Thread: The Roofus Special

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Well, I got a chance to go play this weekend.

I dug into a pile and pulled out some 1952 Mercedes front suspension pieces. They don't really work as is, but what else is new.



The cross shaft and spring bucket mount is what is interesting to me.










My a-arm kit...some assembly required.


Yes the wrench is part of the plan







Playing with parts














It should look something like this. ball joint bolts will be underneath




This is where I quit for the day.


Oh yeah, I might have also found the dash for the car. Honda lawn mower foot rests.



Driver side of dash


Passenger side

I realized I forgot to explain how cool the vintage mercedes pieces are and what the whole plan is... coppied from another board...

Originally Posted by dodgedartgt

Can you use those holes in the pivot shaft to mount the shaft like a GM part, so you can shim for caster / camber adjustments?

That is the beauty of using the Mercedes pieces. The pivot bushings are threaded in such a way that the arm can be moved front to back along the shaft.



The whole a-arm mount will be mounted on a plate that will bolt to the side of the frame and will be shimmable for camber changes.

I have a lot more welding and grinding to go to make it look presentable, but I think I finally found something that has that 30's high tech vibe that I was searching for....

Before I got too carried away, I decided to mark up the second batch of a-arm parts


I started on the angled piece this morning




figure out where to trim


trim


add some back?


transfer new cut lines


weld


grind


admire


grind some more (first arm)


grind some more (get rid of open end wrench shape...oh yeah, I welded on the corner pieces too)






start on the next one...

Flipper, do you really think a wrench is strong enough for an A-Arm, especially considering welding on it which is going to affect the hardness and strength?

I had the same concerns as I was reading this. NIce fab work but I worry about the material strength.

This thing probably will never be more than cool garage art/fairgrounds go-kart.....

Nice work! I wonder if you have the pieces cyro'd after you finish them if that would make them strong enough to not worry about?

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

This thing probably will never be more than cool garage art/fairgrounds go-kart.....

It's that "...probably" piece that bothers me. The problem (in my mind) is that at some point someone (like a kid?) may not understand that it's not intended for "real" driving, and decide to take it for a ride down the highway. As builders our ultimate responsibility is safety in what we fabricate. I've said my piece, and won't belabor it further.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Nice work! I wonder if you have the pieces cyro'd after you finish them if that would make them strong enough to not worry about?

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "cyro'd."


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Originally Posted by RestoRod

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "cyro'd."


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It is a process in which to harden metals. I've had stock input shafts for dodge NV4500's cyro'd and they will hold 650+hp in a dual disc clutch sled pulling/drag racing. The process really works.

Cryogenic hardening - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not sure you'd want cryogenic hardening on front end components, Ryan. It indeed hardens and strengthens certain materials, but it also reduces material "toughness". Cryogenic hardening increases the brittleness of the metal, and I'd be concerned with that quality on suspension components. Your input shafts are a different deal than A-arms, IMO.

Originally Posted by rspears

Not sure you'd want cryogenic hardening on front end components, Ryan. It indeed hardens and strengthens certain materials, but it also reduces material "toughness". Cryogenic hardening increases the brittleness of the metal, and I'd be concerned with that quality on suspension components. Your input shafts are a different deal than A-arms, IMO.

I'd think the input shafts would see more fatigue than this control arm. The input shaft is transfering all the power and torque from the engine to the transmission. If they were brittle, they wouldn't take 3rd gear boosted launches, leaving the line at 4000+rpms on a sled puller, and all that twisting shock load. I've only heard of one breaking through my supplier. He's sold thousands of them.

But, I agree with you. Those cast parts may not like being treated with this method. I know guys cyro'ing cast trans cases, but I haven't heard any real world results yet.

Thanks Ryan, I've learned something new today.


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I worked on figuring out what it will take to get the upper a-arms attached to the frame.

I cut these from a piece of 2x4


so that I could do this


The idea is to mount the mercedes shafts on plates so that the arms can be bolted to the frame. The problem is that the frame is not square with the world...the rails are pinched.

The arms need to be mounted at an angle.


simple enough...in theory


now to make it pretty












make mirror image one too...
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Next step will be to prep the front rails for the arms.

I'm seriously considering pulling the plug on this thing and using the jag parts on a model A coupe....