Cortina uprights - is there an alternative?

[Woody]

Guys,
Looking at my possible available budget for a kit/complete car I'm probably looking at a pre-lit Westy or a Tiger Avon.

I've noticed both of these use the Cortina front upright - I assume (probably wrongly....) that this would be the MK4 or MK5 Cortina??

Now as thses also appear to be quite difficult to get hold of is there an alternative/upgrade that can be done?

Cheers

Chris

[rdodger]

Try Rally Design for alloy ones.

[Stuart Mills]

The alloy ones are nice, trouble is you then need hubs/bearings/grease caps/studs/discs/calipers and you have just spent £600.
Or;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-pair-cortina-uprights-kitc...

[mr_fibuli]

I think Westfield do a fabricated steel upright - I've got them on my car.

[Woody]

Cheers guys.
Seems Rally Designs have lots of nice alloy shiny stuff!
Could quite easily blow you budget on that site

[Comadis]

woody, why you are concerned about those uprights?

as long as you dont have a severe accident they dont need to be replaced, also they work quite well.

i would rather stick with those ford-uprights than fitting those cheap rallydesign ones, pressumerable made in china.

[Mr2Mike]

Comadis said:

i would rather stick with those ford-uprights than fitting those cheap rallydesign ones,

I would tend to agree - failure of alloy uprights is far from unknown.

[Woody]

Comadis said:

woody, why you are concerned about those uprights?

as long as you dont have a severe accident they dont need to be replaced, also they work quite well.

i would rather stick with those ford-uprights than fitting those cheap rallydesign ones, pressumerable made in china.

Just covering the 'what ifs' - most of the other kits appear to use Sierra front uprights which seem to be a bit more available.

[dozracing]

There has been no reported incidents of Rally Designs uprights failing!

The only failures have been of fabricated steering arms from the previous Raceleda supplied uprights (the made in the UK ones that MNR now sell). Rally Design had the good grace to supply all its upright customers with replacement forged items as well as anyone concerned with their MNR/Raceleda items.

Cheap yes, but made in factory operating to much higher quality/testing standards than the original Raceleda items ever were (check any Raceleda items for the signs of weld repairs in the castings). So i think it's very unfair of you to cast a shadow of doubt over them without the full facts of the matter.

[Mr2Mike]

dozracing said:

There has been no reported incidents of Rally Designs uprights failing!

The only failures have been of fabricated steering arms from the previous Raceleda supplied uprights (the made in the UK ones that MNR now sell).

Not true, there have been quite a few instances of the Raceleda uprights failing around the bottom of the casting where the pin bolts in for the lower ball joint (rod end usually).

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid...

I would hope this isn't an issue with the Rally Design parts, but it shows how easily you can get the design/manufacture of such a highly stressed component wrong.

[dozracing]

Copied from Locost builders:-

im aware of five now ???, all the old original bruce (raceleda) casting / machining, the ones that i know have failed excluding this incident have been accident related / inpact related
the ones we have been using are a different casting / and are machined differently, we did try to have them tested by a well know suggested organisation who said they didnt have the facilities to test, all that can be ensured is the castings are made / heat treated / machined to british standards

ditto steering arms since we have made them none have bent ( early ones had lightening holes in them )

cheers

marc

So it would appear that none of the Rally Design suuplied or MNR manufactured versions have failed, and those old versions that did failed during accidents/impacts. I know Rally Design made a batch of 500 last time around, so that's a pretty sound record.

[Tim.C]

There are other alternatives:
http://www.mambamotorsport.co.uk/components/uprigh...

Also, MNR now make a steel farbicated upright that, according to a guy racing in RGB, was proven to be lighter than the Aluminium part.

[Comadis]

sierra ones have some negative effects in steering...escort or cortina ones, or even triumph ones, are far better for that reason.