Colt Steering Rack and 5 Link

Hey John:

What racks can replace the steering in a 77 Colt relatively easily?

Any advice on a five link for same? What about controlling the leaf suspension with a watts link and/or four link?

Thanks for your time in advance.

Wilson

P.S. And yes, I am a proud part owner of a 77 Colt.

P.S.S. And what about a JVAB front suspension with those trick collars that allow you to remove the strut without the knuckle/axle? Can you fab them, and if so, how much?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2006 06:16PM by wvonkessler.

wvonkessler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey John:
>
> What racks can replace the steering in a 77 Colt
> relatively easily?

You may not like the answer but the easiest thing would be to replace the crossmember and the conrtol arms and knuckle/hub assembly with say MkII Rx7 4 bolt items so you have a strut with ears like a VW Golf.
I'll bet a nickle that the whole crossmember would be easy.
I suggested this to Jake Himes for his first Gen RX and he said his brother did it easiily.
Then you have strut and rack and pinion in one swoop and still have 4 on 4 1/2" bolt circle and only need to add 2 U-joints in the extention shaft from the column (and not have to move the hole over like was supposed to happen on the Vodge Dolt but never did.)
>
> Any advice on a five link for same? What about
> controlling the leaf suspension with a watts link
> and/or four link?

There's a link on this section started bt Paddy of the entire "Ford Escort Rally Prep" (now bumped to the top right by this) with excellent drawings which you could easily adapt to the Colt. Note that Mitsubishi, and for that matter Nissan, and Toyota and even Opel and Talbot Lotus all did the nearly identical set up on their Gp4 cars way back when.
Ford did long, nearly 25" links top and bottom and a panhard rod.
They made a slipper for the front of the leaf so its changing arc doesn't pull and push on the axle, the spring just sticks out forwrd of the rollers when its compressed.
Of Course there's nothing stopping you from adding some height to the towers in back and doing coilovers. We've used big truck driveshafts for the actual tube on a couple of cars. Mark Bowers is getting some long 9" travel coilover Bilsteins in about a day or so (I finally sent out late as usual!!!!) and is scrounging a Toyota pickup rear axle for his Opel.
Why?
Cause many come stock with 4.64 gearing and they are stronger than hell and only a bit heavier, just the thing for the guy whgo doesn't have a spare complete axle in the truck.

>
> Thanks for your time in advance.
>
> Wilson
>
> P.S. And yes, I am a proud part owner of a 77
> Colt.
>
> P.S.S. And what about a JVAB front suspension with
> those trick collars that allow you to remove the
> strut without the knuckle/axle? Can you fab them,
> and if so, how much?

Of course I can fab them, but there is maybe 200 bucks in the whole mod the spindle thing, and you need a rack to, so look into the RX7 thing, or if you stumble upon a 240 Nissan they were also 4 on 4 1/2" and in that case rear steer which might work better.
If retaining 4 on 4.5 isn't a big priority there are other things which can work, we did Volvo axle in rear and Volvo knuckles in from on a RX7 years ago (1990?)

The fronts on their own, for the clamp in Ford style run about 850-875 including everything. I make them to work with Subaru Legacy/Impreza top mount which are plentiful and are known to work.
"Ear" or "flag" type are a bit more for fabbing the ears.

What motor is in your beast?
You know about the short stroke 2394cc hybrids I've done?
>
>
> Edited 2 times. Last edit at Dec 13, 2006 by
> wvonkessler.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Hey Wilson,

Easy rack? I think the answer is 'none'. I would put a rack in the Colt on low priority. The car is basically 'twitchey' and you don't need a quick steer IMO to be able to sanp it around corners well at all. (That car should love Rally WV.) The front boxes can be adjusted for some wear. And dealing with steering geometry is quite tricky. Not a project for Sandblast IMO. It's my opinion that a well set up and driven RWD car rarely need more than a 1/2 turn on the wheel with typical stock steering ratio. And for those times where you need more, REAl drivers learn to keep count on the turns on the wheel subconciously. (None of this "if I put the steering wheel straight here, will the front wheels be straight, or am I off a full turn?" while you wait for the car to quit drifting out of the last corner.....)

What John said on the rear. I'll be posting pix on our set-up on the Opel forums. With the 1.6L in your car, the original should be the lighter rear end than anything else you can put in, which is of some advantage. Another trick that was pretty standard for 'better' Colts back in the day is to put a 3rd shock arranged to control axle wrap; it'll help with axle hop. Brent has this on his car. It's a pretty simple addition. Doesn't do anything for the stock rear steer; all you can do is use longer rear shackles, and re-arch the spring to be flatter; it'll help a bit.

Try out the Koni's at Sandblast; they might be OK. But overall: Go for the front struts. Good investment.

Regards,
Mark B.