Are caterham uprights the same as the Triumph Spitfire/GT6 ones or do caterham modify them in some way (trunnion related?)

Covered this many times

The Triumph upright more correctly Alford & Adler (it was a pre WW2 German design) comes in different forms. The GT6 & Vitesse upright differs from the Herald & Spitfire type in that the brake caliper brackets and steering arm are bolt on parts.

Over the years both types of upright were used on Lotus Sevens and Caterhams.

The type currently used by Caterham has the trunnion threads machined off to allow the use of a spherical bearing.

These uprights (including the modded version) are made by a small company in Coventry (sorry I don't have the name)on the original tooling and are available with other options regarding the brake caliper brackets and steering arms.

[Edited on 30/7/07 by britishtrident]

I did make extensive use of the search facility before asking the question

So, if you machine off the trunnion threads do you have a caterham upright or isn't it that simple? - I know you could just buy them from caterham but having checked out the prices......! not so much for the uprights themselves but the bits that bolt to them....

Really not a lot wrong with using trunnions, they work well on a light car and provide pretty accurate location.

Lotus used the GT6 bits on the Espirit and Eclat until they went Opel parts on the later series cars.

On Heralds they got badly neglected but even then would last for years until the thread on the upright rusted to nothing. Key thing is to lube them with oil not grease.

The Triumph trunnions are a bronze alloy and don't suffer from the same fretting corrosion problems the steel ones on the Marina/Ital did.

Hi dave you may or maynot remember the discusion we had about the use of these items on the LA at your stag do.

If interested i did all the development for using them but never did get round to finaly using them.

I can pass on the details and supply if you want.

cheers matt

No, fair enough - but they're not going to fit on a caterham lower wishbone then are they
I've done a bit of a search and Canleys are selling the uprights for £65 inc Vat - Caterham are charging more like £90 so if it's just a case of machining off the trunnion threads........??

Cheers Matt, anything you've got! U2U sent.

I think I was probably in too much shock at the sheer luxury of my stag do surroundings to have remembered the conversation

Hi canleys are one of the best for supply.

Also there where quite a few sets of std caterham ones around when i looked as they where all upgrading to the bigger stubs from the gt6 ect from caterham. Might be worth searcing the cateham forums ( I know you wil have already done that thinking about it )

Be fair that was a loverly sandwich in the motorway services .

cheers matt

Dave,

you have U2U