Sunday 20 July 2014

Measuring up the lower wishbones

First step, measuring the length of the rear lower wishbones. A fairly simple process, let the uprights stand vertical, the CV joints sit comfortable (not under tension or compression), then measure from the centre of the bottom fixing to the centre of the wishbone bracket;
And the magic number is 375. So I can compare that to an existing Saturn design;
That shows 395.8 from edge to edge. With a wishbone tube being 33.7mm wide, that means mine are longer at 408.7 from edge to edge. Unfortunately trying to get it down to 395.8 seems to compress the cv joint a bit more than I'd like (and as the suspension moves it will compress even more). I repeated the process on the other side, it actually sits 5mm shorter, but any reasonable amount of camber and the driveshaft binds on the diff.

I also measured up the metal. I have 2490 of tube, and based on the 375mm length, I need 2420 of metal! So no room for mistakes! I'll be using 19mm for the top wishbone, same as the Sierra design. This is because the suspension mount isn't on the wishbone. I'll still brace it a little bit, but at least I won't need the thicker tube.

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