Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

We did the same mod to an atlas cover plate and left a step at the bottom where we broke into the std cover in an attempt to catch metal particles in there with a magnetic drain nut at the bottom and a second fill level hole half way up the cover, worked well, Torsten makes good parts, I am sure those shafts will work well, being able to change the bearings at a race is a good point, the std shafts walking outward is due to the bearing collar being too loose of a press fit, it needs to be much tighter, then there is no trouble at all, had the same trouble with brake pads backing off due to the std bearing collars not gripping tight enough, some mild steel rings with a smaller ID heated and dropped on the shaft + quenched with oil cure the problem entirely, same trouble with english shafts bearing collars with only a slight press fit and inside rear wheels walking away round corners lol!

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Oh, you mean the tin plates that bolt on to the housing end holding the bearing in place? They were responsoble for the pad kick back? I now have an axle with ford 9" housing ends whitch use a simple separate C shaped thick plate to secure the bearing. I was thinking of manufacturing something similar.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

the std shafts walking outward is due to the bearing collar being too loose of a press fit, it needs to be much tighter, then there is no trouble at all, had the same trouble with brake pads backing off due to the std bearing collars not gripping tight enough, some mild steel rings with a smaller ID heated and dropped on the shaft + quenched with oil cure the problem entirely, same trouble with english shafts bearing collars with only a slight press fit and inside rear wheels walking away round corners lol!

Ah now I got you. And you are right that is the case we had. An I believe its quite common issue too. Around here cured with some spot welding.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

After a 5 day soak wash rinse and dry. propably 3 to 4 days would have done it just as well.

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Nice job, what kind of strength citric acid do you use? I cleaned some old YB rods before with vinegar but the citric acid looks like it gives better results and only costs pennies

I did see a few shafts with the collars spot welded on, one of which sheared clean off right where the spot welds were which was surprising to see as they normally never fail in this area without welding of course, I bet the person spot welded the bearing collars on and then quicly quenched the shafts in water, a recipe for disaster, mild steel collars with a tight press fit heated up very hot, dropped on and quenched with some oil is the best option for sure, no damage to the bearing or shaft and easy to machine later if the bearing needs replacing

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

This one came out quite strongish 50g of powder and 1000 "g" water so 5% solution.

Would you reckon Jason these ends would stay in place with mere plug welds? Providing its a tight fit inside the english axle tube. For some reason I'm not tempted to weld a bead to the band / collar in the joint of the bearing housing and axle tube

This is how I've planned on doing it. Only I'm not sure is that band solid? May need to pull the housing end a bit out to make the weld directly to the axle tube.

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Plug welding would be ok if you had a good fit between the inside of the English tube and the outside of the Atlas tube so that it would need to be tapped home without any play, but I feel the "overlap" distance would need to be 2" or more with many plug welds, then it would be fine, but you have only a short length of the Atlas tube, you might have no option but to but weld them together with a lip turned on Atlas end that locates inside the English tube to centre it, then tack weld all the way around tacking one place then leaving it and place another tack, leave it, and continue until you have all of the surface welded, welding in one go would distort the bearing tunnel for sure unless you had a very strong jig to stop the weld from pulling out of centre

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

If you could cut the flanges square at the friction weld removing all of the Atlas tube and then turn the flanges to fit nicely up into the English tubes that would be best

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

If you could cut the flanges square at the friction weld removing all of the Atlas tube and then turn the flanges to fit nicely up into the English tubes that would be best

I don't know if I can though. Its too tempting to shave 0,8mm off the atlas and tap it in. Now If I knew what thec is the decorative band between the bearing housing and the atlas tube I'd have a solid plan. If its something easily removeable I would and then tap it in and weld easy breazy.

Luckily I have a koln axle with the same Atlas bearing housings. So if I cant come up with anything else I'll cut them with a longer remains of the axle tube.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Found me an axle casing. Banjo if you will.
Theres some modifications to be done to this one. But first, as usual, a bath. The tricky part is to find a suitable tub for it. Large anough to fit an axle into but as small as possible to avoid the extra cost of making a big batch of citric acid.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

The first tub had a leak so I needed to do another one today. This time with a wood frame. I alkso gave the axle a once over with paint remover to speed up the process.
And much to my siprise the Koln axle I had lying about had Atlas bearing housings so I cut them off. This time with longer axle tubes for easier install.

[FOSSIE]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

And much to my siprise the Koln axle I had lying about had Atlas bearing housings so I cut them off. This time with longer axle tubes for easier install.

Did you weigh the Koln first?

I had one in the other day for refurb, and it got me thinking. The cw&p are actually quite big, somewhere between atlas and english. And given that the wheel bearing housings are Atlas size, all we need to do is make a proper LSD for it, that accepts atlas shafts, and you could have an axle that's stronger than an english but lighter than an atlas... Bit of a "compromise".

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Did you weigh the Koln first?

I had one in the other day for refurb, and it got me thinking. The cw&p are actually quite big, somewhere between atlas and english. And given that the wheel bearing housings are Atlas size, all we need to do is make a proper LSD for it, that accepts atlas shafts, and you could have an axle that's stronger than an english but lighter than an atlas... Bit of a "compromise".

No I did not. But It felt quite light. It had one shaft missing though. Considdered useles yet quite usefulla to have about. Housing ends and Half shafts are very useable.
Why is the Koln considdered weaker than English again?

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

New set of spare wheels. Now that my current 225's are pretty much unused I dare to risk it and try a narrower set of tyres. 205/50/15 would improve the gearing and make the car 1cm lower remains to be seen will it make up for the smaller contact patch.
Even if the 205's cant hold the rear on the road I'm sure they'll be fine in the front. Which would still leave me with two sets of tyres 205's in the front and 225's in the back.

Pretty basic but they get the job done better than the old ones that could not house the new rear brakes. Hense could only be used in front axle.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Some progress on the english rear axle. The citric acid has not worked so well on this one. The progress was slow and I still needed to sand it a bit. The new housing ends were in the samr tub but they took well to the acid
Well I guess the axle is ready for cutting soon.