Gear Linkage
The gear linkage was custom fabricated by Sylva for the R1 engine and uses a rose-jointed rod and short bell crank system which due to the gear selector being virtually level with the top chassis rail is very direct and positive. The gear stick and bell crank pivot on nylon top hat bushes and CDS tube exactly the same as the front rocking arms.
Brakes
 |
 |
I opted for the twin cylinder balance-bar brake box on the Striker in order to have better control over front to rear bias. This means that the Sierra brake and clutch pedal pivot is not long enough to fit and a suitable 5/8" rod must be obtained from elsewhere. I opted to use an M16x200 bolt. In fitting the pedals it is necessary to use the nylon bushes from either Sierra brake or clutch pedal and obtain some material to sleeve the pivot in order to space the pedals on the pivot exactly where you want them. There are a number of nylon spacers on the Sierra which may be useable with the standard brake box, but not with the twin cylinder setup. There is a spring which I did re-use in order to remove any slack from the spacers. I found that 20mm OD electrical conduit was an excellent fit onto the M16 pivot and I purchased a whole four metres of black painted metal stuff for four quid...if anyone else wants some, I have enough for a few more Strikers yet...
In common with many things, making the brake pipes took longer than I expected because I was very fussy about getting neat looking pipes. I borrowed a proper cam action flaring tool from the work's motor club and this proved to be invaluable. The front cylinder is a simple run to the front of the chassis where a 3 way union splits the pipe to two runs, one to each bulkhead fitting for the front aeroquips. The rear pipe runs down the tunnel to a 4 way union by the side of the diff which again splits the circuit to two runs, one to each bulkhead fitting for the rear aeroquips. The fourth port on the rear union was used for a hydraulic brake light switch. All the fittings used were metric (M10x1) with the exception of the master cylinder ports. For Girling master cylinders the brake port is 3/8" UNF and the feed port is 7/16 UNF which needs 1/4" or larger feed pipe. In my case I am using a male/male union with a short length of rubber hose to attach to the brake fluid reservoir, which is a twin item with level sensor for SVA.
The final link to the calipers is not yet there as I am _still_ waiting for the front Bremsport calipers from TAS and therefore the rear calipers may as well wait too as I need to fit them onto mounting brackets that need the rear hub carriers to come off and this will get done when the shortened half-shafts are done.