evening all,

i was recently reading the latest rally design and i came across an advert that said that they are currently developing alloy sierra uprights as a replacement of the cast iron sierra ones. does anyone have any info on how they are getting on with there design and production?

i know that they have cortina alloy uprights for sale, but im unsure of the sierra alloy uprights?

what are the benefits of having alloy uprights at the front, obviously it would make the front end lighter but how would it effect steering etc

Alex

Dont make me start commenting on the whys of why cast aluminium uprights arent that ideal on a road car.

They will reduce unsprung mass and be a bit better in that respect. Thats about it...

David

dave what do you mean by unsprung weight?

Unsprung weight is any weight on the car which is not supported by the suspension basically. So wheels, uprights, hubs, tyres, and half your suspension.

You want to aim to get unsprung weight as low as possible.

Leaving aside any strength/fatigue issues, they should lower unsprung weight as Dave says, and if they are the same as the normal sierra ones, they shouldn't effect steering or suspension in any way. Other than the lower weight that is, ie geometry should be the same.

if these are being designed for use on a sierra surely they wont suffer fatigue on a light weight 7 type, but would it not be better going for the cortina items since they are a better option

What would be the point of alloy uprights on a Sierra taxi? Who are they aimed at?

The only market for ally uprights is the kit car one, I looked into sierra stuff, but worked it out to get a set of preasure cast uprights designed it would cost upwards of 10K just for the prototypes
So best of luck to them

Jason

the cortina set in the rally design catalogue are £525. that is for the upright, caliper mounting bracket and nuts and bolts etc. it say sierra uprights under development but call for availability?

i might just drop them a line on tuesday....

thanks for your help chaps, as always

Alex

£525?! Blimey, you've really go to want to save a few kgs to buy them! I can think of better ways of spending that money on going faster, such as cams, suspension set up etc. Actually, lighter wheels would do well to.

If your gonna go too that expense better spent on dishing the Sierras uprights all together and fitting something totally different upright and top wishbone wise.

All imho.

A Triumph style upright in steel would be as light or lighter.

Magnesium alloy uprights to the Triumph pattern do run into fatigue problems but they aren't anything like as massive as the Sierra or even Cortina pattern uprightss.
I don't think an alloy Sierra upright would run into fatigue problems, it is massive to start with.