Project Downward Spiral
- Thread starter RCman
- Start date
Justpunchit
NAXJA Member #1291
- Location
- Jaffrey, NH
Ok it's picture day, what you got for the class this week?
- Location
- Camden, SC
Time for me to join the class I think! :wave1:
muduck18
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Geigertown, PA
Hey what happened to picture day?
I feel like something is missing in my week....
BTW :worship: awesome work.
I feel like something is missing in my week....
BTW :worship: awesome work.
Haha... I really don't think there is much one can learn from me. Maybe I try to be too humble.
Anyway, Ghost was asking about my high steer arms in another thread. I'll post what I responded to here so all the information is in one place.
From the other thread:
As for the plans for the steering arms... I never made any real official drawings of them. I've got a few sketches on some paper and those plywood mockups. I could quickly dimension it all out for you if you needed and send it your way if you are truly interested. Let me know and I'll get on that sometime this weekend.
For the cost of the steering arms, I couldn't even throw a guess. Of course I didn't pay for my labor and I got the 4140 alloy steel relatively cheap (which is really overkill, 1020 or 1018 would probably be fine).
The above being said, you can purchase high steer arms from a few companies that are already offset for the H1s. I didn't do that for a few reasons.
First, most of the ones that I would have been able to afford all retain the use of the stock cap. If you look closely at the cap you'll see that it has a pretty decent fillet around the edge of the spring retainer before it gets tot he cap bolts. I didn't like the fact that the inside of the arm would have to get radius'd to clear those as in my opinion it makes for a kind of weak setup.
Secondly, most of the arms are only 3/4 or 1" thick and do not have an angle on the end to correct for the proper alignment of the joints. Sure, I could have added it myself, but at the 9degrees it takes to correct the angle the material thickness drops almost 1/4". I didn't feel that 1/2" (starting with 3/4") or 3/4" (starting with 1") was enough. It probably is, but I just didn't want it if I was going to be using a 3/4" bolt. By starting with the 1-1/4" material that I did I was able to retain just over 1" at the end after the corrected angle where the bolt goes through.
Third, I just plain enjoyed making them!
Sorry for the long winded post, I probably have to much thought into it.
Again, let me know if you want me to create quick drawing for you with dimensions and I'll do it.
Thanks for the props!
Picture day went out the window last weekend when I realized all that progress I made the weekend prior was good, except that the tire contacted the coilover with about 3.5" left of compression to go. Took almost all day Saturday to rework the mounts and angle them as such that I could use almost all the 14" of travel. It took a lot of time that I didn't expect as it was a bunch of "tack, assemble, flex, remove, repeat" until I got a happy medium. Tedious, but not much I could do as I don't have much room back there due to the spacing of the H1s.
As I have it now, I am limiting myself by 1/2" uptravel and 3/8" droop. No big deal really as I would need to have the bumpstops and limit straps stop the suspension before the coilovers reached the end of the travel anyway. To give you an idea of how much I moved it, I was originally looking at an angle of 8 degrees outward with the hoops. After all said and done, I'm now looking at about 2 degrees inward. It doesn't look at shapr anymore, but it functions much better. I'll get some better pictures up hopefully this weekend.
As with everything I've seen to have done with this build, had I known about this I would have done some other things differently. Mainly with the replacement rails out back.
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5spd_xj
<<the good ol days
- Location
- Dracut, MA
You said it. :cheers:
5spd_xj
<<the good ol days
- Location
- Dracut, MA
My new Beard Ultra seats are in!!!
These things are absolutely amazing. Comfortable, well built, and look great. I am super pumped about these, I can't wait to use them.
I didn't get all the progress done this weekend I wanted to. I planned on having much more than I did done with the front shocks, but they posed a bigger problem than I had thought. Between that and the interuptions I had I wasn't able to finish them.
Going through into the engine bay isn't the easiest thing in the world to begin with due to the very tight space in there already it is difficult to build mounts without redesigning the whole front clip. As I want to be able to wheel sometime this summer, that wasn't doing to happen (at least in this stage, maybe later on down the road I'll cut up the front clip more).
