Litton (Corse) Front Suspension Question

[Strat Fan]

Corky,

Replace the top wishbones with some made from 1" CDS tube, the dimensions of the ones you have look fine.
The excessive castor issue you have is caused by the trailing link being too short, the TCA should fit perpendicular to the CL of the car & this should give about 5 degrees of static castor. Get a new trailing link machined or get the existing ones extended professionally but be aware that the diameter of the trailing link cannot be increased where it exits the chassis subframe at the front otherwise it will foul on full bump. Whilst you are performing surgery you could swap the trailing link ball joint to a rod end bearing.

Regards

[tipo158]

Corky,

Replace the top wishbones with some made from 1" CDS tube, the dimensions of the ones you have look fine.
The excessive castor issue you have is caused by the trailing link being too short, the TCA should fit perpendicular to the CL of the car & this should give about 5 degrees of static castor. Get a new trailing link machined or get the existing ones extended professionally but be aware that the diameter of the trailing link cannot be increased where it exits the chassis subframe at the front otherwise it will foul on full bump. Whilst you are performing surgery you could swap the trailing link ball joint to a rod end bearing.

Regards

I do have a rod end bearing on the lower arm (TCA), that is why it can move that far forward, if I still had the old bush assembly in there, I wouldn't have been able to attach the swing arm (trailing link). I'm a little confused about your comments "be aware that the diameter of the trailing link cannot be increased where it exits the chassis subframe at the front otherwise it will foul on full bump" Are you talking about the ball joint or the rod? I was thinking about cutting the rod in the middle, then sleeving it, then welding the sleeve to the rod.

Corky

[john]

What Craig is saying there is that the front trailing link can foul on bottom of the the chassis tube (25x25mm) when the suspension is on full bump, so keep it's diameter as low as practicable.
Actually I'm not entirely sure that it's true on those trailing links with the balljoints, because the forward pivot point on those links you have has more clearance than that on the later chassis's. Either way they are definitely not long enough as the TCA's should be very definitely be straight out from the pick-up points.
Just a thought, did you fit the trailing links through from the front of the chassis brackets, or just butt them up to the bracket from the rear?
As far as I know (might be wrong on this...Craig will advise I'm sure) they should just butt up from the rear and then be secured by the bolted bracket we were talking about earlier in the thread. That would make them a touch longer, but maybe still not enough.
Can't see the detail on that from your photograph. You would have had to disassemble the link to do this anyway?
PM me your address and I'll mail you a hard copy of the wishbone, TCA and trailing link chassis brackets's. Oh, and the trailing link itself.

[tipo158]

What Craig is saying there is that the front trailing link can foul on bottom of the the chassis tube (25x25mm) when the suspension is on full bump, so keep it's diameter as low as practicable.
Actually I'm not entirely sure that it's true on those trailing links with the balljoints, because the forward pivot point on those links you have has more clearance than that on the later chassis's. Either way they are definitely not long enough as the TCA's should be very definitely be straight out from the pick-up points.
Just a thought, did you fit the trailing links through from the front of the chassis brackets, or just butt them up to the bracket from the rear?
As far as I know (might be wrong on this...Craig will advise I'm sure) they should just butt up from the rear and then be secured by the bolted bracket we were talking about earlier in the thread. That would make them a touch longer, but maybe still not enough.
Can't see the detail on that from your photograph. You would have had to disassemble the link to do this anyway?
PM me your address and I'll mail you a hard copy of the wishbone, TCA and trailing link chassis brackets's. Oh, and the trailing link itself.

PM sent. I put the tailing links in from the front, not butted up to the rear side. But even if it was butted up to the front it wouldn't give enough length that I need. Today I disconnected the trailing link at the TCA, then positioned the TCA where it should be, then measure from the center of the hole in the end of the link to the center of the hole in the TCA. The distance was just under 1.5 inches or around 38mm. I'm really not sure which way would be better, I would feel better if one method gave a positive pressure in an unweighted position, as far as I see, neither really does. I still need to fabricate the retainer.

[Madham]

just checked the length of my trailing links and the rod without ends measures 335mm.
your wishbone angles look fine now I have seen photo
hope this helps
Andy

[tipo158]

just checked the length of my trailing links and the rod without ends measures 335mm.
your wishbone angles look fine now I have seen photo
hope this helps
Andy

Thanks Andy, i guess I need to understand exactly what you measured. I just measured the rod only (the part that has threaded end, but not the ball joint), it measured 268mm in length.

[john]

330-335mm is the standard length of the Corse "I" Front Trailing Link.(Bar only)
This is the version where it takes a 1/2" UNF L/H threaded Rod End in one end and the M14 R/H Thread Swing Bolt in the other. It's machined out of 19mm Dia bar. Can't remember what that equates too in overall length, centre to centre, rod end to swing bolt.
Looks like you have "S" type trailing links there Corky, for which I have a figure of 285mm long. IIRC that includes the balljoint. (Measured to the ball centre.)