Fiona: A 1975 2002

[Oxer]

Amazing quality. All the hard work will one day pay off. I admire your patience.

[ScubaSteve]

Glad i read this. Great work. I am jealous of your shop and tools. One day..

[white out]

Omg!

[treal512]

Words fail me...

[TinkWithanR]

Got a lot of prototyping done today. First up was to get the strut tubes bead blasted and welded back together:






Here you can see how much shorter they will be compared to a set of stock '02 struts. It turned out to be ~1.75":






Hmmm, what could these be for...






With the housing welded back together I cut a 1" hold in the bottom of them:






Then I went over to the other side of the building to use the large horizontal band saw. First I cut the welding spacer into two pieces 3.15" long (with some left over):






Then I also cut out some 4"x4" billet alum 1.25" long, which will be used for the roll center spacers that go on the bottom of the strut housing:






Everything all cut out and ready to go:






Here's the two strut tube spacers along with the CAD dwg I made up. Took some notes and got one spacer turned out.






Finished Piece:






Then I took some 1/2" stainless bar stock and made this guy:





He fits into the receiver on the bottom of the strut insert for adjusting the compression damping like so:






All the parts for the strut insert spacer laid out:






And assembled outside the strut tube:







And how it looks with everything installed in the strut housing:







This is how the roll center spacer will hold the second gear. Because the steering arms and outer ball joints for the front suspension mount directly underneath the strut housing, access to the compression damping adjustment screw is blocked. The gear assembly will let it be adjusted from the side of the roll center spacer, full external adjustment.






Moving on, I used the fly mill to square up the 4" chunks of aluminum to ensure the top and bottom are parallel and even to each other:






Then I machined a bunch of holes in it.






Parts for the roll center spacer laid out:






Assembled:






Then I added one M3x0.5 set screw for each of the bearings in the assembly:






And this is everything in place:






And how it will be covered with the steering arm installed:







Overall I'm very happy with how the assembly turned out. The weak link right now is definitely the plastic gears. I started with them mostly because of cost, they were $3 each while the equivalent steel gear is $20 per. I wanted to make sure the theory and practicality of the setup would work before spending the extra $80 on gears. Keeping that in mind I designed it around a gear size (d.p. and basic dimensions) that is available in both plastic and steel. The other reason why I wanted to try out the plastic gears first was corrosion resistance. Even though the assembly will be pretty much sealed from the elements, I'm sure water and grit will find it's way in there somehow. The mild steel gears may start to rust, so I'll need to pack the assembly with grease before putting the steering arm on to help prevent the gears from rusting together. All that's left is the drill the mounting holes for the roll center spacer to the housing, and the steering arms to the roll center spacer. Then I just have to rinse and repeat for the other side.


Thanks for looking!

[anth]

Wow! Very smart!

[blueHatch_HF]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

[jimbo]

Insane...

[TeckniX]

hopefully you don't get a bunch of dirt/water stuck in there - it would probably suck to get it all cleaned up and prevent the plastic gears from shredding each other.

[TinkWithanR]

Wow! Very smart!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

Insane...

Thanks guys

hopefully you don't get a bunch of dirt/water stuck in there - it would probably suck to get it all cleaned up and prevent the plastic gears from shredding each other.

Like I said above, I'll seal it from the elements when it gets assembled. Probably with some silicon around the edges and then pack it with some grease to help repel water. But even if grit gets in it will only be very small pieces (no open holes so it would need to be smaller than a grain of sand). That and the fact that the gears won't rotate much, only when you need to change compression damping, which isn't exactly an everyday event.

[Vjete]

You are crazy! Love your progress!

[DinanDave]

I love your fab work! Your an incredible fabricator

[rhoderacer]

You are a god to my 2002 build.

[godzillus]

Great work my friend! You have the vision and the hands to build it!

[fivefourzero]

this is so good, you are a very talented person.