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9. Uprights

I have an SV chassis which I believe is referred to in the manual as wide track. Therefore the first job is to fit the top hat spacer into the underside of the lower wishbone ball joint. They are a very tight fit, to the point where I feared damaging them if I tried to press fit. Chris Collins suggests putting the top hats into the freezer to make them contract - what a terrific tip. Ten minutes was sufficient to allow them to slide into position.


I put the car jack under the lower wishbone to support it, and then dropped the upright into position. The upper wishbone bolt engaged with the corresponding hole in the upright, but not sufficiently to get a nut onto the thread. Lifting the car jack almost as high as possible changed the angular relationship between the upright and the thread on the upper wishbone bolt which then dropped into the position.


At this point I loosely fitted the sacrificial nut used for pulling the upper wishbone thread down fully through the upright and loosely coupled the the steering rod. I have to say it all looked fantastic at this point!



Suspension fully built - but not torqued

I had read Caterham comments about not torquing the wishbones up until the full weight of the car is on the ground and supported by the suspension - this apparently sets the bushes correctly. I have also read about lots of frustration from builders who realise that once the build is further advanced with the addition of oil tanks, cooling systems etc. the wishbone bolts become inaccessible. At the time of writing I'm unclear what to do about this - work to do.







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3 Comments


Guest
Mar 29, 2023

What was your decision in deciding whether to torque the wishbones now or at a later stage in the build? Thanks

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Guest
Mar 31, 2023
Replying to

Thanks. I don't yet have engine fitted so might wait a bit, or having looked at many photos (and an older build guide) I might set lower wishbone level and upper should be slightly raised.

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