Narly1's Speedstar build

[33fromSD]

Looks great, but I'm almost afraid to tell you this.

Normally (for any vehicle, not just the 33) you should not fully tighten/torque any of the suspension (front or rear) until the vehicle is fully built and the car is resting at full weight on it's wheels (no jack or jack stands). You could potentially (not always) get binding in the suspension.

I personally also like to roll the vehicle back and forth a few times and push up and down on all the corners a few times before doing final tightening / torqueing.

Jim

[narly1]

Looks great, but I'm almost afraid to tell you this.

Jim

Thanks for the heads-up. I think I'll leave things as they are for now. My worst fear is that I'll forget to properly torque something down and end up with a safety issue. That and I can always revisit this closer to the end of the build, at the same time I'm doing my crude wheel alignment.

Remind me again when that time comes LOL.

Earl

[Dgc333]

Binding of the suspension is associated with vehicles that have rubber bushings. Rubber bushings are bonded to the inner and outer shells and suspension motion actually twists and deforms the rubber. By waiting until the vehicle is at ride height to tighten the suspension avoids having the bushing deformed at ride height which avoids binding and premature failure.

The 33 has poly bushings at all points of motion. They rotate on the inner sleeve which avoids binding. They all have grease fittings that lubricate this interface. There is no issue with torquing the suspension while it is unloaded.

[narly1]

The sum total of last night's activity was the assembly of these 6 suspension arm components in preparation for their installation onto the chassis.
Between finding the documentation to be a bit lacking and having to search for some of the parts that ended up being in another box than expected I had my work cut out for me.

Earl

20240802_074602[1].jpg

[narly1]

Rear axle and suspension install finished.

20240806_223401[1].jpg

[narly1]

Firewall and foot boxes installed using 1/4" button head fasteners. Steering rack and tie rods in. Pedal box and steering column partly done, waiting on EPAS kit and a different remote brake fluid reservoir. The panels will eventually be coming back out to be powder coated the same colour as the frame.

Earl

20240817_194915[1].jpg20240817_194927[1].jpg20240817_194940[1].jpg

[j33ptj]

You can always dab a little marker paint on the bolt/nut that you torqued up... visual aide de memoire

[narly1]

You can always dab a little marker paint on the bolt/nut that you torqued up... visual aide de memoire

That's a great idea as it serves as a visual indication that the fastener has been torqued!

And also that it's not loosening after the fact.

Earl

[narly1]

A start to my mini-review of the EPAS system I ordered straight from China off of Alibaba.
The lowest price I could find for a kit here in Canada was about $779 (~$573 US) before tax & shipping.
This unit cost me about $565 (~$415 US). The kit is pretty bare bones, just the motor, control box and wiring harness. It comes with mounting bolts for both units and a few crimp connectors that I'll probably toss. No instructions or warranty card, etc. So I guess I'm on my own LOL.
Otherwise it looks exactly the same as all of the 220W units available domestically. The box cast backing shows the same "IDK" marking the ones here have. Note that there is no mounting tab so I might have to make something up out of strip stock depending on where I end up mounting that.
A quick check of the motor splines reveals that it is a 11/16-36. Ordered a couple of mating U-joints to connect to the kit supplied 3/4" double D shafts. These were $70 (~$52US).
The only other issue that I can foresee coming into play is the length of the cables from the motor, they are only about 18" long, but should be easy to extend.
P.S. Before flaming me on going cheap on a steering component recognize that the worst thing that can happen is that the unit stops working leaving me with just the "armstrong" steering I started out with. (The shafts on the motor are bigger than the ones on the steering rack, LOL.)

Earl

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[progmgr1]

That's a great idea as it serves as a visual indication that the fastener has been torqued!

And also that it's not loosening after the fact.

Earl

There's a product available in the US called "Cross-Check Torque Seal" that is specifically designed for this purpose. I got it from McMaster-Carr ("Tamper and Vibration Detection Paint" on their website). However, the MM-C site says that they cannot sell it outside the US due to "local VOC regulations". IIRC, this joint loosening detection technique is used everywhere, so I expect you can find a similar paint from a local supplier.

Keith HR #894

[narly1]

There's a product available in the US......

Keith HR #894

Thinking a regular paint (not ink) marker pen like this would work just fine:

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/mil...ite/1001099367

Earl

[progmgr1]

The Torque Seal sticks well to most materials and becomes very brittle when it dries, so it visibly cracks whenever a joint is disturbed. I have seen ordinary paint stick to one side of a joint and lift off from the other side without cracking - so it can be hard to detect loosening. Ordinary paint might work for this purpose, but then it may not. Seemed like a cheap investment to me.

Keith HR #894

[narly1]

A start to my mini-review of the EPAS system I ordered straight from China off of Alibaba.

UPDATE: Finally got the correct spline pattern U-joints and got everything installed. Pretty straightforward other than I had to shorten the shaft between the firewall and assist motor U-joints.

Once I got that sorted out I hooked it up to 12V and it works as it should.

Earl

[narly1]

So did I mount my remote reservoir too high up?

The top surface of the cap sits below the firewall top edge.

20240913_214004[1].jpg

Earl

[Dgc333]

So did I mount my remote reservoir too high up?
The top surface of the cap sits below the firewall top edge.
20240913_214004[1].jpg

Earl

Yes, there is a feature on the hood that sits down in front of the firewall. With the reservoir that high it will interfere with the hood closing.

[narly1]

Yes, there is a feature on the hood that sits down in front of the firewall. With the reservoir that high it will interfere with the hood closing.

Thanks. I guess I'll leave it as is for now and fix it later when the time comes to fit the hood.

Earl