Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I was grinding the weld prep and realised.... darnit, shouldve just went in the slot with a chamfer bit after endmilling the slot..
Oh well..

Two 3/8-24 set screws this time with blue locktite

Welded

So i finished the holes enough to ream them .8635, got a chucking reamer, hit that, then got the trusty sunnen bore gauge to watch taper and round-ularity and honed them for a palm press fit with a napa brake cylinder hone.. one is a slight light hammer tap fit, but i kept it there as opposed to potentially getting it too loose...

Job done.
It was a great exercise in welding warpage if anything. I learned a bit.

It was interesting to note the bosses didnt go out of round on the id or od with the welding and it only shrank the top down where the weld is like .002 on one and .003 on the other (if memory serves me) after welding the flag on. In any case, it wasnt enough to cause alarm. A couple drags on the lapping table and its good.
I decided on 2 .005 shims on the top, in my mind i fingured the shims will slide on each other while turning as opposed to one sliding against both surfaces... whether theres merit in that I dunno, it just made sense in my mind.

Nice work Kiwi.

So i got it done, i had some trouble with the calipers hitting the steering arms and the bolts holding the steering arms sticking out too far, i couldnt bring the steering arms closer to get a steering lock because the caliper then wouldnt slide, and if i gave the caliper room id have no turning circle...

So i counterbored the steering arm and got allen key bolts to go in there, that gave me room, made these 3/4” spacers, and ponied up for wilwood calipers.

These were slim enough to do everything i needed them to do.

Perfect.

As it sits here, it only weighs 120lbs. Nice. Quite a change fron the front suspension clip of these cars originally....
With a 450lb mostly alloy engine weight and the coilovers being maybe 8lbs each its nice.

I originally told the guy who Sent me the axle kit i didnt want speedway stuff, low and behold thats what he sent..
So it all went in the trash.

I ended up using 55 chevy steering arms, heated and bent for correct ackerman.. actually i think they were pretty much right there perfect, only a gnats cock if anything... the steering arm for the drag link was i think a 35ish chevy one, heated and bent straight to match the steering box..

The ball joint holes i taper reamed from the top side so the steering crosslink fits between the 4 bars..

The drag link and panhard rod sit level with the ground with engine weight.. after trimming them bolts itll all be good. Just haveto plumb brakes and the car is ready for the new engine pretty much