Regarding the current thread about swing axle safety and the cable camber
compensator fix- I think this is an acceptable fix since the factory
compensator hasn't been available for 20? years. I know I looked for one
for a number of years after I got my GT6 in '76 and it wasn't until the early
'80's that I found most of one at a fellow who had a couple of Vitesse-based
Bond Equipes in Philadelphia.
Nolan Penney writes that he hasn't seen one yet and I suspect most of the
listers haven't either so I'll describe mine. The factory compensator
consists
of:
1. A curved, sort of folded piece of metal attached to the lower front 4
bolts
of the differential extending forward a couple of inches with a hole in the
center to allow an attachment point for:
2. A long, single, leaf-spring-like bar, drilled in the center, attached to
#1
above with a single bolt with a piece of rubber sandwiched between. The
bar is about 2" wide, 1/4" thick and the ends are offset up. On each end, a
3" long bolt with 3 rubber bushings (from top down: bolt head, washer,
bushing, bracket, bushing, bar, bushing, washer, locking nut) attaching the
bar
to:
3. A welded metal bracket, bolted on to the upright at the radius rod
attachment point.
The used item I got had no instructions and was missing one of the brackets-
left or right I had no idea. I did have a Competition Preparation manual
describing how to attach the unit and warning that the brackets were to be
attached upside down from the way the Spitfire's was. After much thought I
figured out what bracket I actually had and made a reversed copy and bolted
it on.
The point of all this is obviously to keep the wheels from tucking in hard
corners and it does do that. The cable fix apparently does the same job as
well, plus it doesn't seem to affect ground clearance (the factory unit makes
the car about an inch lower).
Larry Bickel
ljbtvr@aol.com
Lancaster, PA
'68 GT6, my sleeping racer
'71 TVR 2500, my street car and sometimes racer
'85 Dodge Van
'83 Chevy S10
'80 Yamaha 650
|