I'm no auto expert, but I can describe my trailing (is that the same as
radius?) arm experience. I bought my '79 spit from a guy who was only
into cosmetic improvements, and neglected the floorpans. I knew that
they needed work, but wasn't aware how badly they were rusted. I changed
the differential and when I went out for a test drive, the car wobbled
like a weeble at about 10 mph. The arms are mounted through the floor
pans into a reinforcing bracket with strengthener in the core. Then
entire assembly is welded to the floor and the riser between the floor
and deck. Mine appeared to have only surface rust, but all of the
pressure on the end drive shafts cause the welds to seperate from the
floor. This, in turn, let the arm move forward and backward gradually
breaking more of the weld on the deck.
The short of the story - I'm glad I wasn't on the highway when this
happened. It would have been a simulated Firestone experience.
P.S. I'm ready to reinstall my floor pans. Thanks, everybody, for all of
the posts on floor pan installation!
Tim Wilcox
Information Systems Specialist
Lowndes County Schools
tw1@muw.edu
Quoting DT Gebhard <kimkell@decaturnet.com>:
>
> Listers:
> Just exactly how do the trailing arms attach to the Spitfire
> body(frame?)? Is this an area that is likely to have rust damage
> and if so
> how does one check to find out. What are the chances of this
> connection
> breaking or otherwise coming loose during hard driving,say
> during an
> autocross. Are there any methods to reinforce this part?
> Dave
> 1977 Spit
> hoping to autox 2 more times this summer
>
>
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