Hot Rods Engineering nightmare

In the late 80's a couple of my students dragged a swamp buggy up to Maryland from Alabama. Built on a Ford PU ch***is. Black iron pipe roll bar with elbows welded in for the corners. Pair of Corvair bucket seats bolted to a piece of plywood that was bolted to the frame. Conduit for a cowl hoop to support the steering column. Absolutely wasted front suspension. Said it was street legal in Alabama.(?) My first thought was, "You could build some really wild/cool stuff there." Immediate second thought, "But, look at what could be aimed at you."

 

Used to tell my students that putting 500HP in a 300HP ch***is was just ******* away your most expensive HP. Someone with 400HP in a 400HP ch***is was going to wear you out.

 

I love this place! But there sure are a lot of easy to scare people here.
All this concern about a forged part with (what appears to be) a notch cut out of it. Both ears of this part bolt to the same piece. It forms a completed circle around the other part. That "ground out notch" may, or may not be a weak point, after a major crash, after the part its bolted has failed. Who is going to say the part was not designed to the needed strength with the intent of removing that "ground away" material?
The "grind area" is clean with no sharp edges, it actually may have been forged with the notch in it. Given that both pieces bolt to the same part, I'm not seeing the weak part you guys are seeing. I'm seeing a part that probably could have been better designed, appearance wise, but not something I suspect is unsafe.

There are other things that would be much more concerning about this build to me. After repairing those, I probably would have used a differently designed part here too, just because. But actually, I would love to see "the notch" with the paint removed, I'd almost bet it was not ground out. Machined out, or forged with the notch are real possibilities that change the entire subject.

 

Full disclosure: I had to make a similar modification to my steering arm. But it is a more robust design and I do not think the strength will be compromised enough to be a concern on a car that weighs under 2000 pounds. Its a matter of degrees.

 

Maybe they came that way. I found these on the Google. I feel like I have seen the OP's somewhere.

As stated, may not be as bad as you think. Not the worst thing anyhow.

 

This used to be a nice superbell part. And no , super bell would not supply a part butchered like this. Maybe a different year spindle with a different position zerk fitting may have helped . The original builder clearly thought nice job . Families coming the other way would not have thought so . Don’t shortcut anything that is a critical part of your car.

 

I'm lost here. What do you need to grease that is just below the wheel cylinder?