A few minor changes... and a "Do you have any spare A-arms for a Brammo car to sell?"

[Terry Kennedy]

As some of you may know, I made an appointment to ship my Atom out to Tom Smurzynski before last Thanksgiving. Due to a couple bouts of really deep snow here (drifts in the backyard over 6 feet high), and the difficulty in getting enclosed transporter drivers organized (it's like herding cats), My Atom didn't leave here on its 3000+ mile journey to Tom until after Valentine's day.

He unpacked it (the passenger side was full of lots of neat stuff to be installed) and put it on a roller stand so he could pull the suspension components off and get to work replacing the ends using the jigs he has. Unfortunately, Randy's red-frame Atom is a lot newer than mine, so the fixtures Tom has aren't appropriate for my car. So I'm looking for someone with a Brammo Atom that is not a "RAMXXX" VIN, who has spare A-Arms, which would provide me the parts I need to have Tom modify them on his existing frame. In exchange, I can offer cash, trade of your arms for my arms and (less) cash, or any mutually-agreeable barter.

The only alternative would be to try to get by with the thin-wall tubing shaved down even further to fit the bearings inside, or to tack weld a curved sleeve on to reinforce the area. TMI said that the Atom 3 Rear A-arms will work on a 2, but with a bunch of changes. Plus, unless they adopted the Brammo alignment thimbles (which Simon didn't seem pretty keen on), I'd end up with the bizarre UK alignment ritual.

Anyway, here's a picture of what Tom has accomplished on my Atom so far:

[bolus]

wow, that will be a tough part to source. would the RAM suspension arm fit on a non-RAM car?

Tough seeing you car all a part in the middle of summer. I did that waiting for my clutch last year. started in June and got the car back together late september.

[Terry Kennedy]

wow, that will be a tough part to source. would the RAM suspension arm fit on a non-RAM car?

Yes (according to Tom). The issue is that the RAM cars have a thinner metal tube on the end of the A-arm (with the bushing pressed in). Tom's upgrade involves milling out that tube and pressing a spherical bearing in instead of the rubber bushing. He's concerned about there being enough metal left with these thinner tubes.[/quote]

Tough seeing you car all a part in the middle of summer. I did that waiting for my clutch last year. started in June and got the car back together late september.

Well, I was supposed to pick it up in April. But that was back around Thanksgiving, when the auto transporter would be here "very soon".

[Gage]

I wish I had parts for you Terry.

I'm cheering for the success of your project.

[Steve]

As you know, I'm a RAMXXX guy, too. But I hope someone can help out!

[Terry Kennedy]

I wish I had parts for you Terry.

I'm cheering for the success of your project.

Here's a picture of the process so far:



That's the beefed-up A-arm with a spherical bearing inside (which replaces the hard rubber blob that Brammo used). Hopefully this means that the suspension will actually work, as opposed to the car sitting at whatever ride height it had from the last pothole.

[silver]

curious what's the material on the outer edge? almost looks dare I say like concrete...at least from the photo and untrained eye, I'm curious what it actually is, obviously it's not concrete

[Karl]

Looks like coarse media-blasted steel.

[Terry Kennedy]

Looks like coarse media-blasted steel.

You are correct. Here's some other pictures of earlier in the procedure: