A friend has offered me a 2.0 Omega Manual estate for free.
I know it has been mentioned as a donor in the past, but has anyone successfully used one in a book locost chassis?
Thanks
Andrew.

I'm looking at it as a potential donor for the Haynes Roadster.

I think the physical size of the parts might make it difficult to fit them into a Locost.

The main problems are that the front upright has rear facing steering arms, requiring the rack to be where the engine is. It may be possible to swap the uprights side-for-side, but then the calipers would be on the front of the disc. it may be possible to fabricate new mounts for the calipers, but to be honest I'm not that far into it, The BMW and Mazda donors are a priority.

At the rear, the hub is part of the trailing arm, meaning that it's not a simple unbolting/rebolting job like the Sierra, you'd probably need a machined hub carrier/upright to be made.

The V6 engines are tall and quite heavy and the gearbox will require the tunnel to be enlarged.

If you decide to go this way I'd be glad to help, as reference for the second edition of the book.

Cheers

Chris

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It may be possible to swap the uprights side-for-side, but then the calipers would be on the front of the disc. it may be possible to fabricate new mounts for the calipers,

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Do you know - you've got me there!

I don't know why, maybe it's just tradition but most seem to be mounted on the back of the disc, or occasionally on top.

I can understand why they're not usually on the bottom to keep them out of the muck but I don't know why they can't be on the front.

Somebody more learned than myself will be along shortly to explain it I guess.

cheers

Chris

well, i don't know how you can write a book on it if you don't know!

aren't most rear calipers at the front of the disc?

besides, just looked at my dads 03 plate omega, and the front calipers are at the front of the wheel as standard.

I don't recall writing a book about brake calipers - but then I AM on heavy medication. ;-)

You've just got me running out to the garage!

You're right, I was looking at the mercedes uprights!

The question still stands though, can you use a brake set-up designed to work on the opposite side of the upright?

Calling any experts!

Cheers

Chris

i don't see why not, but you couldn't use the same steering rack

I dunno - "clown steering" could be quite entertaining!

Actually I know it's not funny but I do know someone who didn't discover that particular problem untill he first started the car.

Oops!

cheers

Chris

don't know how much of a problem ackerman angles would be. I'll have to have a look of the truck later

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The question still stands though, can you use a brake set-up designed to work on the opposite side of the upright?

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As I said I've not really gone into it too much yet.

If the steering arms are severly slanted in the wrong direction then ackerman (as well as steering arm lengths) could be a problem.

The solution I suppose would be a fabricated upright but if you're going to those lengths then you're not really using a donor as such, I would have thought that something with a bolt on subaxle, like the rear of the Cavalier/Calibra would be more suitable.

i'll return to the subject when I've had a look, as I said BMW bits are first!

Cheers

Chris

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Originally posted by Fatgadget

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The question still stands though, can you use a brake set-up designed to work on the opposite side of the upright?

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The problem won't be the layout of the braking system,rather stuff like king pin inclination, arkerman angle and such like being arse about tit I'd have thought.Then again I can't see any reason why the mounting points can't be altered to suit.

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Originally posted by chrisg

, but then the calipers would be on the front of the disc.


Cheers

Chris

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Originally posted by blakep82
i don't see why not, but you couldn't use the same steering rack

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what about using the engine and gearbox and running the engine with the ecu and using the wiring loom for the lights and running it through the sierra diff and shafts if you can join the front and rear sections from the prop shaft this way you could use the sierra/cortina uprights and brakes

[Edited on 25/9/07 by davie h]

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Originally posted by jollygreengiant

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Originally posted by chrisg

, but then the calipers would be on the front of the disc.


Cheers

Chris

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And why would this be a problem??????.

Mk 1 Cortina GT's could have leading OR trailing calipers. Same caliper & disc just that the struts were different, leading or trailing caliper mounts.

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quote:

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Originally posted by chrisg

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Originally posted by jollygreengiant

quote:

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Originally posted by chrisg

, but then the calipers would be on the front of the disc.


Cheers

Chris

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And why would this be a problem??????.

Mk 1 Cortina GT's could have leading OR trailing calipers. Same caliper & disc just that the struts were different, leading or trailing caliper mounts.

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Hmm, the problem isn't with front mounted or rear mounted calipers mate - just whether if they're designed to run one way, would there be a problem turning them round?

i.e. If you swap the uprights over will the brake calipers work in the same way?

I thought someone would have answered this one by now!

Cheers

Chris

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if you swop them over surely the biggest problem would be the castor angle and the angle of the pivot holes in the uprights, ???

if you had caliper with different sized pistons it would make a difference else no

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Originally posted by gezer
if you swop them over surely the biggest problem would be the castor angle and the angle of the pivot holes in the uprights, ???

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Yes brakes will work fine.
The disc's are machined to neutral, i.e. it does not matter what side a disc is fitted and it does not matter which direction that disc is rotating in.
The same applies to brake pads.
The caliper pistons are also machined to be neutral, otherwise pistons would have to locate in specific places in the caliper when fitted.
The calipers are also machined to be neutral otherwise the same would apply about pistons and with rubber mounted caliper slides could you imagine the engineering problems of catering for widely fluctuating tolerances.

If you require further proof, do your brakes work with any less efficiency if you are going backwards?

It's a good point!

Thanks for that mate, I follow the logic, it's just one of those things I've not really considered before

Cheers

Chris

it was the inclination of the ball joints that i was thinking of ,
if they are in line through the uprights, it shouldnt make any diffrence,

Im using an omaga doner and plan to used a left hand drive rack from a nova/astra and turn it upside down, think this would work with the omega trailing arms pointing forward.