Escort Mk2: Suspension Questions

[Mafijoosi93]

Hello,
I have some questions regarding my suspension.

1. colour of Bilstein Grp1 struts
I have Bilstein Grp1 Struts (upside down, M10x1 thread) and sand blasted them today. Will paint them in Bilstein yellow. What to do with the steering arms and spring top cups? Would say painting them black but what was the original colour scheme?


2. Single leaf springs
I want to fit single leaf springs. They still have the original rubber bushes. Exchange them all (Front, rear and rear chassis rail) with poly bushes? Put some poly bushes between the leaf spring and the saddle and axle like with multi leaf springs or bolt them together without any bushes?

Thank you very much!
Stefan

[Miniliteman]

2. If it's a road car use rubber bushes. Poly bushes are very hard and there are some Chinese items that crack easily.

[Mafijoosi93]

I have got the bushes from flo flex.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/374041502556...mis&media=COPY

Rubber bushes are not available, keeping the 50 years old bushes seems not so good…
Are there any sources for good bushes?

[Miniliteman]

Rubber bushes sometimes are available on ebay; I have two NOS ones for sale.
50 Euros + postage.

[Miniliteman]

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1754535

I have all four rear spring bushes. Postage has gone up so they are now 105 Euro posted to EU country.

[beeRS]

Top cups should be satin black. Not sure about steering arms. I did satin black. Whatever colour you use, make sure there is no paint on the mating surfaces where the steering arms bolt on to. It needs to be metal on metal.

I used Powerflex bushes for rear leaf spring fronts and rears. Can’t remember if they were yellow or purple. I kept original rubber on axle pads. This set up is fine for road use in my opinion.

[Mafijoosi93]

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1754535

I have all four rear spring bushes. Postage has gone up so they are now 105 Euro posted to EU country.

Thank you for your offer. I have to think about it.

[Mafijoosi93]

Top cups should be satin black. Not sure about steering arms. I did satin black. Whatever colour you use, make sure there is no paint on the mating surfaces where the steering arms bolt on to. It needs to be metal on metal.

I used Powerflex bushes for rear leaf spring fronts and rears. Can’t remember if they were yellow or purple. I kept original rubber on axle pads. This set up is fine for road use in my opinion.

I painted the strut in RAL1006, the steering arms and the top cup black. Will remove the paint with nitro thinner from the mating surfaces, did mask it but the tape was not good enough to hold on...

[Mafijoosi93]

Hello!

Another question, this time about op mounts.

Did decide to use roller Top mounts and did order the ones from motomobil, instead of Grp4 parts like expected they are replicas from the Cortina roller top mounts, like in this link: https://www.ebay.de/itm/224813259152...mis&media=COPY

Are they worse than the GRP4 1192 taper roller ones? At least they don‘t have removable bearings instead of Grp4 Top mounts.

https://www.grp4fabrications.com/de-...r=ASC&limit=50

Thank you very much!

[Miniliteman]

I have the Cortina type roller top mounts on my car. Think they are Ford items definitely not Motomobil.
They are excellent, on the car for almost 30 years!
As stated in the ad you need to enlarge the innerwing hole if you have small holes (> 1977) and if they are 100% copies the 3 mounting holes do not fit the innerwing either. I drilles new holes in the top mount.

[Mafijoosi93]

Thank you for this Information, in fact they are not original Ford but some aftermarket brand.

I did measure them, they have 115mm distance instead of 117mm like every other top mount I own.

I will send them back and will order the proper Grp4 ones.

Are the taper roller bearings better than spherical bearings?
Will not have much caster, maximum 1 degree, maybe less.

[Miniliteman]

What distance (115 mm) are you talking about? PCD for Escort is 111 mm; original Cortina is somewhat bigger.

[katana]

I can't see how tapered roller bearings would work in this situation! They only work axially so camber & castor would have to be fixed or have I got it base over apex?

[Mafijoosi93]

PCD.
I measured 117mm with my old top mounts, motomobil sais 118mm for their Cortina-Style top mount but they have delivered them with 115mm PCD so they will likely not fit.

[Miniliteman]

Thank you for this Information, in fact they are not original Ford but some aftermarket brand.

I did measure them, they have 115mm distance instead of 117mm like every other top mount I own.

I will send them back and will order the proper Grp4 ones.

My Mk2 has a PCD of the topmount of 111 mm; that's about 96 mm from hole to hole.
The original Cortina top mounts are 134 mm PCD, 115 mm from hole to hole.

[Miniliteman]

Checked your resto thread and you have 1975 Mk2 so large hole. Cortina top mounts probably fit without mods.

[Miniliteman]

I can't see how tapered roller bearings would work in this situation! They only work axially so camber & castor would have to be fixed or have I got it base over apex?

Normal roller bearings yes, tapered roller bearings can handle some misalignment.
Wikipedia helps:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling-element_bearing

[Mafijoosi93]

I can't see how tapered roller bearings would work in this situation! They only work axially so camber & castor would have to be fixed or have I got it base over apex?

There is still a rubber bearing in the top mount, so it can flex a little bit. The taper roller bearing is for smooth Rotation of the strut if I understood correctly. Spherical bearings don‘t flex the rubber bearing through caster but have more friction while turning and a tiny little bit of wobble.



Edit: didn‘t see the last two answers from Miniliteman until after posting.

[Mafijoosi93]

Will check tomorrow if it fits. Thanks!

[Mafijoosi93]

The PCD of the top mount is a little bit smaller than the PCD of the car. I have to drill the holes a little bit to make it fit. If someone sais the Grp4 taper roller bearing mounts are better then I will send the Cortina mounts back and get the ones from Ireland.

[Miniliteman]

Which ones do you have now? (photos?). If you have "normal" wheel/strut-angles (camber/castor) then any well made top mount will do.

[Mafijoosi93]

I have the Cortina top mounts.
Will use them with adjustable TCAs with about 1° camber. Caster will be "normal".

[Miniliteman]

If you are on a tight budget use these (from Rally Design), if not use the GRP4Fabrications parts.