Hi all, I'm at the stage where I need to make the front suspension.
I'm trying to build the car as much as possible with the single donor.
Having searched the archives I discover that the lower ball joint needs to be reamed out to 14.something degs to accept the maxi ball joint.

So first question.. Are there any other ball joints out there that have the correct angle that could be used?
I have no problem with the prospect of redesigning the lower wishbone to accept something totally different as some redesign will be needed anyway to get the correct castor &camber etc

Question 2. Currently I have the sierra ball joint that fits. Would it be daft to cut this off the donor, drill and tap it toweld it to the lower wishbone? If so why? (I'm no engineer so a simple explaination would be fine )

Question 3 Failing a successful answer to Q1 & 2 what sort of money will I be looking at to get the reaming done?


Many thanks for your help
Danny

IIRC a Mk2 Astra lower ball joint will fit the standard Sierra taper. Someone else may be able to tell you for certain though.

Welding the sierra one to the lower wishbone isnt a good idea as the heat wont do it much good.

David

the reaming process is cheap anyway, get it done at one of the manufacturers places as they will have the jig ready made to sort it all. I had mine done at MK, maybe a bit far north for you.

Hmmmm
MK seem to have very little in the way of prices on their website...
http://www.mkengineering.co.uk/start.htm
Even the 'price list' page

Can anyone give me a ball park figure?

Flak monkey - Excellent! i'll investigate this at the local motor factor and report back to the list... Cheers

Many thanks everyone - have a good Easter!

Danny

The main problem in using the sierra original, or astra for that matter, is that they aren't designed to take all the suspension loads pulling them apart. In a mcpherson strut car like that all the loads go through the strut. With double wishbones you need a bottom ball joint designed to cope with high tensile loads, like the cortina or maxi joints.

If you find a friendly precision engineering place on a local industrial estate you ought to be able to get the reaming done for a tenner tops I'd have thought.

Liam

quote:

---

Originally posted by danro
Hmmmm
MK seem to have very little in the way of prices on their website...
http://www.mkengineering.co.uk/start.htm
Even the 'price list' page

Can anyone give me a ball park figure?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by snoopy
we do them while you wait for a decent price list see here

---

Rescued attachment scrn.jpg

quote:

---

Originally posted by snoopy
beats me heres another one to try
hope this works

---

hi

for what it's worth, I used cortina bottom joints on a wishbone conversion for a robin hood a couple of years ago, these come with a built-in plate for bolting to the wishbone. got them from the lolocost trailer at kit car show, £5 each

cheers

greg

quote:

---

With double wishbones you need a bottom ball joint designed to cope with high tensile loads, like the cortina or maxi joints.

---

Oh right! Well there you go. With my maxi suspension knowledge I am already spoiling us.

Am I right thinking the maxi uses those joints top and bottom? In which case at least you might assume they are 'bitchin', to use the correct terminology, if not specifically designed to take tensile loads?

Whereas if you look at joints designed for nothing other than location (i.e. bottom joints of modern maccy strut cars) they can seem rather flimsy. The fiesta lower joints I'm using are a prime example - use them as load bearing joints and they would probably snap in a few miles.

Liam

All

Considering the cost of reaming and the fact that Maxis have been tried and tested, I guess I will probably be going the 'normal route'.

This has been a very useful thread, I thank all those who have taken the time to explain.
It is much appreciated.

Cheers
Danny

Don't think it's been explained that well!

If you use the Maxi you will still need to get it reamed! (The upright, that is. )

The Maxi is just a lightweight alternative to the Cortina. It even has this in The Book.

HTH,
James

James, Im happy with the reply.
(Unless cortina ball joints do not need reaming??.... )

I was hoping to bypass the reaming bit as I guessed it would be expensive.
This has been proven wrong.

My plan now is to use maxi joints and ream the hub.

In fact someone on the list has very kindly offered to do the job 'gratis' with a reamer they have made and used. I'll obviously be putting a few beer tokens in their direction as I was not angling for any freebies.

Isn't this list full of great people?
Many thanks to all who have helped

Danny