twin link question

[califkid_66]

i was looking at the bracket that bolts to the hub i know there’s a bolt that goes through a tube on top and one that goes at the bottom tube that acts like a spacer for the shock absorbers are there only two bolts holding this braket iin the picture i see two holes circled in yellow do you have to drill through the hub and put bolts in them

  a friend of mine came over and as a twin link i didn’t have a chance to take a look at it properly but from the engine bay i saw that the top bolt was not a one  bolt right through like i saw on the forum but rather the two original bolts from each side of the hub and the tube had threads i noticed one side the top tube was bolted one side and the other side was twisted out of its place the bolt was still there
it was off by about 1/2 inch the tube was beside the bolt i took a picture of the good side didn’t get one of the twisted bracket i circled in black where the tube came out

[BDA]

I assume you’re talking about Lotus Supplies’ (aka Banks’ or Richard’s) twin link setup. Ill be pulling the wheels off my car, probably tomorrow, and I’ll get some pictures for you. Mine might be a little different because I also have their rear disc kit but I think it might answer some of your questions.

[califkid_66]

thanks BDA
    it looks like the banks twin link i was a bit worried about my friend leaving with the bracket
unbolted and out of place that’s why i was wondering if it was holding only by two bolts
i also noticed there was more camber on the wheel enough to notice it

[BDA]

Any twin link rear suspension will have to be able to deal with "plunge" in the half shafts. Richard used to provide a Renault CV joint for the inner drive shaft and you keep the standard U-joint for the outer. Of course, that means you have to measure and have half shafts made to the proper length for that to work. I assume your friend has already done that. Also, on Richard's twin link setup, the upper link would be used for camber adjustment if the lower link was not adjustable. By now, a lot of people have upgraded to adjustable lower links already so this would give you a bit of track adjustment too (as long as you have the right length half shafts, of course). For me, I adjusted the upper link to give me the maximum track and the lower link is used for adjusting the camber.

I'll probably be able to get some pictures for you tomorrow.

[califkid_66]

from what i saw is lotus has the original halfshaft the lock pins removed here’s the picture of his kit
what i really would like to know is how the bracket is bolted on with the two bolts only if so why  are there two more hole on the bracket the ones i circled in yellow

[jbcollier]

Those two extra holes would be into the thin part of the upright.  I looked at them closely when building up mine and decided not to drill the upright.  I felt it would weaken the upright, and apply stress to an area not designed for it.  I contacted Richard and he agreed they were not necessary.

[jbcollier]

The twin link system mimics the stock geometry almost exactly.  You just need to remove all shims and leave out the pins.  The inner yoke does move a bit laterally as the suspension goes through its full travel but not much.  One yahoo/io lister measured it at a 1/4”.

[jbcollier]

I’m not home so am unable to check but ai thought the bracket that attaches to the upright was secured in three places.

[califkid_66]

thanks  I read a lot about the twin link i was thinking about installing one on my lotus
they seemed complicated at first having to modify the halfshaft but after i read exactly what you wrote
keeping original halfshaft without pin and shims to allow for a little movement
    so it’s bolt on and by looking at the bracket  i could see the two holes and asking myself do i have to drill through the hub or these holes where not nessesary
 then i started looking at the whole rear suspension and tried to figure out what is the weakest part
thinking if the lower links are holding by one bolt on each side and that is strong enough the bracket holding by two should be even stronger not needing four bolts
 hope this makes sense

and as im writing this i just had a thought of something witch i think will explain why my friends bracket was out of is place
  when i first saw his car i noticed a lot of camber he told me he went to an alignment shop when they did his alignment they probably did not factor in the fact that his halfshaft had very little movement
and adjusted only the lower link did not remove the shock to check for binding and when he went for a ride hit a small bump the halfshaff binded and the top bracket was pulled out that’s what i think happened does that make any sense
   
 

[jbcollier]

Can’t say what’s up with your friends vehicle without looking at it.  Properly installed, it would be impossible for anything to go wrong at the upright without actually breaking the upright.  The upright bolts to the long radius arm through 8 bolts, 4 on the inside and 4 on the outside.  The upright has 8 ears to accept the bolts.  The twin link adapter slips in between these ears and long bolts then hold the upright to the radius arm and the adaptor to the upright.  You have to file the space between the ears fit the adaptor to fit.

[califkid_66]

the bolt on the bracket was not a long bolt but the short bolt that bolted the radius arm to the hub i know the hub is bolted to the radius arm with eight short bolts i could see in is installation he used short bolts so the bracket did not have a bolt going right through but barely screwed at the extremities
 with two bolts screwed in each side of the bracket tube
the first one is how it’s supposed to be the other one is how it was installed

[jbcollier]

Yes, not one longer bolt but two longer than stock.  Still one from each side but longer to attach to the twin link adaptor.  I can’t remember for sure if I drilled the threads out of the stock ears so the bolts only threaded into the adaptor or not.  It’s been a while.

The adaptor attaches to two sets of ears and to where the shock and lower arm attach.

I can’t post photos when I get home but that won’t be fit another week.

[califkid_66]

there’s no instructions on how to install the kit and no clear pictures it would be nice to have all angles
the way i see it there’s one tube between the two ears holding the bracket on the top of the hub and
one tube that slides on the bolt where the bottom of the shock absorber was but nothing between the bottom ears and possibility of drilling two extra holes through the hub but not nessesairy
 so basically the bracket is anchored at the top and bottom top ears bottom shock bolt

 

[BDA]

Here are three pictures of many I took of how Bank's twin link attaches to the upright. Because of how the brake disc covered up a lot, these seem to give the most information.

Let me know if there is another view you would like. I'll be taking the shocks off and that might provide another view.

[califkid_66]

thanks BDA  that help a lot now i get it im more the visual type !!
it’s exactly the way i thought it was going to be
i see you drilled the upright and bolted the plate that the two holes i was wondering about but Jb mentioned that he asked banks about it and it wasn’t nessesary i noticed your bracket doesn’t seem to have the flatbar with the tube going to the shock maybe the new design with the flatbar and tube is strong enough and gives you the option of drilling or not the two holes in the upright

thanks for the picture i im good with these i got what i needed
 ps really like your disk brake set up