Dan Juday Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 The welding was blended in very well and all of it was painted very nicely. !M! That is exactly what I was saying to myself. Beautiful fab work Matt. (what happpened to the dang "two thumbs up" dude?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Dan, contact Don Oldenberg DP RACING. http://www.designproductsracing.com/DesktopDefault.aspx They make all of the stuff your asking for, the way you want it made. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=11114&sort=1&cat=500&page=4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Ron I did not see this part/kit listed at dpracings site. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=11114&sort=1&cat=500&page=4 Can you provide part #`s for this mod. Also any install details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 The welding was blended in very well and all of it was painted very nicely. !M! That is exactly what I was saying to myself. Beautiful fab work Matt. (what happpened to the dang "two thumbs up" dude?) I didn't make the ones Doug posted' date=' but I wish I had, they look really nice. I found the original post about the control arms I made. It was about 2.5 years ago. I totaly forgot about the loads from the sway bar. I would have to attach the sway bar to the strut tube. Adjustable control arm post !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 AThe ones in Doug's pics are my design... I had a few to many beers so I conned Jamie into welding them up... Doug is a perfectionist and went to work with a grinder to get everything smooth on them... really turned out nice... Those turnbuckles cost me $17 each on a bulk purchase... I need to chat with John Williams and see if I can get him to make me some more. Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Yeah Mike, I've seen your design and they are sweet. Matt (hbskinhead) had a set and showed me. We were talking with John early this year on threading the TC rods for us cuz doing it by hand was a biatch. Mat, I can't figure out what that hex thing is called! I know I considered it once when thinking about adjustable pieces and even called the guy to see how strong they were. I must have it at home somewhere... Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted December 2, 2004 Author Share Posted December 2, 2004 Got the parts and whipped out the sawzall tonight. Cut the heads off the 3/4"x5 1/2" grade 8 bolts. Cut the control arms in half. And made two grade 8 jam nuts out of one standard grade 8 nut. That grade 8 stuff is hard. Three cuts cost me one and half saw blades. Next chore: Grind, file, and wire brush the rust off the inside of the arms so the welds will stick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 I photoshopped this together, would this work? The toe adjuster (hex thing) is a 5/8-18. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 That could possibly work... I'd make it all 3/4 16 as far as diameter... Stronger is better... There was a reason we moved away frmo the 7/8th stock... It worked, but the inch diameter stuff was stronger... Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 The toe adjuster is the key to on-car adjustable or not...Mike, what size turnbuckle was used in your arms? I don't think I could find a 3/4" toe adjuster. Also, I didn't quite get the meaning of your comment, "There was a reason we moved away frmo the 7/8th stock... It worked, but the inch diameter stuff was stronger... " Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 The toe adjuster is the key to on-car adjustable or not...Mike, what size turnbuckle was used in your arms? I don't think I could find a 3/4" toe adjuster. Also, I didn't quite get the meaning of your comment, "There was a reason we moved away frmo the 7/8th stock... It worked, but the inch diameter stuff was stronger... " Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 IMHO 5/8 is fine for control arms, but for TC rods 3/4 is better. I'm pretty sure that every other heims jointed front control arm I've seen is 5/8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
74_5.0L_Z Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Check out the adjusters on the bottom of this page: http://www.swracecars.com/pdf/CATpg30.PDF As far as rod ends go, I used Aurora XAM-10T rod ends when I built my rear control arms. They feature a 3/4" chromoly body with a 5/8" teflon coated ball (40,000 + lb axial strength). If anything ever fails on my rear control arms it won't be the rod ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I want...I can't afford (the rear arms). Nice setup tho! 3/4" for the TC rods huh? I know the stock TC rod is close the 5/8 and 5/8 tubing is used in the adjustable setups out there. How would you take the stock approx 5/8 J-arm off the TC rod and mate that to a 3/4 tube? A weld-in adapter would still be 5/8. