Front Suspension.

The front hubs for the build came from an F registration Sierra 1600LX. Once again another car given to me to rob for parts and weigh in the shell for pound notes. The discs were vented and although in good condition, I skimmed the faces true with a table grinder, to give a new set of brake pads a good start in life. The callipers were de-rusted with an acid stripper and painted with hammerite green.

The front suspension drawings in the book use Cortina front hubs and the Sierra hubs have a different top mounting. I measured up the Sierra unit and machined aluminium inserts on the lathe. My inserts were made to the drawings below, but many manufacturers now make them, so you can buy some straight off the shelf. The hardest part of the machining is matching the tapered bore in the centre to the taper of the angle on the top suspension joint. If the angles are not a perfect match the suspension joint will wobble when fully inserted. When I was satisfied with the angle, I final bored both inserts to finish size. The inserts fit snug into the hubs and a cross bolt clamps them in position. When assembled the top joint is tightened with a washer and locknut.

 Front lower wishbones are once again made to drawing and do actually use suspension bushes. The upper wishbones are modified to use more M10 x 1.5mm pitch rod end bearings. This gives more scope for set up once again with the front suspension. Shortening or lengthening the top wishbones using the rod end bearings and the thread length of the top suspension joint will alter the Camber Angle. The rod end bearings 14mm wide will move backwards and forwards inside the top mounting brackets. This will allow any alteration to the Caster Angle. Finally the Toe in or Toe out will be set by shortening or lengthening the steering rack using the Track Rod Ends.

The Ron Champion book gives detail for setting up the suspension and more diagrams of these angles. A correctly set front suspension will make your car handle with the best of them, and in pound notes, will make your front tyres last their full lifetime without getting premature wear on the edges of the tread.