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Ahh...I see.

As far I know the French call the Germans "Bosch".

Cheers

Chris

 

 

 

Hi Christian,

 

As a french with part german origins (Bingen am rhein and Tübingen), I can safely elaborate on this:

 

The earliest nickname was "Prussians", an obvious name dating from the 1870 war. Then someone invented the term "Alboche", a distortion of "Allemand" (don't ask me how or why).

 

It was later shortened into "boche", during WWI, where "Schleuh" was also a big favorite. Knowing that in real life Schleuhs are a berberic tribe from Morocco, it is also a big mystery in the field of slang creativity.

 

We still have to carve a new desultory term for "Europeans", which is what we all are, eventually. Amazing cultural insight in this forum, I'd say.

 

Yours truly,

 

Schwerfrosch

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Hi Badfrog,

I am not sure what you mean by the additional bolt located at the rear ?? Both the 0° and 3 ° Trunnions lock stop bolt with excentric spacer parts 97 98 and 99 in the moss catalogue. If I had issues with geometry I would check everything that could affect it and make sure including chassis geometry. As they say assumption is the mother of all foul ups or something simular :D;)

Alan

 

 

Hi KiwiF,

 

I agree on all counts.

All trunnions have that rear lock bolt. I just missed it on the screen. Should check my eyesight as well.

Rest assured I'll be very cautious and try all possibilities. This is a life/death matter. Although the figures seem too close together to suspect chassis distortion, I'll check anyways.

 

Now I'll get to work and I'll report anything worth it. I have the magnetic-based camber tool with the bubble level. This should be very useful through left/right comparisons in the three dimensions.

 

Cheers,

 

Paranoidfrog

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Hi Chris,

the origins of the nickname Tommy for the British soldier go back long before the Thompson sub-machine gun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Atkins

Cheers,

Alec

 

 

Alec,

 

This wikipedia article omitted our downunder friends known as "Sammies" in WWI.

Record had to be straightened.

 

It must be in the air: I was cleaning the attic yesterday and I found a little box with the WWI "bronze war cross" and "voluntary enlisted" medal of one of my "Poilu" Grand-Pas. The other one was shot on the Marne by a Maxim MG before he could have any fun (so to speak).

 

Badfrog

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...

As a french with part german origins (Bingen am rhein and Tübingen), I can safely elaborate on this:

 

The earliest nickname was "Prussians", an obvious name dating from the 1870 war. .......

 

 

Okay, 1871 was end of the war France/Germany -> Napoleon III vs Preussen Kaiserreich.

I suppose that the word Preussen was converted to "Prussians".

 

end of "off topic" and back to suspension works....

 

Cheers

Chris

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraut

Edited by MadMarx
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The term Prussian was (and is) normal useage in English as well as French - presumably Latin origin, but as you know Chris we borrow words from all over the planet and absorb them into English . . . . :rolleyes:

 

Badfrog, the influence of the Prussians goes back long before 1870 - surely you haven't forgotten Blucher's decisive intervention at Waterloo in 1815, which effectively scuppered Napoleon Frog's ambitions once and for all ? ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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Blucher met Wellington somewhere on a lawn close to a Waterloo when the French appeard and wanted to disturb the party. I turned out to become a war like argument which was won by the English.

 

Blucher was also a name of a German battleship and was sank by Norwegian guns.

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Badfrog, the influence of the Prussians goes back long before 1870 - surely you haven't forgotten Blucher's decisive intervention at Waterloo in 1815, which effectively scuppered Napoleon Frog's ambitions once and for all ? ;)

Alec

 

 

Waterloo? Never heard of that <_< .

 

Now back to suspensions. Does anybody have a set of mounting instructions for the adjustable fulcrum kit? I could go into it blindly but if some tricks are already known, that'd save time.

 

Cheers,

 

Badfrog, lazy today

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Waterloo? Never heard of that <_< .

 

Now back to suspensions. Does anybody have a set of mounting instructions for the adjustable fulcrum kit? I could go into it blindly but if some tricks are already known, that'd save time.

 

Cheers,

 

Badfrog, lazy today

 

If its the Revington type one then it should come with instructions. Basically you have to fit it in place of the top fulcrum pin which will involve removing the spring to get at the two bolts that arent captive and then refit everything and adjust as needed and then weld when happy. ;)

Stuart.

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If its the Revington type one then it should come with instructions. Basically you have to fit it in place of the top fulcrum pin which will involve removing the spring to get at the two bolts that arent captive and then refit everything and adjust as needed and then weld when happy. ;)

Stuart.

 

 

I got it from Moss, same material as Revington but no instructions.

