Englishmaninwales Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 After bending my car at Anglesey recently, it will require a trip to Arch for a new 'long front'. The car has a 1994 'universal chassis' fitted up for a K series. I am considering fitting the later post 1996 design with 'improved' front suspension arrangement. Bruce at Arch confirmed this is possible but I' m interested to hear from anyone who has already done this. Other than the differences in the pickups for the wishbones and dampers and increased length of dampers, are there any other considerations and 'gotchas'? I think the expansion bottle pick ups differ requiring the later round type expansion tank. Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative paul richards Posted October 30, 2012 Area Representative Share Posted October 30, 2012 Malcolm I have the a 1999/2000 chassis and it is fitted with the "rectangular" expansion tank. I think the threaded boss is the same as the later chassis, but I have 2 "tabs" to pick up the legs of the tank. I'm sure Arch could add these for you as part of the re-build. I don't think the later round tank is particularly well secured as it relies solely on the threaded threaded boss as I recall. Good luck with the re-build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 What about getting the contempory rear chassis improvement added at the same time? Off the top my head it is the Watts link, but there may be others too. That way you could optimise the post 1996 front geometry with any revised rear post 1996 tweaks. Bruce will know best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Malcolm, I did a similar mod last year after stuffing my '95 Vx engined car. Bruce fitted a new long front with the revised post '96 chassis pickup points and I had a major problem refitting the engine. For reasons that we never got to the bottom of, the front engine mount holes drilled in the chassis tubes were roughly 7mm too far back, resulting in the propshaft being tight into the back of the gearbox. The car had been completely reskinned and all the panels fitted correctly so somewhere along the line some chassis tubes must have been repositioned. No amount of measurement could explain what was going on and Bruce admitted that he didn't think they'd done precisely this update before. In the end Arch drilled and bushed new front engine mount forward holes and I used Vibra-Technics mounts which have a wider fixing hole spacing and slotted holes. This allowed me to bring the mounts forward sufficiently to solve the problem. I would strongly suggest you discuss this with Bruce, citing my experience of June/July 2011 which I'm sure he'll remember. Incidentally, using the Vibra Technics front mounts considerably reduced engine vibration and I would say are worth using instead of the originals. With the Vx the engine mounting brackets had to be modified to allow for the extra height of the AV mount. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmar Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Malcolm - I have no idea if this is standard with the 'post 1996' design but can you spec the removable diagonals 🤔 or is that part of the same package... just makes it easier when you upgrade to a Busa 😬 rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team SLR No.77 Posted October 30, 2012 Leadership Team Share Posted October 30, 2012 Malcolm, my old car was '95, new car is '99. Other than the suspension/damper pick-up points, at the front there is no noticeable difference between the two including the mounting of the expansion bottle. If possible I'd keep both diagonals removable. Stu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 My late pre 1996 chassis has removable engine diagonals. I thought it was standard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team SLR No.77 Posted October 30, 2012 Leadership Team Share Posted October 30, 2012 It was when yours was built not not the case with all cars built since .... iykwim! Stu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englishmaninwales Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Thanks everyone, very helpful. My car has removeable engine bay triagulation and Arch will retain this. Paul D - YHM Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garibaldi Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Malcolm A friend of mine had his 94 K powered car rebuilt by Bruce early this year after an unfortunate parking incident involving a tree... After some thought the car was assembled with a post 96 long front and short rear giving the revised suspension layout up front and the later ARB mounts at the back. There have been no subsequent build problems and all works fine. If you are re-skinning the car consider also fitting the latest cage mounts (you never know you may want a cage at some point and they are a bugger to fit later). The harness mounts were revised around 96 also moving the outer mount further outboard giving better belt alignment - worth doing. Watts Link mounts at the back.... it gives you options I had my 94 Vx rebuilt at Arch years ago and had the 96+ trans tunnel fitted giving the chassis improved torsional stiffness (I have 280 odd bhp) and I get a handbrake I can reach as a bonus. Watts Link and under slung rear ARB mounts were done and the diff mounts gusseted also. Bruce can work wonders..... Cheers Gary Edited by - Garibaldi on 31 Oct 2012 16:34:56 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englishmaninwales Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Gary Thanks, that sounds all reassuring about the front end chassis replacement . Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMorris Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 And Paul D has managed to worry me to death that my rebuild will hit the buffers when I try and refit the propshaft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 The critical dimension was the distance between the front mounts and the gearbox rear mount which was 7mm too short. If you're worried, measure this dimension before trying to reinstall as mine was far enough out to be obvious. Fitting the GB rear mount to the chassis was also very tight as it was being forced back by the misaligned front mounts, the location of which I had taken as 'gospel'. As I said earlier, we never really got to the bottom of it but the good news was that it was a relatively easy fix, using the Vibra Technics mounts and moving the front holes forward a bit. If anyone's interested in the thread from last year when I was trying to solve my problem, itshere. Re the diagonals, my old ones, at least the one that was still straight, fitted the new setup although I replaced them both as they came with the new long front. I don't know about other engine types but being able to remove the diagonals is a great benefit taking 2litre Vx in and out. I've done a few Vx race cars with permanently fitted diagonals and usually ended up 'easing' them slightly when going back in. Edited by - Paul Deslandes on 1 Nov 2012 10:35:21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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