Group buy: Front Lower Spherical Bearing Shells

[pmbrunelle]

Future versions of ourselves could certainly appreciate stainless spacers... suspension pivot sleeves like this often become rust-fused to the bolt, making disassembly difficult.

I would like stainless spacers for some amount of cost increase... but if it's too much trouble for you (especially considering that the group buy is already live), then don't bother with it. This is not that big of a deal.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The same G-code that cuts a 12L14 spacer will cut a SS spacer... the feed rates may not be quite right, but it'll do it.
So then it should just a matter of running X 12L14 spacers, swapping stock and running and Y SS spacers... if anyone still opts for 12L14 once the SS is available.

[Trace26]

Are these still available? The group buy link didn't work.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Are these still available? The group buy link didn't work.

Yes, the group buy is still running. Try copying and pasting the link. The owner of the other site doesn't like this site, so he's banned URL referrals from here. I posted it there because that's a much larger forum than this one.

If you don't want to mess with that forum, I'm happy to work with you here.

[pmbrunelle]

Any news on the SS spacers?

[The Dark Side of Will]

303 Stainless adds about $1.50/spacer... Great suggestion!

[pmbrunelle]

Actually it was your suggestion

I just asked a question that got your gears turning.

[pmbrunelle]

Current status on this project?

I'm not in any particular rush at the moment, FYI.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Life caught up with me for a bit, but I placed the order with the machine shop.
Quotes were 4-5 weeks ARO.
I've asked for a planned manufacture date when they have one. Until that day I can probably bump the quantities up.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Parts are done. I'll get started on an installation pictorial this weekend.

[The Dark Side of Will]

First batch of Fiero Front Lower Control Arm Spherical Bearing Shells:








Removing the old bushings was actually kind of difficult





I'm using one of the spherical bearings shells (destined for my car; that's not a customer part) and a random piece of tubing as press mandrels. Yes, this raised a burr on both the shell an the control arm, which I then had to clean up with a file before they'd go back together. No big... they're going to be welded and painted.
The part in the middle supporting the ears of the control arm is a 2" conduit clamp that I narrowed to 1.210 using a belt sander. That's the perfect width for working with the '88 front lower control arms.

[draven]

Will you be ordering a second run of these?

If not, let me know if you have anyone back out...

[The Dark Side of Will]

Will you be ordering a second run of these?

If not, let me know if you have anyone back out...

Did I miss some communication from you on this?

If enough people sign up (was 4 sets this time; I'd like to have a 5 set run to do this again) I'll do another run. Tell your friends!

[pmbrunelle]

If enough people sign up (was 4 sets this time; I'd like to have a 5 set run to do this again) I'll do another run. Tell your friends!

And, on the next run, Will will have some user feedback! (in principle, it depends when I can schedule my suspension rebuild)

It's nice to see inspection; a sign of quality.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Some fairly surgical media blasting to clean up the control arms for welding:





Shells slipped into the control arm in prep for installation to the crossmember in order to be tack-welded in place.
The shells are a slip fit in the control arms. Making them a press fit would result in not having a good way to control the axial separation distance. A mismatch between the separation of the shells and the separation of the pivots on the crossmember or cradle would put an axial load on the bearings and probably reduce their service life.







Ooops... I don't think I grabbed a photo of the arm bolted into the body pre-welding.

[The Dark Side of Will]

If enough people sign up (was 4 sets this time; I'd like to have a 5 set run to do this again) I'll do another run. Tell your friends!

And, on the next run, Will will have some user feedback! (in principle, it depends when I can schedule my suspension rebuild)

It's nice to see inspection; a sign of quality.

Thanks! I like making good product.

The bore the spherical bearings press into has a tolerance of +/-0.0002" which is a window 0.0005" wide. The shop told me they had a lathe that could hold that. They actually hit a 0.0004" window, but their window overlaps on the small side from what I put on the drawing. That's actually ok, as this batch of spherical bearings ended up with lower preload than the last batch, so the bores need to run a little small to get the preload torque back up. The two batches are the same PN (Teflon lined), but this batch had a more oil on it than the first batch... not sure if that or systematic line variation is the reason.

Anyway, the more statistics on bare and installed pre-load torque I accumulate, the better I can tune up the bore size to give me good results with Aurora's production variation.

[pmbrunelle]

The bore the spherical bearings press into has a tolerance of +/-0.0002" which is a window 0.0005" wide.

In my universe, I assume that physical dimensions of parts belong to the real numbers, and limit values on prints are also real numbers. With the real numbers, <= and < operators are more or less equivalent.

You are implying that physical dimensions and limit values in fact belong to the set of integers, which has the effect of widening the window by one measurement unit.

What you're saying is de facto what happens with real-life measuring instruments. Every once in a while someone has to come along and smash my dreams.

I actually have a side project to resolve potential ambiguities of drawings we make at work, I will add the real/integer issue to my to-evaluate list.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The bore the spherical bearings press into has a tolerance of +/-0.0002" which is a window 0.0005" wide.

In my universe, I assume that physical dimensions of parts belong to the real numbers, and limit values on prints are also real numbers. With the real numbers, <= and < operators are more or less equivalent.

You are implying that physical dimensions and limit values in fact belong to the set of integers, which has the effect of widening the window by one measurement unit.

What you're saying is de facto what happens with real-life measuring instruments. Every once in a while someone has to come along and smash my dreams.

I actually have a side project to resolve potential ambiguities of drawings we make at work, I will add the real/integer issue to my to-evaluate list.

I have a habit of doing that to dreams.
As you noted, a measurable +/- 0.0002 tolerance, with the smallest increment feasibly measured with a mic being 0.0001" is:

Basic Dimension - 0.0002" (which can be as small as BD - 0.00024)
Basic Dimension - 0.0001"
Basic Dimension
Basic Dimension + 0.0001"
Basic Dimension + 0.0002" (which can be as large as BD + 0.00024)

[draven]

Will you be ordering a second run of these?

If not, let me know if you have anyone back out...

Did I miss some communication from you on this?

If enough people sign up (was 4 sets this time; I'd like to have a 5 set run to do this again) I'll do another run. Tell your friends!

No, "I" dropped the ball, got caught up with some issues on my swap, didn't check the forums enough (here or OE) and for some stupid reason I thought you had delayed for a month.

Put me down for a set please..

[The Dark Side of Will]

I was not able to get a photo of the control arms tacked. I'll get a photo of them hanging in place in the position in which they were tacked next weekend.

Control arms welded:













This one actually shows something you're best off avoiding: melting/burning through the edge of the shell to the ID of the seal bore. Ooopsie.