Top ball joints. Or not.

‘Plan A’ to connect the upper front wishbone to the Cortina upright had been the usual Locost method of using a ball joint in the form of a drag link or track rod end from a Ford Transit. We’d also intended to use a ‘quick camber adjuster,’ essentially a threaded sleeve that sits inside a 1” inside diameter (ID) tube and allows you to move the ball joint in and out without removing any parts. However, there has recently been some discussion about the fragility of these items following a total failure on a road car. In addition, 1” ID tube was proving frustratingly difficult to obtain. These considerations, along with the fact that the rest of the suspension uses rose joints, were enough for me to look at replacing the upper ball joint with a suitably tapered pin and rose joint set up.

My MNR had used this system. However, I had a feeling that they no longer offered the parts to use the Cortina upright – in the back of my mind I was pretty sure that I’d had the last set for my old car. I contacted Chris Nordon to see if this was the case and indeed it was. My next port-of-call was the ever helpful Matt Gilmour at Procomp. I had a chat with him about design and joint heights and he made it clear that he could make the parts. However, I was also pretty conscious that he and Ivan are up-to-their-eyes in work. No surprise – they really do sterling work. So, I started to investigate alternatives. I had a look at some of the Westfield specialists like CAT Motorsport but had little joy. I then found a post on the Locostbuilders forum by someone calling themselves ‘mintici.’ The post showed a very similar set up that had been machined for a Westfield. On further investigation, it turns out that ‘minitici’ is Douglas Anderson, proprietor of Westgarage Engineering Services.  Douglas usually specialises in chain drive differentials, carriers and associated parts for mid engined cars. However, it’s clear that he can turn his hand (pardon the pun) to most things.

After some efficient communication via e-mail, I sent one of my Cortina uprights to Douglas so that he could be sure that the taper was right. I also sent him the relevant measurement from Steve’s suspension drawings. The great thing about this setup is that the height of the top joint can now be changed relatively easily to aid fine tuning of handling characteristics. Good news all round. Douglas’ pro-forma invoice suggested that delivery would take up to 4 weeks. No great problem for me. However, just two days after posting the upright I received some pictures of the first pin, top-hat and rose joint assembly. It’s clearly a relatively simple job for Douglas and I’m likely to get the parts much sooner than expected.

As Douglas says in his e-mail, “The pin and top hat have been shaped to allow maximum articulation of the rod end.” This can clearly be seen in the pictures.

One other thing that the pictures show quite clearly is the casting marks on the upright. If I was in any doubt before, these are definitely getting powdercoated now. I know that it’s a race car, but cosmetically that just will not do!

TC