Projects Austin Somerset Gasser Build (DragNasty)

Didn't read through part of the thread. FOR SALE?!?! What? you haven't even beat the livin' shit out of it yet. Triumph would be "Kool" with a Land Rover engine. Basically a 215 Buick-Olds V8. And still make it cut corners. Something I've been thinking about for many years.

 

I am think more like a Supercharged Hemi!

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That would look good paired up with the MGA project I have in the lineup.

 

TR3,s handled pretty well buy themselves. My dad had a '58 and won every race he entered. Stone stock in the early '60's. I remember, could even get in the car without opening the doors. And I was only three. There is more than enough room in the engine compartment to stick the 215 in. And it will surprise the hell out of everybody!

 

Check it out...this is a GOOD Bounce. New suspension moving...no binding. Ready to put on the shocks and give her another go! AND Check out the accidental background music that I didn't even notice until I uploaded and re-watched the video. "FAST CAR!"
....feels like little nod from the "go fast gods!"



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If this Austins a rockin........!! LoL!

 

So I sort of jumped the gun with the video...here is how we actually got there. The early Ford mounts I picked up are going to be adapted to the vertical bracket on the front of the housing with all the holes in it. However what I noticed is these holes are not actually drilled perfectly straight.


To make sure we got the holes drilled perfectly in the spring perch mount we used some masking tape to get an exact impression of the holes.


Then transferred the tape to and drilled a piece of 3/8" thick stock with the hole pattern. Next we cut it down length wise to size and cleaned it up a bit.


Then after duplicating and bolting the drilled stock in place on the rear end, we took careful measurements using the springs and the shackles to find where the perch brackets would have to go to. We marked them, then removed them, clamped them back together and welded the holly hell out of them on all sides.


We placed the perch bracket on the drilled stock with either the stock or the bracket overhanging on all sides to get a good weld. We also drilled the holes through the perch bracket and prepared to bolt them on the rear end. But we were going to have an issue with the two top bolts being long enough and the middle hole which fell right on the uneven weld point of the two pieces.


So we quickly decided to fill the top three bolt holes. We used the bottom two holes to bolt the finished brackets in place and adjusted them before welding solid to the rear housing. This is the finished product.


Below, after installing the shackles on their new solid perches we insured both rear brackets were in place at the same distance, angle and alignment. When we were happy, we clamped them in place and welded them to the frame.


You might have noticed the panhard or "J" bar is installed. You might also notice it is absolutely massive. There is no real reason for it other than I purchased it from Speedway and I guess I never saw a an actual measurement or size in the description. If you look back in the thread a few posts, I uploaded a photo of it (looks normal). When it showed up I about fell over. But it is on and we are obviously ready for some serious road course action!


Here is the finished product. I am pretty happy with it. Can't wait to get the shocks back on, the fuel cell back in and the car back on the ground.

 

Looking good man. But you better get the wheelie bars on it to or it will be on its roof backwards


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They're on!

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Looking for a place to make test hit or two. I am not sure about the shocks. I decided since they were already mounted to just leave the coilover overload shocks on there and see how they resond.

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Did you add some spring to the wheelie bars?

 

Not yet...I haven't figured out exactly how to do it or even if I need it. We are going to pump up the tires first and see how we do. If with our new suspension mods we still hit the bars so hard it disrupts the launch then we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

New brackets and the old leaf springs.

 

Saw your car on queerbay. Wish I had the dough.

 

Got the Austin back together early this morning in time to hit the Labor Day car show in Springfield. Good time.



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Did you drive it there and test the suspension on the way lol


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No, I put it on the trailer and took it to the show having not even started it since the HAMB Drags. I was planning on driving it back home though but had a battery issue. So it was sort of a bust as far as test hits. BUT after I got it back home I spent a few minutes and fashioned this aluminum license plate bracket for the rear.






Now both plates are on and a laminated insurance card is taped to the roof so we are ready to hit the streets. It took a while to decide on the stupid plate placement back there. Of course from the factory it would have mounted right where the parachute bag is in place. We couldn't go under the chute because when deployed the chute line would just rip it off plus the wheelie bars are in the way there too. It looked stupid on the trunk above the chute so it just is what it is (as they say)! We have a really nice stretch of newly repaved Highway 60 just outside of town that I have my eye on so we should have some news here pretty quick.

 

The plates look great!

 

Das is good! Take it to the streets! To bad you can't get away with it like we can in the big shitys. The only thing is when we run into a dick the car is GONE!

 

Well we are headed back on the rack tonight as we are in the exact same place as when we started this rear suspension change out...NO MOVEMENT! We had plenty of spring and travel with just the new springs (as you saw on the video). Even after we put the old coil over, overload shocks back on we still had good rotation. In fact it made me wonder if we had too much and might need to change them out with just a good set of shocks. However, last night when I went out to charge the battery a bit, I noticed there was no movement at all again. I mean I only drove it a few blocks at the car show since the change out and I didn't have a chance to really step on it. But last night after hooking the battery up, I just gave the rear a hard push down for the heck of it...and nothing. I got up in the trunk and had Dad watch. The only bounce we had was in the tires, the suspension never rotated an inch.

I am going to hit the web this afternoon and try to search for suspension articles with leaf springs and panhard bars. I mean before we installed the bar, there was absolutely no discernible side to side movement in the chassis. My feeling is having the bar in place, we are now forcing movement into the otherwise nearly stationary rear end and binding it up. I have calculated with a 15" panhard bar and a chassis needing to rotate 3" would cause .25" of side movement. Doesn't sound like enough to even worry about, but something is binding it up...

 

Well I think I figured it out for myself. I was just thinking about the "J" style bar I installed as the panhard. I got to wondering if it rotated different than say a straight bar. So I created this little experiment. I cut a small straight and "J" shaped piece out of a business card, poked equal holes in them with a thumb tack. Then with the tack in one end and a pencil in the other drew the rotational path.


The problem became very obvious after drawing their given paths over the top of each other. Of course, they create the exact same arch....however we installed the "J" bar like it was a straight bar. See how the straight bar's path is completely within the frame, but the "J" bar's mount point (and thus rotation point) is lower. As you can plainly see, its path tries to rotate beyond the frame which it can not do, thus it basically locked the chassis in place right where it was installed.

 

This is why I used a watts link in the Willys and as you know it works real well lol


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Yep....if I only had the room!

 

Ditch the panhard bar and put a diagonal track locator in the ladder bar--left front to right rear is the most common way. With the way the ladder bars and springs are installed you may not need anything--take the panhard bar off and push the body from side to side and see if there is excessive motion. If there is, add the track locator, if not run it as it is minus the panhard bar.

Roo

 

The diagonal track locator would be the way to go they work real well I didn't even think about that I've used them on a lot of cars mostly 4-link setups but it would work perfect in your case


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Well what the hell are you good for Jackson, come on man! LOL

 

Actually there is no movement at all side to side, the panhard was just a precautionary move in case we ever really did have to crank the steering hard. But I like the locator idea as well for the same scenario. Thanks guys.

 

This isn't street outlaws remember we are using technology from 50 years ago hell back then they didn't even know what a panhard or watts link was lol


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I'm definitely not a chassis guy, so this is all fascinating to me. I'm a visual learner, so I really appreciate the sketch you provided.

I never mentioned that two of my girls are currently MSU students. I need to try and track you down sometime this year!

 

Maybe it just me, but I have only seen the J bars used on dirt roundy cars. they do exactly what you have come to find out that your is doing, push the rear axle off to the side to allow the car to turn harder.