9/05/99
Here is a view showing the changes I've made to the front suspension
so far. The bracket for the upper a-arm, and brackets for the lower a-arms are seen.
I still have some plates to weld on the top to cover the opening seen and will do
so after making sure everything is square. The bracket to the far right will be used
to mount the front arm of the lower a-arm. This bracket will be added to a new forward
cross member designed for this task and to also mount the radiator.
This is underside of the frame looking at the lower strut mount
that I will add. I went with a bracket that will allow a lot of adjustability both
up and down and in and out. The cross member will need a lot of cutting to get this
bracket in place.
Here are some of the other brackets I will be using -- plates for
the rollbar, mounts for the 4-link rear, and the large 6-hole bracket to mount and
adjust the spring rod.
I got out the Sawsall and the BFHammer and made some room for the
tires. I want to leave as much of the original unibody in place as possible while
adding stiffening with the cage.
Here's another view showing that the trunk floor has been removed to make room for new partial rear frame rails, a fuel cell, and suspension links.
In this view you can see that with the stock frame rails there
is 3.5" of clearance between the sidewall of the tire and the front of the frame
rail. The factory rails skew outward in the back and will have to be removed to be
replaced by rails that go straight back. The wide-5 rear end will be built to 57"
width which will bring the tires in another 1.5" per side.
In this view you can see where the 27x14" tire sits at a stock
axle width. Moving it in another 1.5" will allow me to get by with only minor
fender modification of up and down travel. It will also keep the rear of the car
narrow to make it easier to get through slaloms and tight turns found in many autocross
courses.