Anglin's Racer Build and History

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Any left-over angle you want to sell? If not, what's the source? I need to get my carbon hood done as well.

The source is out of business, unfortunately. It was a great supplier. I have about 3 feet of 2 inch by 2 inch angle, but I might have to horde it for future projects. How much do you need?

Whatever the amount is that you used for the same exact purpose. What, maybe 10" total? (Two 5" pieces)

I think I have a 'tube' of the epoxy I used left. If not, I'll poke around my receipts. Just remove the outer layer of epoxy from the hood with some 240 grit and clean thoroughly.

I presume it's 2-part, yes?

[anglin]

I presume it's 2-part, yes?

I've never seen a two part super glue.

Just kidding. Yes, two-part.

[anglin]

Here's the hinge brackets after the epoxy has set. The amount of research in picking the right epoxy and prepping for bonding is gross.

Care to save me the research time?

3M ScotchWeld DP-125 Gray. I got it from Grainger.

[yottabit]

I can't believe I missed your post where you showed the completed assembly, I had been waiting for that for a while!

So forgive me for asking but what exactly are the advantages of this setup vs. stock? Besides the spherical ball ends and adjustable swaybar (which are huge advantages), is there any other inherent advantage I'm not aware of (vs. running adjustable camber plates or something of the like)?

I'm not even really sure about the dynamics of the front suspension on the Merkur. I'd assume like many other MacPherson strut suspensions it gains positive camber under load, is that a big problem on the Merkur? If so, do you try to run lots of static negative camber to combat that?

[anglin]

All of the machining tasks for the design project components are complete now. I have a few preparation tasks to take care of before the stuff goes to the plater. All of the items to be welded are waiting at the welder right now. After everything is complete, the next task is testing.

Here are some pictures to tide you over until we test.

The anti-roll bar lever arm mounting ears were made about a month ago. Here's a part, hot off the mill, compared to the prototype model.



The bracket that holds everything together was machined from square tube. Here's the profile being cut.



After the mounting ears were welded to the ARB and heat treating was completed, the chassis and ARB bushing brackets were fitted to the ARB.



Some polishing after the heat treating was necessary to get the ARB to behave properly in the bushing. Note the locating collar on the ARB to prevent lateral movement.



Performing one of the final steps on the chassis bracket. Making this hole in the ARB bushing sleeve allows access to the bolt that holds the bracket to the chassis.



After laser cutting and machining, the holes for the ARB link to the TCA get cut. This occurs after bending to be sure the lever arms are the right length to maintain the correct stiffness of the anti-roll bar.



The ball joint in the TCA is unreplaceable. Here's my version of what a replaceable ball joint system looks like.



Fitted to a spindle.

[anglin]

I would have to say that the most complex to design and machine component of the entire design is the outer bearing carrier for the track control arm. I did go through 12 revisions of the chassis bracket, but that was relatively straight forward to machine. With angles, clearance problems, tight tolerances (+/- 0.0003 on the bore for the spherical bearing), odd components like snap rings, and a material that is a little grabby on the machines, there was nothing enjoyable about the design or machining.

Starting with chunks of steel.



The fixturing process begins.



The fixture is made...



... and put in the rotary table, ready to cut.



Here's stage 1 of 3 for the profile cuts.



Stage 2 of 3.



After stage 3 of 3.



But what the heck is it? Here's the bearing carrier weld connection being shown with the outer bearing carrier.



Then the taper gets cut to adapt the TCA tube to the bearing carrier.



What's not shown is the grinding work to make the components look like they belong together. However, here are the components, marked up, ready to be welded together.

[anglin]

One of the critical elements of the design is the ARB link system. These componets are what make the adjustable anti-roll bar system possible in this design. Here are the parts, shown somewhat cryptically in a McMaster-Carr bag. No, McMaster does not sell these components (just the rod end and clevis... and even the clevis had bolt adapters made), just the raw materials that the components were machined from.



There was certainly plenty of machine time in the design. A total of 16 rod end spacers had to be made. Here's one being roughed out on a rotary table prior to the lathe taking over to do the centerbore.



Boring operations (no double entendre intended).



