15" wheels

[French Frie]

it is a bespoke ARB, made by a friend for the bar, and with Austin-Healy 3000 parts for the rods and bushings... I couldn't resign myself to pay thousands of euros (redline or Thunder road)for a common design item [;)] !
   
   very effective, even though we should have bolted it higher on the chassis, as it brought some clearance issues ... but the higher 15" wheels should attenuate this problem !

[French Frie]

job is done !
   
   
   
   
   
   

[French Frie]

Now, the parts are back, so I tried to fit them  to check the clearance,  while I'm also overhauling the front end... It works, even if the clearance remains tight (but less than it may appears in the picture) !
   
   
   
   Now I have to finish to brush and repaint the A-arms, the shocks and fit news track rod ends ...
   
   For info, I bent the end of the steering arms by 11 millimeters... And I think that if they were bent a little more, the hexa extensions before the track rod ends could have been removed !

[French Frie]

work in progress... some good news some bad news !
   
   rust was quite installed even if superficial :
   
   
   
   but is now cleaned and parts are treated and painted (epoxy) !
   
   other point: there is some play in one upper joint with some rust as well and no grease ...
   
   
   
   
   
   the point is that I can't feel any play in the rose joint by hand when disassembled so I assume it's in the assembly with the bolt & nut... does anyone know where is that part from? IIRC, Peter replaced them ...
   
   the upper king pin rod end seems to be tired as well ...
   
   
   
   BTW, I'm surprised that there is no greasing point at all on the whole assembly [:0] ! did I miss something ?

[Flyinghorse]

I just take the rose joint off and measure it up and get replacements here:
   
   http://mcgillmotorsports.co.uk/
   
   They are cheap so get the highest spec ones they have.
   
   I forgot to add that those look like the rose joints that adjust the camber & the castor angle so be careful to mark them up with tipex,or have the castor checked afterwards.
   Once the castor is set,you move either side the same ammount to adjust camber.
   
   Graham

[dkp_cobra]

Yes, I replaced one joint and I bought it from mcgillmotorsports. They are really cheap, I think a little bit too cheap. Maybe you find another source or by the most expensive one they have.

[Flyinghorse]

The guy at McGill imports them from the states. I spoke to him at length about his business and it grew from being fed up paying high prices when he raced. His mission was to offer good quality at a good price.
   So far I have been very happy with them.
   
   Graham

[French Frie]

Update :  i packed up the rose joint and its cover with grease, rebolted the A-arm, and as expected, no more play ! That was really the bolt that wasn't tight enough... Good thing ! But I noticed that there 's some vertical play in the lower ball joint of the king pin... That's not normal , isn't it ?
   
   Other point : now the steering arms are bent, the track rod ends have to be shortened, because they are at full stop, and the arms are not bent enough to suppress the hexagonal extension :( ... So I cutted 11mm on the new track rod ends:
   
   
   
   It doesn't weak the stuff as the whole thread of the extension is still contained in the track rod end... It's a common modification on MGs, documented on Moss website...

[Migge]

And why not doing some more threads (11 mm) at the steering rack ends to get the extensions on?

[French Frie]

Because that's the extension that is already fully locked on the steering rack end [:(] ...

[nikbj68]

Just for fun, here`s what the Greyhound had 50 years ago...
   
   
   Not too much inward adjustment there either!!!

[Migge]

You can cut the end after some more threads have been made to make it adjustable again.

[French Frie]

here's the "red hair" en route to Magny-cours track, with its 15" wheels and a happy driver [;)]
   
   

[nikbj68]

Oh YEAH!!! That looks fantastic! Congratulations on a job well done!

[SwissAKL]

Hello Olivier,
   I'm a bit late on that one.
   My original Autokraft 15' front wheels (AKL car) were also so close to the arms (factory fit) that it was one of the technical control failure point that the Swiss authorities listed for me.
   Another point was that they measured/judged my front track to be 2 mm too narrow and I therefore went for precision machined spacers to solve both problems at once.
   Bending the arms sounded scarry...
   Alex