upright in it's original form...





Dont just build it.....make it!

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
Liam

posted on 28/3/05 at 01:08 AM Reply With Quote
Oh right! Well there you go. With my maxi suspension knowledge I am already spoiling us.

Am I right thinking the maxi uses those joints top and bottom? In which case at least you might assume they are 'bitchin', to use the correct terminology, if not specifically designed to take tensile loads?

Whereas if you look at joints designed for nothing other than location (i.e. bottom joints of modern maccy strut cars) they can seem rather flimsy. The fiesta lower joints I'm using are a prime example - use them as load bearing joints and they would probably snap in a few miles.

Liam

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
danro

posted on 28/3/05 at 12:29 PM Reply With Quote
All

Considering the cost of reaming and the fact that Maxis have been tried and tested, I guess I will probably be going the 'normal route'.

This has been a very useful thread, I thank all those who have taken the time to explain.
It is much appreciated.

Cheers
Danny






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
James

posted on 28/3/05 at 03:11 PM Reply With Quote
Don't think it's been explained that well!

If you use the Maxi you will still need to get it reamed! (The upright, that is. )

The Maxi is just a lightweight alternative to the Cortina. It even has this in The Book.

HTH,
James





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
danro

posted on 1/4/05 at 12:26 PM Reply With Quote
James, Im happy with the reply.
(Unless cortina ball joints do not need reaming??.... )

I was hoping to bypass the reaming bit as I guessed it would be expensive.
This has been proven wrong.

My plan now is to use maxi joints and ream the hub.

In fact someone on the list has very kindly offered to do the job 'gratis' with a reamer they have made and used. I'll obviously be putting a few beer tokens in their direction as I was not angling for any freebies.

Isn't this list full of great people?
Many thanks to all who have helped

Danny






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.