The front suspension on a Sumo consists of a double wishbone arrangement…………
Fitting bushes, tapering upright……..
Preparing the Parts
The top and bottom wishbones arrive in untreated mild steel and so will need to be painted to protect from corrosion and to make them look nice.
Here are the lower (left) and upper (right) wishbones in untreated
Its best to throughly clean any parts before painting, this should be done by wire brushing any loose material or corrosion from them and giving a gentle go over with some emery cloth or similar.
Parts should be primed with a suitable metal primer before the paint is applied. Any metal primer is suitable.
Primed and ready for painting.
The final paint coat can be applied, common paints are Hammerite and POR15 Paint which is highly recommended.
Assembly
Add details of how to do this:
.
At each end of all suspension bolts you should place a large flat washer, this will cushion the rubber of the bush, but to avoid squashing the rubber as you tighten you should place a smaller washer underneath to pack it, see diagram below:
Suspension bolts using packing washer - shown in blue
.
Note for Sierra donor users:
The upright on the sierra is slightly shorter than that of a granada, to allow for this a recent development has been the introduction of taller mushrooms to allow for this. These Mushrooms will prevent the top wishbone hitting the spring at full droop of the suspension and also improve overall geometry. See article on Self-Centring for more info on this area of the vehicle set up.
If you are building a Sierra based Sumo and do not have these mushrooms you should contact Pilgrim to discuss this.
Taller Sierra specific mushrooms next to standard Granada mushroom.
Assembly TIP: Make sure the long tube which the top wishbone bolt goes through has been drilled or filled out and some light grease applied to allow the bolt to move freely (no slack though), if its a tight fit it can bind up with the galvanizing and is extremely hard to get out again….trust me!!!
Front passenger side suspension viewed from front:
Now viewed from above:
Note the orientation of the top wishbones to ensure the "upright" now leans backwards, this is necessary to induce caster angle which is vital for good handling and self centring. For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle
