1946 Morris 8 Series E - off to storage

That's sort of what I've started doing.

I found some plans and some images with measurements on the web, and my designs are based on those.

I've also taken measurements from the seats I have at home.

I'm going to refine the design till i get something I'm happy with.


Next step will be to make in ply to see if the basics works.

Padding will be glued on neoprene type placed at strategic points.

Or Meccano.

Decided to be productive on the first day of my holiday and turn some more parts.

I need to get the rack mounting and steering sorted out and it been waiting for me to machine up an adapter from the upright to a rod end. This is so I can move the steering joint above the steering arm rather than below it.

As this is just a mock up one to allow setting of the steering rack, its made out of mild steel. The proper one will be made out of EN24 but I want to know what it needs to look like first.

Much turning on the lathe later...





I had to cut a taper section to go into the taper on the steering arm. I took a load of measurement and then worked out the angle. The proper way of cutting the taper is to set the tail stock over. I've not got any drive dogs to allow between center turning so had to set and angle on the top slide and use that. It worked quite well.

The bulbous bit at the bottom isn't needed, but i was lazy so didnt cut it off.

I then turned up a couple of tapered spacers for the rod end to the shaft.







Parts assembled then look like this.



and on the upright.



Considering it isn't cut the right way, the taper fitted fairly well and when lightly tapped in it grabs well.

The shaft is over long to allow for some vertical adjustment of the rod end position. Once its all sorted out it'll be changed to the correct length. The washers and nuts are just temporary to hold it together.

Next step will be trying to get the rack into the right position to minimise bump steer.

Nice work,

Mean stance. Quite like the skull and cross bones haha

It's quite easy to get lost in the wealth of detail in this thread, but seeing the car from a bit of a distance brings home quite how awesome this thing's going to be! Probably my most anticipated project roll-out!

Bump steer bump steer bump steer...

I spent quite a while working on this.

First things first. Accurate way of measuring required. There was an example of a setup in race and rally car source book, so made one of these.





Left hand side is a length of threaded rod with a point turned on it. This sets a fixed distance for the bar from the surface. The other side is the clock. As the suspension cycles the hub turns for any wheel angle change and the reading comes up on the guage.



oh dear of dear. First go nets +/- circa 5mm change. rack is very much out.

Pretty apparent the frame isnt sturdy enough either.

mk2 frame (mk1 frame + extra plywood). very much stiffer



Next issue. moving the rack up / down accurately is a pain with the shims. Make a proper jig that maintains alignment.

Rack base plate





jig base plate



assembled.



trial fit shows the rods are too long and get in the way. Cut them down and also weld into base to reduce amount of nuts required so rack can go lower.

in situ



winding the nuts up / down raises / lowers the rack and means it can be locked in a fixed position.



que a number of hours making it all go up and down, adjust rack, repeat.



End result is pretty minimal toe change over the normal suspension range, with some increase of bump steer on extreme compression (which would require the bump stop to have collapsed completely (so a bit unlikely movement scenario).

i'm pretty happy with the location, so onto designing the proper rack mount. This will be a few mm lower than the measurements so there is +/- shimming room should I make any changes to castor etc.

CAD modelling.





whats handy in the CAD package is that the sheet metal parts can be unfolded.



I can then do a drawing, print it out full scale, and I have a bend and cut map :-)

In situ, it'll look a bit like this.



I have to decide now if I want to fab it from tube of from sheet like the mockup above.

You make a valid point there Varelse.

Spent a bit of time in the workshop today.

I don't have a plotter so had to print off the full scale drawing in sections



so I can piece them together into a single drawing.



Printer scaling issues.....

3rd times a charm







Then glue onto a piece of 1.5mm sheet



trim to size. Cutting 1.5mm sheet in my sheet metal shear requires much much jumping up and down on the bar.



and commence the hole cutting



and more cutting



I had to use hole saws for the larger holes as I don't have a q-cutter the right size. I set the milling machine on slow and applied a load of lube. They cut surprisingly accurate holes.

and begin folding.



This required me to mod my home made bender with additional clamp bolts as it was flexing a bit and starting to change the bend rad with it



the second double 90 bend was completed partially in the bender and then completed using hammers...





i then tacked it all together to check it, and removed the paper cut template.







I now have the issue of having to make new swage dies to suit the larger holes (i only have up to 25mm diam). Biggest to do is 64mm hole, with the others 32mm.

I've modeled them up and completed a drawing.

Getting the right size piece of stock is expensive, so I think i'll probably get 10mm thick pieces of steel and laminate them together. Then I can turn them to he right size.

10mm thick offcuts rounds (basically waste hole center sections from laser cutting holes plate) are cheap and will do the job.

Better get designing.

wow, really cool work on that stand....I'm very jealous and would love a bead roller!

JP