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 3/4" for the TC rods huh? I know the stock TC rod is close the 5/8 and 5/8 tubing is used in the adjustable setups out there. How would you take the stock approx 5/8 J-arm off the TC rod and mate that to a 3/4 tube? A weld-in adapter would still be 5/8. Mine were made by modifying some AFCO 3/4 pieces off of a circle track car (Pinto I think). The machinist who made mine modified the roundy-round pieces, used a swaged aluminum turnbuckle, and a 3/4 rod end on the other end. He turned some aluminum cups to fit where the bushings go in the TC bucket, and then had a kind of clevis end that bolts into the TC bucket which attaches to the 3/4 rod end. He did great work, but it was expensive. I think I paid close to $300 for the TC rods. I remember being pretty surprised when I saw Mike's prices for his stuff the first time. Oh well, I guess I missed out on that one. The stock TC rods are just about the perfect size to just run a die down for 5/8, so you're right about that. With 5/8 rods, you could conceivably cut the TC rod, run LH and RH threads down the rod on both halves, then use a 5/8" turnbuckle in the middle. You could leave the bushing in the back or run a rod end. When I tried to do exactly this and run a die down the TC rods, I found that all 4 of the TC rods I had were bent and the die jammed up. The project got shelved for a while. Later having seen a number of TC rods fail I wanted to run a rod end in back, and the guy who made rods was an aftermarket Mustang suspension and chassis guy. He said run 5/8 on the control arms (which he also made for me) and 3/4 on the TC rods. I trusted his judgement then, and I'm glad I did. These parts have held up well to track days and autoxes with slicks, as well as 40K of daily driving miles. I got the most expensive rod ends I could get with chrome balls and teflon liners, and I haven't had to replace any of them yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Mine are common SCP parts... It is a 5.5 inch Jbar Strut rod that is threaded for 3/4 inch tubing. I then cut the new mount holes, use the clevis bracket drilled for 3/4 bolts and use a 3/4 heim. After seeing some failures in other designs, I decided that going with larger diameter tubing on the control arm and TC rod made more sense... The front end suspension really takes more of a beating, especially if street driven. Mike 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yeah, I tried threading the TC rod by hand and the die wouldn't go down straight...sucks. Maybe those j-bars and get them threaded. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
74_5.0L_Z Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I just made a new set of adjustable T/C rods. On the first set I made, the die cut the first set of threads very nicely. On the second rod of the first set the die started to leave "chunky threads, but they were acceptable. On the first rod of this new set of T/C rods, the die was making a mess, so I decided that I need to do something better. I had the threads turned on a lathe rather than cutting them with a die. The lathe does a much better job, but cost me $60.00 for the pair. This cost may seem like a lot of money, but it is well worth it especially when you factor in the cost of the die (~80.00). Also, if you use a swaged tube as part of the T/C rod, make sure that you cut the J bar portion so that it extends well past the last thread in the swaged tube. If you dont engage all of the threads in the tube, you are putting stress across the treads (major stress riser). How do I know this? Check out the bent and broken T/C tube in front of my car on the ground. It broke at the last engaged thread (about 2" into the tube) after making contact with my frame rail. The contact with the frame rail was slight and caused a slight dent on the top of the tube. That dent weakened the tube so that it failed (buckled) under hard braking. If it had only buckled, it would have been a controlled failure. Unfortunately, because threads were stressed, the tube broke rather than merely bending. After that the car took a hard left and I ate some mangroves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Owen, The Jbars COME threaded already... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Jon, Yup that's it in a nutshell... You have about $100 in parts and then your time to make them... Need a 3/4 inch drill bit to open up the clevis unless you can find them pre-drilled, and you need to cut the flat end down to the lenth needed for the TC rod, then dril two new 3/8th holes and you're there... Assemble everything and you're done... Those types of TC rods are the strongest in my opinion, which was why ZF Racing eventually switched to that design... Cutting threads on the existing rod was a biatch! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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