Well that was THE most unproductive night in the garage ever.
I was out there for about 2 hrs and got buggerall done, however here is what i did do.
Firstly, i want to figure out how much i need to cut off the strut to shorten it for the short stroke shocks. So first of all i had to refit one of the LCAs with a ball joint and then bolt on the steering arm. Easy enough, i then fitted it to the car. Also easy.
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28613-1/IMG_0653_s.jpg[/IMG]
After fitting up one of the MX83 struts as so:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28610-1/IMG_0652_s.jpg[/IMG]
And setting it to maximum camber and caster:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28607-1/IMG_0651_s.jpg[/IMG]
I then went and rescued one of the wheels from their day job of holding a friends tent in place in our carport so it can dry. The advantages and disadvantages in living in a house while friends live in flats:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28616-1/IMG_0654_s.jpg[/IMG]
I bolted a wheel on and then jacked it up to an approximate (very approximate) ride height:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28622-1/IMG_0656_s.jpg[/IMG]
I figure at least this way i can work out somewhat how high the spring perch needs to sit.
Taking the wheel off i measured a 460mm overall strut length, compressed of course:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28628-1/IMG_0659_s.jpg[/IMG]
Interestingly enough this yields 3deg neg camber:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28631-1/IMG_0660_s.jpg[/IMG]
But a touch over 8deg caster:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28634-1/IMG_0661_s.jpg[/IMG]
After all that i completely forgot to measure the hub to guard distance so i can compare it with other MA61s for ride height equivalence. So ill have to do that later.
With that done i moved on to making some of the camber adjust bolt plates, and here is where the real fun started.
Due to some mild brainfarts i was under the impression that i needed to cut 25x50mm plates out of 3mm and then slot them up according to my measurements. Unfortunately i was highly mistaken. I actually needed 25x44mm plates and would then slot them accordingly. That slight mismeasurement cost me 2 messed up plates before i figured out what i was doing wrong.
Anyway, this is how i was making them, basically drilling 2 holes and then slotting them out to be 20mm OD long.
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28637-1/IMG_0665_s.jpg[/IMG]
Clamping them in a vice at the end:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28640-1/IMG_0667_s.jpg[/IMG]
And then beating the absolute crap out of them until they had formed flanges:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28643-1/IMG_0668_s.jpg[/IMG]
And voila, one finished:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28646-1/IMG_0669_s.jpg[/IMG]
With free bonus flash glare.
After being so totally frustrated with that, i decided i would do a few other little jobs in the garage, like cleaning up a bit, and measured up my rad for fitment later. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) i dont have any 50×50 angle otherwise i would have started fitting it up and probably screwed it up too.
I fitted a few other little things to the engine bay:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28649-1/IMG_0670_s.jpg[/IMG]
All with M6 stainless capscrews [I](surely to Gav’s delight)[/I] for a touch of bling.
Finally i got around to measuring up the shocks which arrived today and came up with the following:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28661-1/IMG_0674_s.jpg[/IMG]
360mm body length
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/28664-1/IMG_0675_s.jpg[/IMG]
550mm overall length.
So a 190mm stroke.
Thats about it for now, ill do some calculations tomorrow as to how long i need the struts to be, and we will go from there.