[Talon]

I haven't posted much lately. Ow well, progress goes on however. I have attached the two parts, engine cradle and passenger compartment, together and made some quick and dirty stands for the car and put it on the stands. I have the steering done. The suspension is on three corners now, I need to take apart my build bench to make room for the fourth corner, then I'll put it on the ground to look at and bounce on it to test the suspension. I need to make sure that my ride height is where I want it.

The steering wasn't easy. I am using a Pinto/MustangII rack because it is the correct width with the inner tie rod ends falling on the line between the inner mounts on the upper and lower A-Arms. The problem is that the rack has the input shaft to the left, aiming outward to clear the engine,(which isn't there on mine), and I am using a center steering column. That is a lot of directional change. I found a Ford Ranger steering shaft that had a double U-joint and I am using the single u-joint from my donor column as well. it is kinda Rube Goldberg, and both joints are at max flex, but it seems to work smooth and very light now. I had to extend the tie rods about 11 inches on each side to reach the steering arms on the knuckles.

Wheel base is exactly 7 foot, and track width is 6foot 6 inches from tire centerline to tire centerline. The tires are the furthest thing forward and aft, they stick out past the frame in all directions actually.

I found a cam pulley to replace to wallowed out one that was on the engine. The end of the cam has some wear as well from the undertightened bolt. That all happened before I got the engine, but it must have been exciting for a few minutes. Before too long I will need to tear the engine down to see what it needs. I'm not too concerned about that though, a full rebuild kit including pistons and rings, water pump and oil pump can be had for around $250. Might need a cam too though.

Seat belts are in. Seat mounting is in. Steering column support is in. I am working on the shifter now. I am going to mount a rod end for the lower shifter mount and have a tube and bracket to mount the gear linkage shaft. It is very hard to get a picture of the whole gear shift linkage setup, that will have to wait until I take it all back apart to paint/polish before final assembly.

Pedals are next, if I can keep putting off taking the build bench apart. If not, I'll put it on the ground first.

TALON §