Leaf sprung A arm bolt washer and nut question

[LMH]

There's a particular way it's wrapped as AC did it back in the day. I remember reading about it but have no idea now where I saw that.
Larry

[1985 CCX]

I know this is a modified car, however Vintage raced....

[CompClassics]

Interesting, the sway bar pick up points are out board of the frame rails. It looks as though they are running AN bolts although they are not the close tolerance sheer bolts that the SAI
Team Cobras used. I can not see an additional plate added that would put the bolt in a double sheer mounting which would be the preferred / safer arrangement vs the stock single sheer mount.

[1985 CCX]

John agreed....

As Dan said, mods are made and originality falls away as cars age.

[Mark IV]

Sorta like this...

[MAStuart]

Originally Posted by CompClassics

Interesting, the sway bar pick up points are out board of the frame rails.

I asked about this at one time. My drawings show them on the inside and thought it was wrong. The reason I thought it was wrong was I had seen more pictures with them on the outside. When they are on the outside it supports the sway bar more where it bends back to the lower wishbone. I was told that leaf sprung cars did not all come with sway bars or the brackets welded on . I don't know if this is true or not.

If you get the time to measure the bolt it would be interesting to see how it compares to the drawings I have.

Thanks Mark

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by MAStuart

I was told that leaf sprung cars did not all come with sway bars or the brackets welded on . I don't know if this is true or not.
Thanks Mark

The very earliest chassis sent to the USA did not have stabilizer bar mounting features. That didn't last very long as it was cheaper to get AC Cars in include them on all chassis than pay SAI employees to make up something and weld them on and all that means when ordered.

Street and most race (CSX2431 doesn’t count because it had many non stock systems tested on it) including the first Daytona Coupe before 427 Cobras were developed the rubber bushings for the bar was a 1950s Ford part and the clamps to fix them to the chassis were hand fabricated from hot rolled steel flat bar. I don’t know if SAI fabricated the clamps or had them made but today that are pretty rare. It literally took more than three decades for me to get unmolested samples of original clamps in my hands to reverse engineer into drawings. Drawings done, I still haven’t found steel stock to match what originals were made out of. I have a steel sample on order from another place to check out right now.


By sometime in 1965 the clamps and bushings were quite different. At least some Cobras finished in 1965 and some 427 Cobras finished in 1966 used the same parts for a front stabilizer system, example CSX2497 and CSX3265 front stabilizer bar systems were the same.

I can't recall who anymore but decades ago at a SAAC convention one of the ex-SAI race team told us he was hired in as a general worker and his first job was put brackets on new chassis that didn’t already have them.

[MAStuart]

Good stuff Dan. What makes the steel hard to find? Is it Thickness or finish
or the metal comp itself? Do you have a ruff idea of about the chassis number that they started welding the bracket on at ac? Did ac weld them all on the inside? I have a picture of one of the original coupes . They are on the outside on this car. It is not the first one built other than that I am not sure what one it is.

Mark

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by MAStuart

Good stuff Dan. What makes the steel hard to find? Is it Thickness or finish
or the metal comp itself?
Mark

The original steel was as rolled to thickness and width in a hot band steel roll mill. The process left rounded side edges and appearance wise are tough to recreate from sheared stock. It can be done but it would be tedious.

It was probably just a cheap easy to get structural steel stock at the time.

I started a thread with pictures.