Extended Dummy Struts (Mushrooms)

[agent_zed]

Hi,

getting the car ready for some sun (i know its coming one day!) and going to uprate the suspension.

 

Does anyone know where you can buy extended dummy struts from? had a look on kitspares and couldn't see any.

 

might just get some made to spec locally. anyone know if it's a 7 degree taper it needs for the ball joint?

 

thanks

[Bob Tucker]

Didnt GBS come up with a set as part of their wishbone upgrade kit?

[agent_zed]

i thought they sold them but there isn't any on kitspares which is GBS isn't it? Think i'll get some made up, my local engineer is always good to me doing little jobs.

[Guest chris brown]

Tiger do them or at least used to

[knights_templar]

http://www.kitspares.co.uk/shop/item.php?cat=16&product=5160&catsub=0

 

this them?

[agent_zed]

thanks but thats the entire conversion kit. I was just after the struts on their own.

 

Been thinking more about it and i think i'll just get some made so i can make them exactly as i want to fit in with my existing wing stays etc.

 

The angle of the top hole seems to be the main thing so that the balljoint doesn't reach full extension before the shock does, so the balljoint doesn't snap.

 

thanks

[Guest Ian Maycock]

I extended mine. Got a similar size tube and welded it to the bottom of the existing strut. Ground off the excess so there were no ridges. This meant I didn't have to bother with taper and angle of the top ball joint position..

[richyb66]

Wasn't old_timbo selling kits for this:

 

http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=24927

 

might be worth sending a pm.

[Guest old_timbo]

I found that the standard top wishbones were too long with the dummy strut lengthened sufficiently to sort the suspension geometry out.. This was part of the reason I had custom top wishbones in my kit, plus the ability to increase and set caster. 2B is far from 'square' so you need to be able to make unequal adjustments to get a setup that makes both sides match. As long as the shocks are positioned so that suspension movement is limited by their bump stops, I found you could keep the dummy strut taper central and parallel. Note IIRC tube diameter in the Sierra hub needs to be 45.5mm, 45mm tube will not clamp up without straining the hub. The only readily available / cheap tube I could find to turn down to this was scaffolding tube which starts out at about 48mm.

I made and sold 12 kits in the end. I've got a couple of dummy strut inserts with tapers left over and if any one wants to have a go at making some up I can come up with drawings / instructions and have a welding jig for the wishbones. The wishbones were where most of the thinking / experimentation time went.