Hornet
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 posted on 20/11/05 at 06:46 PM |
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Damaged bottom wishbones
Just thought I'd show u guys some damage to my bottom wishbones made Exactly as per the book!!
Only thing I remember hitting is road works old tar to new ramp...
If anyone is making their own parts like me.. i would strengthen the books design.
Cheers J
 
Sid Hat
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Hornet
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 06:48 PM |
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and another
Sorry for size...
[img][/img]
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bigbriglasgow
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 06:51 PM |
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Hi Mate long time no see. Looks quite bad though not a complete fail! r u going to remake new ones or buy a set of prefab from a company?
Cheers
Brian
coz its a bit of an animal
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Ben_Copeland
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 07:18 PM |
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Looks like not enough strength in the plate the suspension bracket was fixed too...
Ben
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Z20LET Astra Turbo, into a Haynes
Roadster
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http://www.facebook.com/EquinoxProducts for all your bodywork needs!
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SeaBass
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 07:25 PM |
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Looks like you've got about 30 seconds to get those off the kitchen worksurface before you get shot mate... Many design incorporate a 90 bend at
the edge of that plate to resist the bending and then plastic deformation you have there... Is this what you were telling me about at Ingliston??
Cheers
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Hornet
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 09:12 PM |
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Yo.. hi Brian.. No not making new ones, gona repair these and strengthen them as per James's comments.
Ben my point is that they were made as per the book.
I would advise anyone else who is gona make their own, to strengthen them before fitting.. 
Yup James, Cars of the road for winter so mod time.. sump being shortened tonight and repairs to bottom arms..
Looking to fit a screen for next year though
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paulf
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 09:18 PM |
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I put an extra 19mm square tube directly under the shock bracket on mine, as I didnt like the look of the original design with no support, I hit some
unmarked speed humps at speed and expected to have damaged the wishbones but on checking there was no sign of any damage, maybe you shocks may have
bottomed out also ?which would put much more shock loading on the plate.
Paul.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 09:21 PM |
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Make or buy new ones the book design deeply flawed.No ammount of fiddling will fix that.
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omega 24 v6
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| posted on 20/11/05 at 10:54 PM |
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The book shows the suspension bracket plate as being 2mm I was going to make my bones from 25 or 22 mm seamless and up this plate to 3mm possibly with
a return of 20mm opposite the balljoint end.
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Peteff
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| posted on 21/11/05 at 12:19 AM |
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I thought the book used 3mm plate for them, that's what I used anyway and I used a piece of the round tube to join the two sides and reinforce
where the plate ends.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 21/11/05 at 08:05 AM |
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Although it will stop the bending using a thicker plate on top of the tubes will produce a WEAKER wishbone due to the notch effect. The plate should
be on the neutral axis of the tubes. MK, GTS MNR all have ditched the book design for a much improved versions.
see this thread http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=12587
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JoelP
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| posted on 21/11/05 at 12:42 PM |
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i was going to say from the picture that it looks like 2mm plate, i cant see how ron thought that was good enough.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 21/11/05 at 01:01 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
i was going to say from the picture that it looks like 2mm plate, i cant see how ron thought that was good enough.
He specifies 2mm for the coil-over mounting plate and 3mm for the Cortina balljoint moutning plate. Certainly very poor engineering in what is a
safety critical suspension item.
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 21/11/05 at 06:13 PM |
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quote:
Looking to fit a screen for next year though
Give us a shout we aint too far away in Swanston
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Framiss
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 posted on 21/11/05 at 09:59 PM |
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"A" Arms damage
The original lotus RACE car was designed to the absolute minimum weight and strenth. If they could save 1/2 ounce they would. After all the car was
repairable after each race. Our cars are street machines and should not compare with out & out race machines.
I add gussetting on all tube contact points, and ad strenght where I think it will help. I do not need a 400 kilo car. I need a street car that will
hold up from street conditions. Add a tube under the contact point where the shock tabs are located
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britishtrident
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| posted on 22/11/05 at 09:46 AM |
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(1) The original Lotus was a ROAD car and used suspension parts that have nothing in common with the book design that is very roughly based on the
pre-lit Westie.
(2) The Bones being sold by GTS, MNR and MK are much stonger and hence heavier. I have a lower wishbone made with plates supplied by Darren at GTS
and the plates are 1/4" (6.25mm) thick --- that is over kill but Darren isn't one to take chances with customers lives.
(3) Adding gussets and fillets isn't a good way to solve what is a structural design problem.
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SilverFox
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| posted on 24/11/05 at 08:07 PM |
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Porbably asked before, but is there any merit in slotting to a suitable length (75+mm?) the each leg of the lower bone (25 x 16 swg) to create a
female to accept a 5 mm lower balljoint plate and weld on both sides. The slot could be initiated with a 5 mm hole drilled then slotted and the plate
would be radiused for correct profile in the slot.
Is this stronger or weaker than butt welding the plate on the outside of the tubes?
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Framiss
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| posted on 25/11/05 at 12:32 AM |
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Wishbones damage
Look at the thickness of the plate. 2MM is too thin. a bar across the two tubes under the shock tabs should make the difference.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/11/05 at 01:47 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by SilverFox
Porbably asked before, but is there any merit in slotting to a suitable length (75+mm?) the each leg of the lower bone (25 x 16 swg) to create a
female to accept a 5 mm lower balljoint plate and weld on both sides. The slot could be initiated with a 5 mm hole drilled then slotted and the plate
would be radiused for correct profile in the slot.
Is this stronger or weaker than butt welding the plate on the outside of the tubes?
Not required as long as the plate is welded on a the neutral axis --- the whole idea is avoid the stress raiser created by welding the plate on the
to surface - Darren had a really nice design of lower wishbone but the picture has disapeared from the GTS web site. The MNR wishbones are similar but
still have a stress raiser because the plate ends abruptly rather than tapers down.v
[Edited on 26/11/05 by britishtrident]
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flak monkey
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| posted on 26/11/05 at 01:50 PM |
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Here is a pic of one of my GTS wishbones. (Slightly different to standard ones, but it illustrates how they should be made.....)
Note that the shock mounting plate is on the neutral axis. And measures 1/4" thick. However the wishbones are not overweight! Infact they are
quite light really, considering the heavy construction.
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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NS Dev
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| posted on 28/11/05 at 12:41 AM |
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stuart taylor "book" wishbones use 5mm steel here!!!!
looks well OTT but they don't seem to fail often!
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