87-92 Reynard FF/FC Aluminum Left Front Upright.

[Gary Godula]

Hi All. I am again in need of an aluminum LF upright for an 87-92 Reynard.

Averill cannot get any more. In fact the one that he was able to get me was mis-machined and the bearing bore is not round, distorting the outer race and destroying the bearing when I tried to use it. I doubt that it can be corrected, but I am willing to try.

TwoDogg Racing is focusing on another line of work and no longer has custom fabrication capability.
Larry Oliver closed down his operation years ago.

Does anyone have any other sources of Reynard suspension parts, and/or does anyone have a good aluminum LF upright that they are willing to part with?

Thank you....

[old 59]

Gary,

Are you in need of a fabricated or cast upright?

[Gary Godula]

I need a cast aluminum upright.

I have several fabricated steel uprights that need to be repaired, but cannot find anyone who repairs them anymore.

[tlracer]

A company had started up here in the UK - Heritage Reynard - remaking a lot of the castings, apparently from the original patterns. However it looks like they are no longer trading.

Alternatively - and again in the UK so maybe not ideal - Universal Racing Services may be able to repair your steel uprights?

[Gary Godula]

A company had started up here in the UK - Heritage Reynard - remaking a lot of the castings, apparently from the original patterns. However it looks like they are no longer trading.

Alternatively - and again in the UK so maybe not ideal - Universal Racing Services may be able to repair your steel uprights?

Thank you. I would like to find contact info for UK Reynard to find out if they have any aluminum uprights available.

As for repairing the steel uprights, the main reason for this exercise is to modify the suspension geometry to improve the front roll center placement and match it to the migration of the rear roll center. It is much easier to modify the aluminum upright to accomplish this than the steel uprights. It would take significant modifications to any existing jigs to create the desired modifications on a steel upright.

Thanks again......Gary

[jrh3]

I imagine you’ve already tried Guto. www.tech speed.com.br
310 595 6756. Florida
I believe his father built a lot of Reynard parts in Brazil. A few years ago he still had some stuff.

[Gary Godula]

I imagine you’ve already tried Guto. www.tech speed.com.br
310 595 6756. Florida

No, have never heard of them. Their website only shows aircraft supplies, no motorsports.

[old 59]

pm sent

[tlracer]

Techspeed built Formula Chevrolet for Brazil (Opel-Lotus in Europe, Formula, Vauxhall in the UK) under licence in the 1990's.

I've asked over this side of the pond, in case anyone can assist, too.

[Richard Learned]

Give me a day or so to find them but I believe I have those. In fact I have an entire '89 Reynard for sale that has been totally disassembled, frame checked for cracks (there were several) powder coated and ready for assembly that was the "sister" car to the TDI/Kester FF with modifications, Penske's, two used prepared Pinto engines with Farley head on one of them, just needs assembled and I'm way past 75 years old now and have given up ever getting back to the track. Car is CFC lap record holder at Hallet, Mid America and others but was run as an FC so no CFC records. The uprights you see in the pic are TDI modified ones but believe somewhere in the spares are the ones you might need. I'd sell the entire package including everything you need to set it up (set up platform, scales, CDS system, spare gears, spare springs and much more) for $12000. I'll post entire inventory and misc. info in FC for sale as soon as I get to the shop and see what all I have.

[Gary Godula]

We may be able to save the existing mis-machined upright. Rob at Two Dogg is still doing some motorsports machine work and is willing to take on resizing the bearing bore in the aluminum casting. Initial impressions is that it is undersized by 0.006-0.008" or more, and is not truly round, making it almost impossible to install a bearing and have it operate correctly. We will see what happens.

Stephen Adams also has a broken aluminum LF upright that appears to be repairable. We will pursue that path as well.

I know there is a growing concern about spare parts availabilities for these cars, particularly suspension pieces, so if you have any Reynard parts that you might want to sell, there is a market for them.

Thank you everyone....Gary

[romoman]

If you have a good one, why not see if you can have it measured and machined out of aluminum? The drawing is the hardest part most of the time. They might not be cheap, but would then be available. There are a lot of places doing reverse engineering who could put that together. These guys do Porsche stuff, but certainly have the equipment and ability to duplicate a Reynard upright https://www.rennscotmfg.com/

[Gary Godula]

If you have a good one, why not see if you can have it measured and machined out of aluminum? The drawing is the hardest part most of the time. They might not be cheap, but would then be available. There are a lot of places doing reverse engineering who could put that together. These guys do Porsche stuff, but certainly have the equipment and ability to duplicate a Reynard upright https://www.rennscotmfg.com/

We kicked that option around briefly, initially looking at the costs to have the parts scanned into a 3D model. It is somewhat cost prohibitive for a small effort. I am hoping to teach myself Fusion360 this winter and try to duplicate the design, then modify it for our geometry needs, verify the design on a 3D printer, and send the files to a machine shop to have them made. A huge project for my available time and budget, but one of the reasons I purchased this car is to develop it from an engineering mindset. It is time to be the engineer.

Thank you for the input and the reference. I will look into their 3D scanning costs and go from there. Race safe.....Gary

[R. Pare]

If Two Dog can't remachine the bore for you, I probably can.

[Gary Godula]

If Two Dog can't remachine the bore for you, I probably can.

Thank you Richard. The parts is in route to Two Dogg now. I appreciate your offer.

[Gary Godula]

Richard, What should the interference fit be on bearing such as these? In this case, the SKF bearing catalog (for a 90mm OD) states that the bearing housing should be approx 0.001-0.002" slip fit. Obviously, that does not work for the axial loads and upright temperature environment that the bearings are subjected to in a race car. My initial thought was 0.002" interference fit so that the bearing outer race does not move under axial load, but is that enough press fit for this application. What are your thoughts on this design aspect?

Any advise that you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you....Gary

[R. Pare]

In aluminium it is usually .001 per inch of diameter, but that can be changed depending of the bearing type. It's a bit less for a steelhousing ( don't remember the number off hand),I used that number for our uprights with the Dasher cartridge bearing ( the number came from the SKF engineering guide).