Fast Cars IFS

[Donunder]

That's a lovely pic of the IFS isn't it Arthur? Mine will be black.

PDUB: Brakes are the stock size 40 vane ventilated (but not drilled) Wilwood rotors to fit inside a 15" wheel.

Calipers are these: Wilwood High-Performance Disc Brakes - Dynapro Dust-Boot Calipers

It was a toss-up whether to stay with the stainless pistons without the dust boot, or go to the dust boot model with alloy pistons. I figured that there'd be less hassle if I'm ever pulled up by the Transport Dept inspectors to have the dust boot model, even though both are frowned upon by our authorities.

And good news!!!! Ted emailed me this morning to say everything's ready to go. My import agent is arranging shipment today so depending on space availability on the plane, it should be here and ready for collection early next week, or even this weekend!

Light steering and great brakes! Happy days...

[Buzz]

It's going to be worth every penny and every minute of waiting, Don. While not a Fast IFS, one of the first things I did when I set about rebuilding my vintage Unique Cobra was to toss the MG front suspension and bolt in Unique's coil-over IFS. The difference was night and day - up there with the best money I ever spent on the Cobra.

[Donunder]

Thanks Buzz.

Good to know.

[lal Naja]

Originally Posted by Buzz

It's going to be worth every penny and every minute of waiting, Don. While not a Fast IFS, one of the first things I did when I set about rebuilding my vintage Unique Cobra was to toss the MG front suspension and bolt in Unique's coil-over IFS. The difference was night and day - up there with the best money I ever spent on the Cobra.

The Unique was another serious consideration for my IFS. It should have fit just fine. But FastCars is just a 2.5 hour drive from my house and Ted let me crawl all over his suspension to measure, take templates, etc. etc. I was able to see a install in progress on an MGB and crawl all over that too. So it's FastCars IFS for me. Great product, great service, what more can I say.

Not sure if Unique would have given me the same freedom.

Arthur

[PDUB]

Originally Posted by Buzz

one of the first things I did when I set about rebuilding my vintage Unique Cobra was to toss the MG front suspension and bolt in Unique's coil-over IFS.

Did you get the upper shock towers with it or fabricate your own?

Originally Posted by Donunder

Good to know.

If I remember correctly, the Unique brakes are a little bigger than Ted's... 12" or 13", and still fit inside the 15" wheels.

Originally Posted by lal Naja

Not sure if Unique would have given me the same freedom.
Arthur

Yes they would have... they are a great bunch and are really good fabricators!


_______________

[Donunder]

IT'S ARRIVED !!!

After a nervous wait, the IFS finally arrived last Wednesday, cleared Customs on Thursday and hit the back of our old black truck on Friday.

Outside the customs agent's warehouse. The nice composite packing case used by Ted looks a little ominous in there, especially seeing that there is an investigation currently underway in Brisbane into the questionable transport practices of some of our local funeral companies.



Then it was off to Scott's place (Oz Venom) where the transplant will take place. Here's Scotty removing the coffin with his forklift.



Mmmm. Here it is.



These Wilwoods will be a huge improvement over the old MGB brakes. Hope I don't stand it on its nose first time out!



Now if we can just clear some of that other stuff out of here we can get started on an important job!



I must give thanks to Ted Lathrop and the crew at Fast Cars Inc. Ted has been incredibly helpful in our dealings, and after a short delay due to a backlog of work at his place, the goods arrived when Ted said they would. All the paperwork had been attended to efficiently and passed through customs smoothly, everything that had been ordered was included, the assembly was bolted to the bottom of the crate so that it couldn't move, and all appears at first inspection to be in good condition. I'm not expecting any gremlins to raise their ugly heads, and hopefully without boring you all too much I'll be posting pics as the work progresses.

While the front end is out I'm taking the opportunity of replacing the old brass radiator with a new alloy one. I'm in two minds about going away from the original style radiator but it's developed a few weeps over the years as you would expect and I think alloy is now the way to go.

[Rebel1]

Don, Scotty looks a little worried in that last pic.

[Donunder]

I think he'd just dropped a sandwich on the floor Les.

[lal Naja]

Great! Oz Venom looks like a cool shop too.

Just yesterday I finally finished the alignment on the IFS & the IRS Measurements between front and back wheels is EXACT.

Diagonal measurements from front left & back right and vise versa is off 1/16" I could have got it exact but it required a bit more cutting on the front frame and elongating the IRS mounting holes and I think I've been obscessive enough about this install. Enough already!

Don, may I suggest that you drill Teds mounting holes out to 3/4" and once the IFS is aligned go the shaft collar locking method I wrote about earlier.

I should have done this right from the go. Instead, had to use a die grinder and hand shape the holes to get the alignment correct. Hated the process! Using the die grinder covers you with sharp needle like steel splinters.

Could have drilled the holes to 3/4" in stead of die grinding in situ, but that meant I would have to have dropped the IFS. I would have had to called someone for a hand to do this. Working alone has it's downside.

