I've made a bit more progress this last couple of nights. I've really got to get cracking on it or I won't be ready for Shelby fest. I'm also working up in India for the next couple of weeks so time is short.
Here'a pic of the new lower arm in the jig sitting next to the original arm. The bushings used in the jig are all machined from aluminum and locate all the pieces so they don't move when welding. They arms do spring a little when they come out of the jig so I still have to tweek them a little in the hydraulic press afterwards. I made some fixtures to let me do that accurately.
You can also see in this pic how the shock mout position is about the same place as the original. I've tried to move it in closer to the center line so it doesn't put as much of a twisting force on the arm.
Here's the finished upper arm in it's jig sitting next to the original. This took a bit of thinking to make an arm that would clear the upper chassis rail without having to cut anything.
The upper arm turned out nice and looks pretty cool with it's swoopy curves.
Both Jigs are made from some heavy wall RHS and are designed to make standard length or shortened arms. You wouldn't want to drop one on your toe either as they weigh a ton.
The next thing to sort out is the supension bushes. I've given away the idea of using nylon as I reckon it would pound out into an oval shape over time. I setled on Urethane as it has a little give in it that should make it last.
My local auto parts shop (who I often frequent) kindly let me go over their range of urethane bushes with a vernier caliper looking for something suitable. I finally found some bushes that had about the right dimensions or ID and OD. I made a small fixture that let me clamp the bush in the lathe and then with some very sharp tooling and a fast spindle speed I was able to trim them down to exactly what I wanted. I also machined up some steel sleeves for them to run on and they should work a treat.
The bushes on the right are the original. The ones on the left have been trimmed.
Now I've got to build the arms for the passengers side and paint everything ready for assembly.
Cheers