TECH: Z-ing wishbones, my way

On my model A coupe build, I'm using 32 rails, 36 banjo rear, 36 wishbones and a torque tube. The problem I ran into, was, at ride height, the rear wishbones had very little clearance before they would hit the frame. There was a 1/2", which obviously is not going to fly, so I had to make some minor alterations, to make it work.

The solution was to Z the bones. I decided to start with the S shaped piece that would lower the bones 2.5", enough to clear the frame.

Since the original wishbones are oval and tapered, I came up with a solution to make oval tubing.
The "cut" wish bone end pictured have been replaced by one that have the the spring hanger.


#1: 1.5" heavy tubing was put in the 20 ton hydraulic (manual) press, to crush the pipe to the desired shape.



#2: I started pie cutting the oval tubing, so I could "bend" it to the shape I wanted.


#3: I bent and then welded, the oval tubing so it would retain it's shape.
Sorry no picture. BTW: if you don't feel comfortable welding, the piecuts back together, you should rethink about doing this at all.
This is structural stuff and you don't want any failure here.


#4: Grind your "S" so it looks presentable.


#5: Reinstall your wishbones, and mark where you need to cut them to insert the new Z'd piece.

#6: Cut and tack all pieces together, uninstall the bones again and "bench" weld them, TIG is recommended. (I also insterted, and welded a smaller tubing inside the big tube to bridge the pieces, not pictured)


#7: Grind them nice and make them look like they came that way, from the factory.
Boxing plate template shown below

#8: Take a template for boxing plates.
I feel, these bones could use boxing plates that span the entire area of the disturbed tubing. I did not get to this point, all thats pictured is a template for the boxing plated, you'll need 4 of these, 2 for each wishbone.

That's it, not much to it, just time consuming, but well worth it in my opinion. Most of this work will actually never be seen unless you look under the car.
Thanks for looking, here are the finished pictures (before the boxing plates).

 

Awesome post. Do you think you could bend the tube for your curve and then put it in the press? For the not so confident welders (or not so patient). Either way, that looks great.

slim

 

Chris that is some beautiful fab work.

 

Hi,

Will you have any issues getting a roadworthy for that in CA? Just asking cause here in oz it would be a definite no no.

Looks awesome.

Cheers,
Todd.

 

Hell no, no issues here, when I'm done with it, it will be stronger than how it was originally.

 

Looks good, nice flow

 

Man, that is some work you will always be super prowd to have done!

 

i love the look, and it is function with style. great tech week guys!!!!!

 

Very nice Chris, I will have to figure something out with this issue on the 32 chassis we have going.... figure out your crossmember issue yet?

 

VERY nice work! I can only imagine how nice the rest of your car will turn out....
Thanks for the write-up.

Malcolm

 

Did you cut and reweld the spring hangers back on also?

 

Way cool on the zeed bones

 

I am also wondering if what slim said would work at the top of this post. Is it possible to bend the pipe then crush it or will it lose the bend when you gor to crush it???? Just any way to make life easier in this process. Beautiful work by the way

 

Nice job. I did kinda the same...just different.



Neal

 

looks smooth chris...leave it to the wood guy to get all technical with his templates

 

How did you weld that ??

TIG ? MIG ? STICK ?

 

It's all tig welded

 

Thats Good...

I was gonna be scared to drive close if you said you wire welded it.

7018 stick would be o.k.... Burn that shit together.. but NO WIRE !

 

What difference does that make?

 

not a damn bit of difference.

 

What type of rear spring did you use? Std or reversed eyes, number of leaves etc.

A friend of mine runs a stock spring and a 36 rear and bones and he never had a problem.

The reason I ask, as I will be using this same setup (be it with an open banjo) for the 32 i'm collecting parts for.

 

My thinking was, that if I start with the right size stock, oval in this case, there would not be any change in shape after pressing it, also cracking welds were a bit of a concern. All in all, I don't know, it's the first time I've done this, it could work both ways, experiment guys, experiment.

Stock model A spring, but your question should be, what the ride height of the car is going to be.
If the car was scraping the ground, this would not work, and if it was really high of the ground (stock height), I could have left the wishbones stock.
I'm going with, for me the ultimate look, the rear tire hugging the wheel wells perfectly. Classic high boy.

 

looks good
i have them stock on my car....its pretty high but they still hit every once in a while on a really big bump
Zach

 

??? No Difference ?

Thats cool, I dont have a clue as to what i am talking about.

You wanna Wire Weld on such a stress point that up to you.

But for me, If i was to weld up such a point that had the Power of the Engine, The stress of the suspension working & tieing the rear end in my car.

T.I.G. or Quality Stick is the only way to go.

Maybe thats why the rear end HASENT ripped out of my Hemi Powered car... But every month or so we read here on the H.A.M.B. of someones rear axle falling out or there AIR RIDE brackets rip off the frame.

But What the Fuck do i Know.

Not sure if i would do this, But it looks like DREADMAN isnt gonna risk his car or life on WireFeed in a critical stress point.

 

Well I checked the last months posts and nobody's rear suspension or axle etc. has failed. I see you point on welding this with TIG but there is no way I would choose ARC over a good MIG. Not to mention if someones to gusset this and drill holes in the gussets then plug weld it as well it would not fail.

Keep in mind that most of these vehicles will break (skinny bias ply's) the tires free before hooking and putting major twist motion on the rear axle.

Also keep in mind that the majority of motors built for these rods are not massive torque monsters. If one was to be building a motor with serious horsepower for said vehicles they really should consider a more modern less traditional suspension setup.

That said, you know all though... I keep forgetting....

By the way... Air ride just doesn't belong on these vehicles.

 

Apparently not as much as you think. There's nothing inferior about MiG welds that makes it unsuitable for this application. If done correctly, the welds will be stronger than than the base metal. So if something does break, it won't be the welds.

 

Wow!. Looks great , nice work.

 

the wishbones dont really have alot of stress on them in a torque tube application

Zach

 

I work on HEAVY equipment that sees WAY more stress than ANYTHING on a car, and all repair work is done with a MIG (and rare occassions stick)......FWIW....it's the guy welding...not the machine...
But let's not derail this thread with weld talk.....

Dreadman.....Damn, that looks gooooood......between your chassis and Neal's, makes me want to switch gears and build a '32 frame.....nice work fellas....