Was thinking on doing this to my road car but my freind who maintains a millington car like yours told me it would not make a good road car. I also got a cosworth yb for it and again he said it 's to much engine for a mk2 road car. So now we are onto a zetec which he said is a much better set up. Loveing yours and your daughters channal keep them coming all the best.
Great description, nice idea checking the watts linkage for correct axle up and down movement. Drag Race guys, they do an awful lot of work regarding 4 link position and adjustment, there might be something to help in theory even with a Rally set that may be of some use especially where traction is required. I only just found your videos and rallying exploits fantastic, I was a great fan of Simon McKinley and his rallying so after his accident I hadn’t seen anyone that got my attention the same way until last week.......... I’m super excited after finding your exploits and for the technical stuff about you and how your car has and is developing.. fantastic and good luck for your future Rally exploits and thanks a bunch for sharing. 👍😎
Simon was a god RIP. We’ve done a lot of work since this video on 4 link setup and you are correct about the drag guys. Unfortunately to get the benefits in traction that they do the car becomes pretty much useless at going around corners at speed. We’ve made small angle changes but benefits are minimal. The nature of the beast John.
Oh yes very well built car ! I did rallying back in 80-90 did build my own car so like what you done ! All parts play key to how the car handles. I did race the Opel Ascona 400 and Manta 400. But heck Ford is so raw and the smaller body is a benefit in rallying tight roads. Best regards from Sweden 🇸🇪 Bjorn
As a long time road racer I had the rear of my car with 3 link. 2 lower ones and one from the centre of the diff to the chassis. My advice and it worked was to put the nose of the diff down a few degrees and also play with bring the top link lower on the chassis. Plus then a simple panhard with a couple of inches of up and down for roll centre. Watts link can be a pain in that respect. With the bolt on the housing that is your centre. V8 Supercars with live axle had the centre mount on the chassis and adjustment externally to raise or lower roll centre in pit stops. Less unsprung weight as well. Different model live axle Falcons had as much as an 1 1/2' difference on the diff hat They also had a complex shim adjustment to camber and toe the live axle. Nascar and US road racers simply bend the diff for their requirements, up to about 3 deg. Most use ball splines on the outer end. And soft as possible will always be the go. Better power down, far better ride control and less things break.
Yes I’ve seen the V8 super car setup. They adjust the roll centre depending on fuel level as well I believe, via a crank wrench through the back doors. The watts on the car idea looks good but I worry it would struggle with 8” of rally travel. I’ve run the diff down to a maximum of 3 degrees and various increments in-between. Any further and the prop necks out 🙈. Currently running a new idea but not tested yet. It’s all good fun 👍
@@FrankKellyRallying Can you run a torque arm and birdcages to isolate the axle from the suspension movement or are you limited to the original rear suspension design?
yep they were the pickup points for the heavier cars (I think GL Giha possibly RS200) antiroll bar went to a bracket on the top of the axel and around the back of the diff.
Hi Frank Great series, very informative, with excellent content. I really apricate that you are sharing your accumulated knowledge with us. My son and I are building a Getz front wheel drive ( junior gravel rally ) We are about to start building the rear end, at the moment it has a beam axle with coils and shocks. Having had some experience with Watts linkage in the past on hot rods I was already contemplating building a 6 rod Watts rear end for it. There's nothing in the rule book that says we can't. Do you think there would be any advantage in a Watts system with toe in adjustment over a coil and shock or coil over system...
Certainly would help. It would also help to run longer dampers to increase travel. A lot of fwd cars suffer with lack of rear end travel and kick up at the rear on the smallest of jumps and dips. Work out your finished ride height and try to get good travel in compression and rebound. My Mk2 has almost 8” of travel and she needs it all. Good luck 👍
@@FrankKellyRallying Thanks for the info Frank... Time to get the 9 inch grinder and cardboard out.. I'll have to go for longer 4 links to get the extra swing....On the plus side there is about 10 inches of available wheel well above the wheel at normal ride height
Thanks frank im just in process of a build with sameset up axle I’ve asked so many people how to set it all up 🫣🫣🫣 all say different things just like you said 😂 only thing I’m struggling with is I don’t own ramp and try to get the car level what’s best part of the car to use to get correct level ??
Hi Frank. This is Yagmur’s friend Kerem. Hope all is well with you. I was wondering why nobody is using independent rear suspension conversion ( like the one used in McRae’s mk2 ) on the high powered Escorts. Best regards.
Hi Kerem Probably because the live axle works so well especially with traction. A few do run independent rear with electronic aids to reduce wheel spin.
@@FrankKellyRallying Hi Frank. Thank you very much. And apparently those with the independent rear are not faster than the live axle cars. This case is probably specific to Escort because in theory with the further adjustability of the independent rear suspension they should be faster. All the best.
Frank, how do you set the location of the axle, using the adjustment on the link bars could you have it too far forwards or backwards? Where is the ideal position? Regards clive
There is a lot of axle bits hanging on the back. With regulations are you allowed to do anything with air flow under the car or do you find there is no point? With the modern wrcs and so on the underneath is nearly flat.
I have a question about a back axel on a truck and say if there was something wrong with the axel and say that person was touching the axel to see if there was something wrong can he get shock or burnt by it if the car was turn on with motor running? My friend has a Dodge truck and he's always crawling under it to see if it's damage and i'm just worry that he might get burnt or shock by it and really I don't know anything about car repair so I thought my friend would get hurt while the car was running.
