Dolomite Sprint 5 Link rear axle Installation

In a desperate bid to improve the traction and acceleration of my Dolomite I have acquired the holy grail - a rear axle fitted with a limited slip differential.

Great!  Bolt it in and off we go!

Er, not quite.

This particular axle is a Salisbury 4HA type as fitted to TR8's and some Jaguars.  It is a seriously heavy duty beast that I'm informed should be good for reliably handling in excess of 400BHP and is fitted with a 4.6:1 crown wheel and pinion.  My max speed will be limited to about 115mph with this axle however in gear acceleration should be startling compared to the rather lazy 3.45:1 standard axle.

This axle was previously fitted in a Mark 1 Ford Escort hillclimbing car using a 4-link set up which is a very popular mod on these cars.  Standard escort rear axles are located by an arrangement similar to an 18th century horse drawn carriage so you can see why its popular!  Its also been very tried an tested and when combined with a Panhard rod can give a very good improvement in handling.

Some significant mods will be necessary to get this in a Dolomite though!

I have two choices - re-weld Dolomite axle brackets onto this axle and use the standard Dolomite suspension 4-link pick up's (not a bad arrangement when a Panhard rod is added), or got the whole hog and modify the Dolomite suspension pick up points to use a fully adjustable 5-link set up.

Of course I had to boldly go where no Dolomite has gone before!!

A number of suppliers manufacture 5-link axle kits for Escorts so after measuring up an escort and finding the dimensions easily adaptable for the Dolomite I sourced a full 5-link set up from Peter Lloyd Rallying.  All for a very reasonable £230 or so and it includes:-

Rear Link Boxes,  Axle Brackets and Adjustable Rose Jointed axle link bars (to control vertical axle movement).

Rear coilover damper/spring mounting turrets (for fitting to rear inner wheel arches for optimum damping & spring location).

Adjustable rose jointed panhard rod and mounting turret (to limit sideways axle movement).

Stage one was to remove the rear seat and very carefully measure and mark out where the axle link boxes are to be fitted.  I marked it out with insulation tape prior to cutting with a jigsaw and angle grinder.  It is essential for all fuel lines, tanks, pumps etc removed prior to any cutting

This is not a task to be undertaken lightly as it involves cutting some major chassis members.  The adage measure twice, cut once is very good advice in this instance!

Above: Chassis marked out ready for cutting.

The first cut is always the hardest!!!

Here's the slot and chassis member cut to take it

And this is how it looks from inside with the boxes tack welded in place.... I had to be really careful to align each box at the same height.

And from underneath.............painted with the ubiquitous black hammerite.....

To Be Continued......................................