.....in the garage finishing the front suspension mock-up.
First order of business was to get the SKF racing hubs prepared. For starters, the studs are too long. Since I'm using wheel adapters the studs need to be shortened to match the thickness of the adapters (1.063") plus the thickness of the front brake rotors (.300").
I ended up grinding about .400" off the ends of the studs.
The AFX spindles use two bolts and one stud to mount the hubs. The hubs were designed to use 3 bolts so all three holes are threaded. In order to use the one bottom mounting stud on the AFX spindle I had to drill out the threads in one of the holes with a 1/2" drill bit.
I had to use a die grinder with a cutting wheel to make some clearance for the nut to turn and to provide a flat area for it to tighten down onto.
After having a lot of fun hacking on my new hubs they're now bolted in place.
New 14" rotor and wheel adapter mounted up to the hub. The adapter solves two problems, converting the front bolt pattern from 5 on 4.75" (5 on 120.65mm) to 5 on 120mm and effectively reducing the backspacing on the wheel to 5.507" from 6.57". I had to grind about .060" off the ends of the lug nuts holding the adapter in place for clearance.
Bolted the wheel in place. No brake calipers yet, not enough time today with all the drilling and grinding going on.
Looks like there's plenty of clearance between the upper A-arm and the inside of the rim with the wheel turned all the way to the left, the clearance here will increase with the car's full weight on the suspension.
Set the car on the ground to see how it looks. I'm pretty happy with the ride height considering the amount of weight that still needs to be put back in the car. No seats, front or rear glass, most of the exhaust system out, no belt-driven accessories on the engine, no fluids in the engine or trans, no A/C compressor and no hood or right front fender.
The AFX spindles have 1" of drop built in, combined with the 1" drop from the SPC lower control arms it's looking like I won't need to trim the front springs.
I reached my goal of getting the car sitting back down on the ground on all 4 wheels this weekend.
I'm stoked.
