Fast Cars IFS

[Donunder]

The pics are up on my screen Arthur.
"Shirt?" I meant to say skirt.
I think the extra width is in the A arms. I'll check when we have it all out.

[Donunder]

OK-- a couple of things.

I'll sort out my Flickr pages so that future pics will stay up...

A quick heads-up regarding my IFS...
I'm going through a very frustrating time here. I went away for a short break just after the IFS arrived and I missed a "window of opportunity" to get on with the instal.

My mate Scott at Venom who attended to all the compliance work for the Arntz runs a one man show and just now he is swamped with work, some of it rather urgent. He has a couple of customer road builds on the go which have gone onto the back burner while he is trying to get through some last minute work for other customers relating to our imminent Cobra Nationals. He is also plugging a turboed 4 litre Lexus motor into his own track car for the Nationals.

Needless to say, workshop space and time is at a premium and my job is down the priority list while the Nationals work takes precedence -- which is fair enough. As soon as Scott can put a couple of days aside for Arnie, things will start to happen.

[PDUB]

I thought it was only 4-bolts that hold that thing in there and away you go Don!

I can't wait to hear how it works... I'm sure it is frustrating you as you wait...

Did you drive it with the old front end?

[Donunder]

If it were a four bolt job it would have been done by now. Have a look at some of lal Naja's posts to see what conceivably can be involved. I've long since learned that there ain't no such thing as a straight-forward job, and if I'm playing about with brakes and steering, I'm pretty keen to make sure it's done well!

We'll be taking our time and making sure the installation is spot on, and there'll be some more work relating to the steering column to be attended to too. A new front sway bar has to be fabricated. The original radiator is being replaced with an alloy one and the original shocks in back will be upgraded to match the all-new gear in front. Anything else that could benefit from a tidy-up while we're under there will be looked after. It's for these reasons that I'm not rushing Scott to do this job while he's up to his eyeballs attending to various racecars' preparation for the Nationals.

Yes I have been driving the car since Christmas-floods permitting- with the standard MGB front end. The steering is a little heavy at low speeds but still nice and direct. The brakes? Well the brakes are not shall we say up to modern standards. I've had to adjust my braking distances a bit -- not that I'm a demon late braker--it's just that Arnie is more leisurely in the braking department now than hopefully she will be when the Wilwoods are doing their thing up front.

Soon, soon...

[PDUB]

Again, I'm looking forward to the before and after critique! Should be interesting. Hope things go well for you!

[Donunder]

It's been a long time but we're back in action! Yeaaayyy!

OK...without the whole drawn out story.. the Cobra Nationals are done and dusted, my mate Scotty scooped the pool with his turboed Lexus powered home built Cobra, he was all set to get stuck into my Arntz when he had a heart "turn" and ended up in the hospital with the doctors reading the riot act about working too hard and ordering a comprehensive change in lifestyle. (Like more salads and less beer!) As a result I've had to enlist the services of another Queensland Cobra Club member, Peter Beehag who owns OnTrack Engineering on the Gold Coast.

Pete designed and built his own Cobra. It is a genuine scratch-built creation and showcases a lot of his fabrication and suspension skills learned in a lifetime of race car building. He is midway through repairing the ex-Garrie Cooper MR8 Formula 5000 car which was extensively damaged a few months ago in an historic race in Ruapuna, New Zealand. The quality of his workmanship is first class and I'm fortunate to have managed to tear him away from the MR8 for a while to tend to Arnie.

On the way down to Pete's two days ago I ran over a bit of car radio aerial whick pierced the sidewall of the right rear tyre which had done about 1500 kilometres and was the first flat tyre I've had in years. I'm hoping that that's the last of the bad luck associated with this project and that things will go smoothly from now on.

While Arnie's front end is out I'm shouting him a new alloy radiator as the original one is weeping rather badly. Pete will be fabricating a 25 mm sway bar which may end up facing backwards depending on space. One change I didn't want to do is that we may have to nibble a hole in the engine bay skirt between the motor and the radiator. The Fast Cars IFS is slightly taller than the old MGB one at the upper shock absorber mount. We'll see.

I'm just happy to see things on the move again.

[Donunder]

We're nearly there!
You were right Arthur-- the steering is proving more problematic than we thought, but Peter's on top of it and Arnie should be back on the road, with two new rear tyres , within a few days. It'll be a pleasure to drive without having to cope with a jiggling steering wheel.
Ted's IFS looks sensational in there- just a small alteration required to sit it in place.
Report with pics shortly.