Mounting is not a problem once you remove the spring but welding was what I was wondering about: "weld when happy". So it's not adjustable at will. Once done, it's done.

So I have to subcontract welding as I don't have a blow-torch.

 

Let's go for it....

 

Badfrog

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I got it from Moss, same material as Revington but no instructions.

Mounting is not a problem once you remove the spring but welding was what I was wondering about: "weld when happy". So it's not adjustable at will. Once done, it's done.

So I have to subcontract welding as I don't have a blow-torch.

 

Let's go for it....

 

Badfrog

 

Its a shame that you couldnt get away without welding it up but I suspect the forces would probably displace it.

Stuart.

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Its a shame that you couldnt get away without welding it up but I suspect the forces would probably displace it.

Stuart.

 

 

 

Right. I made some inquiries. No doubt: welding mandatory as the bolts are too long and thin.

 

Badfrog

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Right. I made some inquiries. No doubt: welding mandatory as the bolts are too long and thin.

 

Badfrog

 

 

 

Hi Badfrog

 

The way I've seen this done is you take a note of the accurate measurements with the road spring under normal load. Remove the spring, place the suspension back upto height, put your adjustable units on, set as required and then weld up. Then replace the spring.

 

TR4Tony will know more.

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Hi Badfrog

 

The way I've seen this done is you take a note of the accurate measurements with the road spring under normal load. Remove the spring, place the suspension back upto height, put your adjustable units on, set as required and then weld up. Then replace the spring.

TR4Tony will know more.

 

 

 

Yes, I thought so. The real problem is that there is nobody here I would trust to set the fulcrum with enough precision and then weld. The few guys I know who deal with TRs in the Paris area can only be trusted for basic standard action. Anytime I have to fiddle around with mods, I do it myself because I'm concerned with my own safety. Problem is I can't weld.

 

Badfrog

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Yes, I thought so. The real problem is that there is nobody here I would trust to set the fulcrum with enough precision and then weld. The few guys I know who deal with TRs in the Paris area can only be trusted for basic standard action. Anytime I have to fiddle around with mods, I do it myself because I'm concerned with my own safety. Problem is I can't weld.

 

Badfrog

 

They will stand a bit of normal driving provided they are set OK and tight.So you maybe able to go further afield to get them done or bring all the bits with you and get it done on your next trip to England.

Stuart.

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JF, on my TR3 I just had applied 4 strong spotwelds on the outer side, 1 at each top (fulcrum to top plates) and 1 at each bottom (fulcrum to tower)

They last now for 8 years, but I'm a rather defensive driver.

By the way: I carefully drove without the welds for a few weeks and carefully checked for any displacement, but they did not move a bit :)

Before assembling the suspension I had the 2 loose nuts also spot welded, so I was able to adjust the camber later on with every thing in place ;)

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JF, on my TR3 I just had applied 4 strong spotwelds on the outer side, 1 at each top (fulcrum to top plates) and 1 at each bottom (fulcrum to tower)

They last now for 8 years, but I'm a rather defensive driver.

 

 

Thanks Jean. Will remember that and copy.

 

Badfrog

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Hi guys,

 

Good news this week-end. Although I could not locate a ref number on the trunnions, careful measurement of angles and pics to boot showed I have 3° trunnions.

I also realized that adjustable fulcrums require inner arch surgery which Lady Ann had enough of.

I will therefore go the simple way by installing neg camber links and new blue polypro bushes and the world will be my oyster.

I guess that makes Lady Ann a" Mussel car".

 

BTW, Austerlite will enter the House of Pain this saturday. No doubt september will be a glorious sequel to a very mediocre august.

 

Cheers,

 

Badfrog

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm working on fabricating my own set of adjustable upper-inner pivots in the shop right now, I think I've got a pretty solid design and I'll post up some pics when it's complete (if it works right!).

 

Also of note: I was not too keen on the thought of having to pull the springs out just to install the pivots so I did some messing around and found I was able to tape the nut to a screwdriver and fish it up around the spring and get it started on the bolt. I also found a combination of ratchet extensions that allowed me to get a socket up there on it so I'm betting I can install them without removing springs, but again, I'll report when it is fact.

 

- Colin

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  • 4 weeks later...

Reporting back:

I've finished my front end job and the brackets I made fit very nicely. I even got them bolted up without removing the springs (though I will definitely be welding some nuts up there next time I do remove them)!

