Rear upright is cracked :(

[andygtt]

just replacing the rear wheel bearing (£11.51 bmw E36 2.5i etc but also same as porsche 996 front!) and I have noticed my upright is cracked underneath the lower wishbone

distinct possibilty its cracked while I have been chaning the bearing but looks like it may have been there a while, doesnt matter as I now need a new upright

[Adrian W]

When you get the price you might want to learn how to ally weld

[TuxMan]

i suggested welding it ,but we were not sure it would be strong enough ??

[Metalman]

There is a noble being broken on ebay, i dont know what the new price is but i'm sure it wont be cheap, so it may be worth getting a used one?

[andygtt]

alloy welding will aneel it and thus weaken it more than the crack? Im told aneeled alloy is 1/3 the strength?

[andygtt]

Ok well welding may reduce the strength of the alloy by 15% on a casting... its the side thats not under load as the shock mounts to the other side so it will be fine.

I had one off uprights made for my other project, they are larger and just as complex as the Noble ones.... cost me £200 per side for just a pair (casting £50, machining £150, would be loads less for a proper batch.

Cost of Noble Upright £830+ vat... total joke.

Could get a one off pair machined out of billet for less

Long term plan is to have a billet block machined and then machine down the upright to accept the block which will make it stronger than the original lug.

[andygtt]

best people check their uprights as mine was clearly cracked when it was assembled.... basically the hole in the upright is 0.5mm smaller than the ball joint and when it was bolted up it has cracked.

I only noticed it as i happened to change the wheel bearing... and it would have failed!!!