Suspension setup

[Psycho83]

My truck had dual arm suspension, this was badly fitted and knackered to the point of being dangerous.

I have a MK3 Granada coming my way on sunday, which has macpherson struts.

I am boxing the front end for panel fitment anyway, so wan't to make it strong enough to have some mounts to hold the strut tops. Like this below.

http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/articles/i28/2800_11lo.jpg

I wan't to see more pictures of this type of setup so I can have a rough idea in my head of wether it'll work.

It currently stands like this

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/11/33005442642.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7175116)


and I was thinking something similar to this, VERY ROUGH! please don't ridicule my paint skills!

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/12/33808333052.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7227699)


any better Ideas, please paint lines onto my pic and let me see em'


cheers

Martin

[Klunk]

Can't you take all the inner wings etc off the Granada and then weld them to the front of your truck.

We did this very successfully on a Consul a good few years ago. We cut the consul inner wings off at the bulkhead, then braced, then cut the front end off a capri and scribbed it into the bulkhead of the Consul, we added a few bits of strengthening and that was it Job done.

That car is still rolling around on that setup to this day.

[kapri]

Be aware that the strength of a mac strut is not in the actual top plate but where it butts against the bulkhead as this is where the forces end up. It is far easier to screw up Mac strut front suspension because it is so simple in teh first place IF you know how you are assembling it.

You NEED to keep the original rack, crossmember ,bottom track control arms and roll bar to enable you to recreate the suspension as per Granada. The difference between a good and bad suspension set up can be as little as 3 degrees or 3 mm in the wrong direction. It is far simpler to drop in a clip as the geometry is retained .
I'm pretty sure the taxi geometry , and components are based on Austin Devon and therefore a complete MGB clip should be real close. Don't make hard work for the sake of it .Sell the Granada bits to finaance the MGB clip

[Psycho83]

Cheers Klunk , Kapri . Just trying to gather ideas at the mo, will have a look at the granny when it arrives on Sunday and decide where to go from there .


The suspension/steering that came off was Mk2 Granada, anyone wanna swap a Granada LSD rear axle and prop for a Mk2 front clip ? or MGB clip?

[toetag]

theres a place up wisbech way called "beehive" i believe,loads of spares/breakers,front suspension unit?just athought,good luck.

[toetag]

sorry meant to say MG,dooohhh.

[eeb43]

Cheers Klunk , Kapri . Just trying to gather ideas at the mo, will have a look at the granny when it arrives on Sunday and decide where to go from there .


The suspension/steering that came off was Mk2 Granada, anyone wanna swap a Granada LSD rear axle and prop for a Mk2 front clip ? or MGB clip?

whats got the slipper in it?

[ROCKIT]

I thought the taxi had a chassis, seperated from the body via rubber mounts !
you would need to make sure the bulkhead and body were solid to the chassis before mounting anything from them.
The taxi chassis is strong enough to attach a front clip to !
The axle that is on there at the moment has four big rubber doughnuts with big bolts through the chassis, if I remember correctly!
Find another that will do the job !

[Psycho83]

whats got the slipper in it?

The granny that is arriving on sunday, according to the current owner .

it's a rare (according to him manual transmission) MT75 I presume 2.9 Ghia X

[eeb43]

very rare probably a police car or definately a special order

[kapri]

Good point re the rubbers Shaun, I should have remembered that having helped take a body off one fairly recently, definitely not a good idea to brace to it!!

Likewise my mate had one in for crash repair recently and the front clip , mounted on rubbers as you say, had been ripped out in the impact.

[Psycho83]

ta for the advice people. If I can find a Mk2 granny front, then I'll use that. Must be able to find one somewhere.
does it have to be from a certain model , or did all Mk2 Granny's have the same front clip?

what is the taxi front clip like? (i've never seen one) , surely a viable option with it being a taxi? any reason why it might have been changed?

sorry for the volume of questions, but steering and suspension is pretty important to a car.

[kapri]

Do you have a picture of what was fitted before ? It was possibly done to get a better stud pattern ?

[Psycho83]

not decent pics but ,


Who thought this was a good idea ? ? ? ? it's not even been plated properly
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/11/33005442516.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7175111)


here is the best I've got of the front as it was , they are five stud wheels

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/10/28518051729.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6859061)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/10/28518051786.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6859060)

[kapri]

Looks like Cortina with P100 hubs to me them. the Granada will be slightly wider. Why not simply remake what is there to a better standard, cheapest option of all, providing it drives OK at the mo ?

[Psycho83]

I might do that.
will have to chop off the PAS rack and get a new one as it's had it, it had been chopped about and welded on at a strange angle to clear the old Perkins Diesel that lived in it,clean up some other bits and give it a general service but that would work. It was just a bit skippy at the front though when cornering.

I'll have a bit more of an Idea after sunday when I've got the granny and have had a measure up session at the workshop. at the very least I'll have a working engine and box and some bits to sell/weigh in.
I've set myself an August target so I should have time to sort something out

[lucky devils]

hi martin how you doing m8
you have changed your mind a few times on engines lol
i think kev is right looks like cortina to me do you know who built it ?
wot is the pcd of the studs?
as i think you can put granny or p 100 on cortina front clip ?
if the front is put on ok should drive ok
cheers mick

[kapri]

I take it that big hole where the rats have been at it was to clear a steering U/J or something ? You need to put the rack back to the correct position ,that may have been why it was skippy, stuck in the wrong place it would cause bumpsteer.

[Psycho83]

yeah the big hole was for a steering UJ.
cortina front is the way to go then by the sounds of things, or rebuild mine correctly.

making good progress Mick, and I have decided on an engine now so thats a start. Dunno the pcd off hand, will have to check it on Sunday when I'm out at the workshop.