1961 Healy build - Lateral-g Forums

frankenstang · #1 04-21-2008, 08:18 PM

I am in the planning stages for an Austin Healy (non-bugeye) We are considering suspension choices for the front and the rear. I kind of wanted to go with a narrowed 8.8 ford rear (cheaper) and some kind of 4 link. Not much room under the car. The frame rails run under the rear. We will sacrifice the back seat area to make room for the suspension. Throw some ideas my way. 3 link? parallel 4? triangulated 4 link? Narrowed Vette IRS? (WOW!) Or cut out the rear rails and go with a rear rail kit with the ladder bar/panhard bar? Like I said, the frame is the lowest part of the car.

We were thinking of using 15x10 Mini-lite wheels in the rear for the period look. i am also looking for front suspension options. All kinds of ways to do that. The FFR cars have an adapted Ford spindle with un-equal A arms.

Obviously the car needs to handle well. I really don't like the Mustang II stuff. It seems outdated.

Time to brainstorm here guys. And this is as much as a budget build as possible.

silver86 · #2 05-02-2008, 03:06 PM

Bump!

**CraigMorrison** · #3 05-02-2008, 03:53 PM

I'll see if we have done one of these before. Could probably do an ifs front (not MII) and 3-link rear for you..... Because of track width it would more than likely be a manual steer setup though.

frankenstang · #4 05-03-2008, 07:17 AM

Yeah, not really a fan of the MII front. I was kicking the idea of the 3 link around. We can cut out as much as we need in the rear seat area to make room for the upper link. The car came with a panhard bar. Like 1/2 inch thick! So a ladder bar wouldn't be too much of a stretch either. Also, we could back half the thing and ditch the rear rails to make more room. Everything will have to be fabbed up from scratch anyway.

customcam · #5 05-03-2008, 06:10 PM

thought CM said its not Not MII??

wiedemab · #6 05-03-2008, 07:59 PM

AME's IFS is not a Mustang II setup. It uses a Wilwood spindle and has different geometric characteristics than the MII.

It's the same front suspension that they use in the GT Sport Chassis for the Tri-5's and they absolutely rip.

Got any pics of the project - sounds very cool. I guy I work with has a bug-eye. I don't know much about them, but they're cool looking!

Later

dhondagod · #7 05-04-2008, 12:09 AM

Was at the wrecking yard a few weeks ago and came across a bugeye. Stood there for quite awhile thinking about how to make it a G-car.

Too many projects kept me from the purchase.

Please go forward with this so I wont have too...

Chris

frankenstang · #8 05-06-2008, 05:14 PM

I'll get Chris to put some pics of what his 'blasting booth' looks like. It's in a 1 car garage in the townhouse where he lives. I can't believe the neighbors haven't called the damn EPA yet. The car is mounted on 2x4's on it's side so he can get to the undercarriage. There's some pretty cool racing damage from when his Dad raced it in the 60's. It was stored for 30+ years in a dis-assembled state. True garage find!!

We were tossing the idea of an inline 6 turbo supra engine and auto trans around. Although, a true sports car has 3 pedals and one is NOT a dead pedal!

silver86 · #9 05-07-2008, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankenstang

I'll get Chris to put some pics of what his 'blasting booth' looks like. It's in a 1 car garage in the townhouse where he lives. I can't believe the neighbors haven't called the damn EPA yet. The car is mounted on 2x4's on it's side so he can get to the undercarriage. There's some pretty cool racing damage from when his Dad raced it in the 60's. It was stored for 30+ years in a dis-assembled state. True garage find!!

We were tossing the idea of an inline 6 turbo supra engine and auto trans around. Although, a true sports car has 3 pedals and one is NOT a dead pedal!

I fix the neighbors computer so its all good, plus they just put up a for sale sign...Maybe because of me...

I dont have any good pics of the "booth" but I have uploaded a few more pics of the car and progress. I will get some booth pics when I do the next clean up of the garage. Other than that i will try to get better pics, it is hard though in a 1 car garage with a car flipped on its side in the middle.
Here is my photobucket with the pics.
http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc226/Pops_Healey/

frankenstang · #10 05-07-2008, 04:31 PM

I think we need more info from Morrison about that IFS front. And a 3 link would be really easy since we plan on ditching the rear seat area. AM should be able to get an idea of what the front mounting points look like from the pictures. Keep in mind, the car is going to define the 'budget built' genre. Like FREE or donated!! I'm doing the labor as trade for labor on my addition. I have a feeling Chris and I are gonna hate each other in a year!