The compression struts were an entertaining task. The compression struts were probably the very first components design, but the brackets they were attached to took a little longer.

Here's the start of the compression strut to TCA bracket.



Final design of the compression strut, waiting for delivery to the welder.



Compression strut components. See the bracket on the right? That was made from metal you see two images above this one.



TCA to compression strut bracket assembly.



TCA and compression strut waiting on the welder.



Here's the very last machining operation taking place on the design project. Everything else is fitment and other random tasks like prepping for the zinc plating.



So, that's it for now. We're doing fitment and prep work now taking care of the last few details of the design. We've got two days set aside soon for the testing. The design project report is well underway and is presently closing in on 70 pages in length (single spaced, like a good technical journal article).

[anglin]

So forgive me for asking but what exactly are the advantages of this setup vs. stock? Besides the spherical ball ends and adjustable swaybar (which are huge advantages), is there any other inherent advantage I'm not aware of (vs. running adjustable camber plates or something of the like)?

One primary tenet of this design is that you can apply a racing suspension to the vehicle without any chassis modification whatsoever; no holes have to be drilled in sheetmetal, no welding is required etc.

If someone chooses to run camber plates in addition to these components, not considering extra adjustment range, there can be some 'fine tuning' done if the vehicle has wide tires which are contacting the bodyword. Some adjustment can be made to reduce or eliminate that contact. This is a little bit more of an abstract benefit.

[Ray]

Good luck on your presentation Anglin.

Pictures look great, but that's expected. We're all fiends for fabrication. Cant wait to see some 'applied' design (?) - ie, installed and working.

[yottabit]

Very cool! Did you have any parts CNC'd? I'm impressed you were able to do so much with that mini mill/lathe. Nice use of the rotary table.

I don't normally consider steel "grabby", is it just plain steel or some alloy? How much backlash are in your machines?

In the picture I see you using a 2 flute endmill to machine that profile... I bet you probably already know, but a 4 flute endmill makes cutting steel a lot easier
(but will gum up on aluminum)

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Just one question.... Are you going to legally change your last name to "Godfrey" now?

[BeefFajitas]

Amazing stuff, I can't wait to see it all together.

[anglin]

Cant wait to see some 'applied' design (?) - ie, installed and working.

Amazing stuff, I can't wait to see it all together.

Here's a start. All of the other components are at the welder, so I snapped a picture of a test fit of the anti-roll bar assembly.

Just one question.... Are you going to legally change your last name to "Godfrey" now?

I'd never be so bold. My stuff is child's play compared to what he does. Now, if he wanted to adopt me...

Very cool! Did you have any parts CNC'd? I'm impressed you were able to do so much with that mini mill/lathe. Nice use of the rotary table.

Yeah, the ears welded to the anti-roll bar tube was made on a CNC mill. The ARB lever arms were laser cut and then formed on a CNC bender. Everything else has been manual.

I don't normally consider steel "grabby", is it just plain steel or some alloy?

It's 4130 which seems to be a little rougher to machine than the mild and low carbon steel I used for some of the other parts. The 17-4 PH stainless, a 'hardened' alloy, cut much smoother, the cuts just had to be lighter. The 4130 alloy is supposed to be okay with heavier cuts, but the motor on my machine just doesn't have the balls to make those cuts.

How much backlash are in your machines?

Which axis? Actually there's enough backlash on the x-axis (the one with the least backlash) that it doesn't really matter what the others have. They make a ballscrew kit for the mill, which will probably end up on the mill sometime in the future. I'd like to get an x-axis power feed first. Of course, I need to determine the compatibility between the power feed and the ballscrews.

In the picture I see you using a 2 flute endmill to machine that profile... I bet you probably already know, but a 4 flute endmill makes cutting steel a lot easier (but will gum up on aluminum)

My 4-flute in that size was dull. Doh! I've never had a problem with build up on the 4-flute, which I generally prefer to use. With the 2-flute, I just had to be careful with the width of cut to keep at least one flute engaged on the part at all times and it ran okay.

[BeefFajitas]

Weird, that doesn't look like anything in the Ford book. Must be junk.

[thrashperformance]

that makes my nascar style sway bar look real butch. that is b e a utiful