Long story short, I have the 12" remote resi Fox's for the front. Really in order to use them I needed to go into the engine bay. So sure, no problem. Did that, got some upper mounts made and I'm ready to go. Now the issue is that because I need to get the resi's into the engine bay, I can't have mounts low enough to get the travel that I needed/wanted. Sure I could have cut a larger hole, but I really didn't want to. So below is a quick picture midway through the process where the side I'm working on is about 0.75" from full bump.
I'll need to cut off the lower shock mount that is on the T&T truss and weld on an extension for the spring perch along with some tabs in order to bring the mount of the shock up about 2".
This will give me 5.5" of uptravel (with 0.5" of stock shaft still showing) which is about all I can have until the upper link starts mating with the starter anyhow. Plenty perfect.
Sorry for the long winded post.
Here's that mid-process picture, I had others, but forgot to load them from the camera before someone decided to borrow it for the weekend.
These things are absolutely amazing. Comfortable, well built, and look great. I am super pumped about these, I can't wait to use them.
I didn't get all the progress done this weekend I wanted to. I planned on having much more than I did done with the front shocks, but they posed a bigger problem than I had thought. Between that and the interuptions I had I wasn't able to finish them.
Going through into the engine bay isn't the easiest thing in the world to begin with due to the very tight space in there already it is difficult to build mounts without redesigning the whole front clip. As I want to be able to wheel sometime this summer, that wasn't doing to happen (at least in this stage, maybe later on down the road I'll cut up the front clip more).
Long story short, I have the 12" remote resi Fox's for the front. Really in order to use them I needed to go into the engine bay. So sure, no problem. Did that, got some upper mounts made and I'm ready to go. Now the issue is that because I need to get the resi's into the engine bay, I can't have mounts low enough to get the travel that I needed/wanted. Sure I could have cut a larger hole, but I really didn't want to. So below is a quick picture midway through the process where the side I'm working on is about 0.75" from full bump.
I'll need to cut off the lower shock mount that is on the T&T truss and weld on an extension for the spring perch along with some tabs in order to bring the mount of the shock up about 2".
This will give me 5.5" of uptravel (with 0.5" of stock shaft still showing) which is about all I can have until the upper link starts mating with the starter anyhow. Plenty perfect.
Sorry for the long winded post.
Here's that mid-process picture, I had others, but forgot to load them from the camera before someone decided to borrow it for the weekend.
5spd_xj
<<the good ol days
- Location
- Dracut, MA
It might only be two pictures. but they're both wonderful pictures, so you are forgiven. :laugh3: Looks super. no pun intended 
Haha... I don't think the picture of the hanging shock does much really. It was the only picture I had of it so I threw it up. I needed something other than 400 words of text.It might only be two pictures. but they're both wonderful pictures, so you are forgiven. :laugh3: Looks super. no pun intended
- Location
- Camden, SC
Wow that looks so much better then my build! LOL!
Eh, I don't know... you are a whole heck of a lot closer to completion than I am!
- Location
- Camden, SC
Oh yea stay tuned my ghetto bump stop is coming soon!
I shall. That is another thing I was trying to work out the details for this weekend. I think the front is going to get the hockey puck treatment. The rear is going to get some sort of soft poly on the end of a section of 2" DOM inside a bump can. Cheap and effective, also if I ever come across some money I can just swap them right out for some blingin' air bumps.
Begster
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Cape Cod/Boston, Mass
Bill, I think you need to do something about that rust around those coil towers.
It isn't anything more than a light coat of surface rust. The whole area is going to get cleaned/prepped/painted when I do some stiffeners on the unirail up there.
- Location
- Port Orchard, WA
they make 90* fittings for shock reservoir hoses...
then you dont need a giant hole, just a slightly larger one, as the reservoir hose is going the same direction as the shock...
then you dont need a giant hole, just a slightly larger one, as the reservoir hose is going the same direction as the shock...
Ya, I think I've seen those.
The biggest issue isn't the size of the whole, but snaking the reservoir body itself into the engine bay. I'd like to keep the hole as small as possible. Right now I think I'll be able to get away without those 90degree fittings (they also have a 90degree swivel version). I was able to just get them up there, so I think I'm in business. The less I have to buy at this point the better.
Thanks for the tip though!
5spd_xj
<<the good ol days
- Location
- Dracut, MA
Haha! :roflmao:That seems to have been your motto throughout this build.
(I'm wiser now... I need to cut back the spending hard)
