SWB Quattro Project

[G60Rallye]

New wheels landed today. BBS E50 tower!

[jsws3]

The best bbs rim buy far

[andrewcoupe]

Porn!

[quattro84]

The only rims for typ85 IMHO... good find!

[G60Rallye]

I have been doing a little work on the car lately to get it sorted with the new running gear.

First job was to make some mounts for the S4 gearbox. I mounted the right hand mount higher up so it doesn't get in the way of the downpipe.











The new driveshafts turned up this week from James. Custom steel shafts with large splines for the bigger cv joints. The outer cv joints are Audi 200 fronts. The inners are works items. They should stop any twisting issues from the past!







Finally the wheels. They came up a while ago and I couldn't turn them down. They are BBS E50's 9x16" with deep centres. They are drilled to take turbofans should I want to use them. There are 8 of them with a spare inner and outer dish. They all came with slicks which are old but have a good bit of life in them. Will be fun burning them up!









All the wheels have seen a little action over the years! I haven't decided what to do with them all yet. I think I will get 4 wider outers to take a set out to 10" or a little wider to use with some new slicks. The other set I might leave as they are and stick some wets on them.

I have started making the new gear linkage this weekend once its done the box can be cleaned up and go in for good.

[G60Rallye]

Done some more to the car lately. I have a couple of weeks off work over Christmas so hoping to get a good few days on it.

Got the gear linkage sorted which took ages. Not got any pics of it finished as the box is back in at the moment. I will get some when I drop it back out.







Next i moved onto making some mounts for the front anti roll bar as it came without them. You can buy them new but being wrc bits they are very expensive. I machined up some plastic bushes and then did the alloy brackets in the laithe with the 4 jaw.









Finally I have been sorting the hubs. I had the rear hubs bored out on a cnc mill. They are bored to the same size as the front hubs so they can take front wheel bearings. This means I can run the large front outer cv joints in the rear.



Next I moved onto cleaning them up and lightening them. I cut the ABS mounts off and the lugs for the dust shields. This lost 300 grams from each upright. I then drilled a few holes into the flanges and lost 200 grams from each. So managed to loose half a kilo per corner which I was pretty happy with considering its unsprung weight.

How they started off with the ABS mounts and tabs for dust shields.



Lightened:









Gave them a lick of paint and pushed the new bearings in:





So thats where its up to at the moment. Next jobs are to get the mounts sorted for the bladed anti roll bars and get the drivetrain built back up.

[Seadub75]

Nice work Hamish, now put the tools down and go and have a drink!!

Merry Christmas.

[andrewcoupe]

nice work once again Hamish!!
do you know the lengths of the side shafts?

[G60Rallye]

Managed to get a little work done over Christmas not as much as I had hoped but its always the same!

Got the hubs pushed together and swapped over the studs from the old hubs:







Next job I moved onto was mounting up the front bladed anti roll bar. I did a bit of testing to make sure it was all going to work and not touch the wheel on full lock and compression. Ended up welding 2 plates onto the subframe corners. It means I can still get to the subframe mounts and wishbone bolts no problem. Nice and strong as well!









Fitted up with rose jointed links:





Next I cleaned up the wishbones and opened up the ball joint holes a little so they can be moved forwards and angled to get a bit more caster. Also machined up some bosses and welded them on underneath to bolt the anti roll bar to. Finally I seam welded them to stiffen them up:













Finally I have been sorting the rear bladed anti roll bar. I tried all sorts of ways with it. Under the rear tie rods like the standard S2 set up didn't work as the links would be very long and I couldn't see a nice way of bringing the mounts off the subframe due to the bar being so wide. I finally decided to put it above the rear tie rods after some testing to make sure the links didn't hit on full compression. The bar fitted nicely on one side ontop of the chassis rail so I cut a plate and welded some bosses to the back of it. Then drilled some holes in the chassis rail so the bosses could sit in and welded the plate on. The alloy clamp had to be cut at an angle to get it to sit far enough back to clear the subframe mount:







The other side a bulge in the rear corner was in the way. So there was no option but to cut it out! So out came the grinder and I made a big hole! Then I folded up a plate so the mount could be bolted to it:







The bar sits nicely in behind the subframe. I had to take a little off the mount for the rear diff to get it in.





The blades heading nicely for the mounts on the struts:



Tomorrow I am going to get the plates fully welded in and then I can have a measure up for the links. After that all the fabrication is done and the drivetrain and suspension can be built up after a good clean up. Getting there nicely for the new season!

[Jonnybravo]

Great work there Hamish.

[Error404]

Beautiful workmanship as we are used to from you Hamish
That is a beast rear ARB, what kind of thickness is it? Looks about 30mm!

[G60Rallye]

Cheers lads!

Its a 32mm tarmac bar from a wrc escort. Should be able to dial out any understeer with it!

[Error404]

crikey. Yes I'm sure! What rear diff will you be running?

[G60Rallye]

Gripper plated is the plan. Just need to sort out a better price with them. I have a standard S2 diff for now which will become the spare.

[4WheelDrifter]

Lovely work as ever, Hamish. Especially the grinder work.

Have you not considered converting the rear suspension to a non-independant beam?