Datsun 521 Ball Joint Mod - Page 5

Chronicles my work of converting the kingpins to ball joints on a Datsun 521.   

The stand out features of this mod are that it will retain the stock track width and torsion bar suspension.
Bending the braces for the UCAs.
I had to tweak the length of the lower arm.  Everything seems to be where I want it now with both setups...stock height/lowered.  I was able to measure the difference between the static rid height positions.  The lowered version will be a 2" drop.
Yea!!! I think I'm finally caught up with the last of the video.  Hopefully, this week I can get to finalizing everything and making some parts.

This vid has some measurements in it for the suspension travel.  I measured both setups, but didn't record the stock height setup.  I'll try to measure the difference between them when I get back in the shop.
This was originally 46.  This is mostly me wrestling with details.
When I figured out that I couldn't fix the vid that I originally had as #46, I figured I'd put this one in it's place to go with 45.
I originally designed the part in CAD.  I finally got around to hand building the prototype part.  The lower control arm is not triangulated, so the tension rod keeps the the end in place.
Finally got some more work done on this project.  This is primarily work on building a cutting jig for the lower control arms.  I'll also need to build a welding jig, but at least it's some progress!!
Small update. Not much, but it's the first "something" in months!  

I wanted to try out the Hardbody shock for use with the stock ride height arms.  I didn't really feel like going to the scrapyard to pull one when I could get a new one for $20.  I turned it into a dummy shock to make it easier to test range of motion.  Seems perfect :)
I figured out how to do a couple more things in CAD which then allowed me to figure out how to do the stress analysis.  I'm not sure I'm even doing it right, but it sure looks cool!!  

I cycled each animation 3x's in the vid.  The first two are 1000 pounds up on the ball joint plate and the bushing tubes are fixed.  It would never see that much load going up and the bushing tubes would never lock up like that, but I wanted it to force against something.  In the next two I put the 1000 pounds going down on the ball joints and I fixed the surface that would hit the bump stops.  Again, I don't think it would ever see that kind of load.  Either way, I'm pretty tickled with just being able to do it even if I didn't quite do it right. :)
I was pretty happy with the bending results on the upper arm.  Not so much the bend itself, it was close enough, but of the arm fit.  The upper ball joint is right in the middle of it's range of motion and both bump stops (upper/lower) are limiting the travel just like they should.  Still a ton of work to be done, but the proof of concept is nearly complete....which is the only part of this that I enjoy.  From here, it's mostly the drudgery of dirty work. :(  LOL    Oh well....beats being at work!