But what ever approach you take, using the four 1/2"the shaft collars will give you a positive and perfect locating method for dead on acurate removal and replacement. Not that you will have to remove and replace it too often, but if you ever do you can bypass the alignment PITA.

I know hearing about drilling in to a nice new is like hearing screaching nails on a chalk-board, but that will be the reality, unless some how by fate, your frame holes mate.

Please let me know what you discover. BTY, working on your car in the Southern hemisphere must be a little easier as it's already up-side-down LOL!!

Arthur

[Donunder]

Originally Posted by lal Naja

May I suggest that you drill Teds mounting holes out to 3/4" and once the IFS is aligned go the shaft collar locking method I wrote about earlier.

Thanks Arthur...you must be a mind-reader.

Scott had read your comment on the collar lockers and in fact he mentioned it to me when we were looking at the mounting holes the other day. As you saw from the crowded appearance of his workshop it may be a few days before we can get to do mine but he's appreciative of the information you've provided and we'll be guided by your experiences with the installation for sure.

[lal Naja]

Don, your installation will be a lot easier than mine as you got the 2" wider IFS. You will just be able to hoist it into position and check how much of a hole alignment issue you have.

I had to cut two bird mouth notches in my chassic before I could do that. Being the first has it's price I guess. The notches also limited how much front to back movement I had for aligning the holes. And the movement towards the rear was finite. You may not have to drill as big as 20mm. Keep your fingers crossed.

Did you have Ted make the extension steering shaft to connect the Rack & Pinion directly to the MGB steering column? I had Ted make one for me out of aircraft grade 20mm aluminum shaft. If you have the standard MGB column it will be a direct connect to Teds. You can toss the intermediate shaft that typically was used. If you use the intermediate you have, you will have to add brackets & bearing supports for it, otherwise I think it will introduce a lot of flex and sloppy steering.

Open the bonnet and take a picture of the setup you have now. I'd be interested before I comment further.

Arthur

[Donunder]

Here are a couple of (very poor) shots of my steering column Arthur.
As I mentioned in my PM to you, the fibreglass skirt at the front of the engine bay covers the column / steering rack connection, so for the moment this is all I can show you. Ted did provide me with an additional universal joint with a short length of column attached, but as you have indicated, it will be a matter of pulling everything out, appraising what we have, and then coming up with a plan of attack.





I'll be away for the next month or so. As soon as I have something more worthwhile to show you, I'll get onto it.

[Donunder]

I should have mentioned too that that gruesome water pipe is only a temporary measure until we sort out where the column is going, and where the pipe needs to be mounted to accommodate the new alloy radiator that will be going in at the same time as the IFS.

The original pipe was pretty much clogged up, as you could expect in a car as "mature" as this one. Never mind, she's still a remarkable old thing and we've planned some sympathetic upgrades over the next little while that will preserve her status and hopefully not detract from her heritage.

[lal Naja]

Don, I'm not able to see any photos. Anyway I do have some comments after seeing your Flickr album.

One photo shows the fiberglass 'Shirt' that covers the MGB IFS. I had to cut a small section out of the left rear corner for the steering shaft to connect from Ted's Rack to the MGB column. It is a triangular shaped section about 100mm high and in proportion it resembles a 30-60-90 Set square. Your 'shirt' is not shaped the same as mine so yours may be different. And Ted's 2" wider unit may fit a little different to mine.

After looking at photos of your (Ted's) IFS. And I know you got the 2" wider unit. I'm not able to tell what is wider. Are just the 'A' arms longer by an inch? Did he move the shock tower to a different location so that it will not bind with your chassis? So I'm not clear on this.

I totally re-engineered the MGB column using stainless steel tubing with custom machined UHMWMDS shoulder bushes at both ends, A Bronze thrust washer for the turn signal canceling pin to ride against and locking collar at the bottom end. You can see a picture in my Album here on the forum. EDITED 2015. The UHMWMDS was a BAD choice for the steering column. As the engine bay heated up the inner steering shaft would jamb tight and steering became downright dangerous. See my Facebook photo album which has a lot more photographs of this work.

The MGB column is poorly designed (Junk) with an ill-fitting split plastic bush at the steering wheel end and a felt bush (yes Felt, Union hat makers needed work I guess) at the universal joint end. I could pull the steering wheel in and out more than 3/8" even after my first rebuild to MGB specs. I pulled/pushed the column in and out and after turning the wheel a couple of times I mangled a new turn signal switch/horn contact finger.

The column is not too much of a problem in the MGB as it fits directly from column to Rack with one universal. For the Cobra an intermediate shaft is used with two universals this setup can be pulled and everything gets longer. This slop I'm sure, contributes to inaccurate steering.

Since I wrote this post in 2011 I have totally modified the way the MGB steering column connects to the FastCars IFS. I Connect directly from the MGB to the FastCars IFS with one sliding DD steering intermediate shaft. Also makes removing the IFS or the steering column MUCH MUCH easier. This is the only way to go!!!

Regards,

Arthur

[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.