Manky Monkey Motors

This is really for Mr. M. on how we achieved the "wonder", at that time! of Independent front suspension on a chassis similar to his original, in the mid. 50's. This is the type of suspension mod. that I put on the first E93A engined, Falcon bodied Ford "special" that me, my Dad, and brothers built, way back then. I should add that that 'vast' sum of money was way outside the scope and budget of a young apprentice, as I was then, so we "cribbed" the system, and converted our own axle! Copyright, what..... past times, ho hum, Morrag

And we spent ages trying to make ours look old fashioned & basic!
I assume the original beam axle was cut in 2 & pivotted in the middle?
When we took my truck for the SVA test, the examiner remarked to his colleague that he couldn't understand why we had a nice triangulated 4 bar linkage with adjustable Gaz shocks on the back -& a transverse "buggy" spring on the front.

Cheeky bugger, no soul!! but yes, your right, two "silentbloc" bushes in two welded, tubular housings,the front end realeased from its original steel body was so light that I believe we used a pair of AJS/Matchless units, as they were "available" How did it work? to be honest I'm buggered if I can recall, but the bragging rights made it all worthwhile! just like a Lotus! yeah, right!.................Morrag

if it's still there, I have been given another Pop rolling chassis with one of they independent converted beam axles on it....

dad and so called uncle ,terry, built two so called specials whilst i was still little (well at little school) both were on E93A chassis one with an ashley body and the other had a ,rochdale, body one had the auqaplane head with twin SU,s which were removed for saftey,s sake after the first or second outing -- said to be to fast for its own good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You lucky git Shaun.

 ;D ;D :-*

Believe me Spanners, "fast" is purely a relative term here, as the E93A motor I had with alloy Aquaplane head and twin S.U.'s was indeed faster than a bog standard 'Pop', but no where near as quick as yer modern, family type Hatch,and I don't mean "hot" hatch, just the regular "cooking" type! honest, Morrag

back in the late 60,s  on the A515 between buxton and ashbourne  over the TON in a home build  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes it was  aqueplane head and su,s
banded wide wire,s on home made spacers upgraded home built g/box (ratio,s now unknown) dad built and knew how to ,, but it even scared him and terry ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i,ve only got some ,,spacer,, wheel adapters left /surviving from thee original build,,

That's what I meant, its relevant to the time, but the fact is yer average family runabout would leave E93A's for dead no matter how they were "modded" I'm afraid, and I can say that from experience of my own 'specials' of the
'50's, honest,mind you they made enough noise as I recall to sound a deal faster than they were!! Morrag

Speed ain't all it's cracked up to be though.
I bought a Triumph Speed Triple a few years back, in a moment of mid life crisis. Rode it at warp factor 6 everywhere for a year, then sold it cos I was going to lose my licence or my life, or both. Had a second one since, but now got an XS650 Yam' bobber project on the go. The novelty of always being first away from the lights & being able to outrun virtually any car you come across soon wears thin.
Older vehicles may take more effort to pilot, but you get a lot more pleasure out of them too.

rather have fun on a slow bike than ride a rocket ship, same with cars, speed isn't everything and driving an old beater around at 50 is much more fun for me than having a machine capable of losing my licence and not being able to use it....

I'm with you Shaun -& I'm definitely up for that foreign jaunt in our Pops next year.  ;)

I have no argument with those sentiments,Gents, merely reminding everyone about what "fast" really was all those years ago! actually not very in most cases!! well mine then..............y'all, Morrag

I'm no longer the only triker in our club, a new member has never had a bike, and only had his trike a little while.  Followed him home the other day as he lives near me, and he kept taking off like a rocket from junctions, with me trailing behind wondering why I don't do that any more?   Then I thought, been there done that, cba!