 

Here are some photos:

 

Adjustable upper-inner fulcrum:

IMG_2645Large.jpg

IMG_2654Large.jpg

 

How I got the nuts and lock washers up into the spring tower:

IMG_2661Large.jpg

 

Installed on the tower:

IMG_2652Large.jpg

 

 

I made the brackets out of 1/4" thick steel angle and 5/8" 4130 bar stock. One leg of the angle was milled down to 3/16" thick so that the bolt heads could fit underneath the bar (which I wanted to run clear through for strength). Unfortunately there is not room for washers, but you could make the bracket taller if you wanted to fit some. I tried to keep the pivot as low as possible, I think it ended up being raised less then 1/8" in the end. I then milled 5/8" long slots for adjustability. The bracket is designed to allow for 1/4" up to 7/8" of setback, which on my car seemed to give me a range of about neutral or slightly positive camber down to probably negative 2-3 degrees. It was also necessary to widen the bracket a bit, not only to fit the bolt heads inside the angle, but also to be sure the A-arms would clear the spring tower, so I made some 1/8" spacers for each side of the ball joint, which you can see in the pics. The bolts just fit in under the shaft if you slip them in at an angle from the back and you have to get creative with your wrenches when tightening them up. There is just enough room for a Craftsman open-end wrench, but not enough to get a full 1/6 turn so you will need another shorter wrench to grab the head from the back and finish the turn. When I welded it, I simply used an old fulcrum bracket as the weld fixture, bolted the parts right onto it, and all the holes lined up perfectly.

 

To get the nuts up in there, first I put an old nut in the bottom of the socket, then laid a couple pieces of masking tape into the socket sticky side down and pressed the nut into it (so it wasn't stuck too hard but firmly held), then used three thin strips of masking tape to attach the lock washer on top of it. Too much tape and you can't yank the socket off the nut before the extensions let go, which it a b!tch to deal with once you've finally managed to get the nut started on the bolt because you'll have to back it off and probably start over. Anyway, you'll have to get creative with socket extensions to get the right length but it is possible.

 

I've decided not to weld it in place for now. I got the bolts up to around the recommended torque of about 28 ft-lb if I remember correctly and I've driven it about an hour without anything moving. It would be easy to weld one of the front washers to the bracket though if it becomes necessary.

 

Anyway, if anyone thinks this is cool and wants to try making a set, shoot me a message and I can provide some more details and/or prints for the parts.

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Hi all,

 

Well, things have moved. I found several cracks requiring frame welding so Chris59 (Overdrive Garage) will be the man for the overall front job. I have cleaned up the front axle, collected the new parts: -1.5° camber links, alloy braces for the rack, ball joints and related paraphernalia. I will deliver the car up north (Valenciennes) next saturday. I hope for sun with slight overcast. There is also in the program a local breweries beer degustation with side of french fries. I will faithfully report on driving improv' ... or not.

 

Now for something totally different. I once installed 16x5" wire wheels (Aston DB4) with 175.16.80 Goodyear tyres on the rear axle. These fit the small hub of TRs as opposed to Jags larger hub.It was the cheapest, most effective OD I ever saw. Unfortunately, raising the rear totally destroyed hi-speed cornering ability (see discussions on mass transfer). You have to install all four wheels identical to maintain front/rear leveling.

THUS, does anybody have 3 Aston wires for sale at a good price, or would anybody be interested in my set of two. It's either 5 or none so I have to take action.

 

Austerlite jobs this w-e: head volume assessment, adjustment for CR at 6.5 (Alta) 6.8 (Dante) and 6.25 (Cambridge).

Cambridge with go in first, other two will be used for second more radical engine.

Then: head surface machining, long studs installed in block for the cambridge head, mech fan replaced by small electric one, tacho and speedo mounting.

 

Cheers,

 

Badfrog,

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I've decided not to weld it in place for now. I got the bolts up to around the recommended torque of about 28 ft-lb if I remember correctly and I've driven it about an hour without anything moving. It would be easy to weld one of the front washers to the bracket though if it becomes necessary.

 

 

That is my main concern that the brackets would move under hard load, like hitting a pot hole on the highway and after the geometry is off.

What do you think about to add some kind of notches or something similar to keep the position of the brackets?

 

Chris

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That is my main concern that the brackets would move under hard load, like hitting a pot hole on the highway and after the geometry is off.

What do you think about to add some kind of notches or something similar to keep the position of the brackets?

 

Chris

 

 

I was thinking about that but I can't see a real great way to do it without machining an overly complicated part of putting new holes in the spring towers. I think that I will just clean off a small patch of paint and tack the washer on with a TIG torch once I'm sure I like the setting. Right now I appear to have about -1.5° on both wheels, which I think may be a little much considering I'm not racing it, but time (and the tires) will tell. It would be lame to lose my adjustment from a pothole collision or something, but it's really not too terribly hard to adjust and the slots keep the bolts captive so it would not result in a disastrous situation.

 

-Colin

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