Rear Ride Hight

[itllbedonesoon]

Afternoon all,

 

got a 2b+ (i am still in the build phase, almost finished) with the zimerides onto the sierra sub frame. I have everything in there, fuel tank, boot spare wheel and stood on the spare wheel and i still have about 8 or 9 inches (calm down ladies) of wing clearance over the tyre. When i am sat in it it feels like i am facing down hill.

 

Even with compressing the zimmeride springs i will never lower the vehicle enough to not look like an off roader.

 

Lately, and i am just thinking out loud here, that due to the possible slight variations in robin hood parts manufacture. The thought has crossed my mind to cut down the upper suspension mounts (the underside of the roll bar).

 

I cant afford to buy a new set of sus units, so does anyone have an ideas before i potentially make a drastic angle grinding adjustment mistake to the chassis?

[Snapperpaul]

Make it adjustable by having a tube for the shock top mount to bolt to, this tube then slides up into the chassis tube and three big bolts go through both tubes. when you can afford some shorter shocks you just get some longer inner tubes made up.

[Guest Dee Jay]

Afternoon all,

 

got a 2b+ (i am still in the build phase, almost finished) with the zimerides onto the sierra sub frame. I have everything in there, fuel tank, boot spare wheel and stood on the spare wheel and i still have about 8 or 9 inches (calm down ladies) of wing clearance over the tyre. When i am sat in it it feels like i am facing down hill.

 

Even with compressing the zimmeride springs i will never lower the vehicle enough to not look like an off roader.

 

Lately, and i am just thinking out loud here, that due to the possible slight variations in robin hood parts manufacture. The thought has crossed my mind to cut down the upper suspension mounts (the underside of the roll bar).

 

I cant afford to buy a new set of sus units, so does anyone have an ideas before i potentially make a drastic angle grinding adjustment mistake to the chassis?

 

 

I'm sureThe DVD say's you have to cut 50mm off the ends of the roll bar ends, have you done that? I had a simalar problem and did not trust the DVD, but I had to cut it off at the end of the build, beware though 50mm is quire drastic you may need to cut less than that. you could check other people's build diaries, go to links and members cars.

 

Dave

[Guest robin]

in my build videos (not enough in the rhe budget for dvd's at that time!) he mentions cutting some of the bottom of the roll-bar off if you opted for the zimmeride "upgrade". I can have a look to see if he says how much if you want.

 

Robin

[Guest chris brown]

Depending on which set of instructions you have, early tapes, late tapes or DVD's.

The early tapes told you to cut as much off the tubes as poss.

Later tapes said early on to cut as much off as poss then about 10 hours later said that was wrong and to cut about 3 inches off.

Now it would seem the DVD's say to cut 50mm off.

I cut something like 3 inches off mine and drilled 3 holes in the mount tube and one in the Chassis (roll bar) tube so as to be able to adjust (not that I ever have done)

[Guest TerryBarry]

I cut as much as I could off of mine.

This was done early in the build.

Yes I also noted the reverse instruction later in the tapes (Yes I know he tells you to watch them all before strarting construction.

Once you've got the rear seat panel and the rear ounter panel in place it's going to be difficult to get at the bottom of the roll-bar with an angle grinder.

I know it's extra work but you could always get longer top mounts made up if the suspension ends up too low.

[Guest Dan_Beeston]

My 2b+ chassis is as fabricated, none cut off. Running AVO coilovers with the spring seats wound right out gives me a sensible ride height. I was thinking of cutting the chassis to give me more travel but as I can hit the ground on bad surfaces for the moment I have decided to leave it with just a few inches of suspension movement before the coilovers hit the bump stops.

 

Things might be different with the famous zimmers though?......

[Guest john]

IIRC, the sort of ride height you should be aiming for when fully built and weighed down is around 7 inches under the side skirt just ahead of the rear wings. Your seats,bonnet and windscreen weigh quite a bit so try to leave it that you can adjust the height when these are all in place.

You will also fine tune the height to avoid sparking the road on your local bumps and potholes.

[Guest SEgan]

I did exactly the same as Chris, I have the zimmers with the larger diameter spring for the rear set-up. Although the car would obviously benefit from an upgrade mine have been fine for the 2500 miles I have covered so far.

 

Quote "Even with compressing the zimmeride springs i will never lower the vehicle enough to not look like an off roader."

 

With the Zimmers compressing the sping using the nuts on the shock pre-tensions it making it stiffer and increases your ride height. You will need to do this with the front ones which after a few miles have more "issues"

 

Good luck

[Guest peter2b2002]

my 2002 vids said cut as much off as pos which i did , the rear end sits 6" off the deck, but if my vimmers drop i cant drop the top mounts down any more to gain more ground clearance, done 7k miles so far, all ok, so follow the later ideas and cut off 3"

pete2b

[itllbedonesoon]

ahhaaaa!!!! this is sounding very promising for cutting down the chassis tubes. I did watch the DVD's about 3 times, but that was 1.5yrs ago now and i forgot that bit.

 

I have the seat back panel, the wheel arches, the rear panel everything is in so cutting the mounts down is going to be a pain in the butt, but it shall be done. Your comments have given me artistic license to cut loose with the angle grinder, hack saw, cheese cutter, butter knife and what ever i have to use to get it done.

 

I have the upper mounting tube/shoes, so in the future when i look for a sus upgade i should as you say be able to extend them out.

 

much appreciated, thank you all.

[Jez Morton]

Hi I'm in the same boat, I wanted to lower the rear. I have a 2004 purchased 2B plus, the videos say not cut the chassis down so I didn't. The car sits quite high at the rear but the important thing to note is the wheel camber is correct. To lower the car you will need to correct the extra camber angle you get when lowering by using some camber wedges (plenty of threads elswhere). I got some wedges then realised the Zimmers where at the minimum height so would not let the car down without changing the dampers or cutting the chassis. I decided to leave it as is and enjoy driving the car, well I would it would stop bloody raining.

 

Jez

[itllbedonesoon]

ok, i gave it the chop. measured how much i wanted to lower the wing by, cut 3" off the roll bar down tubes. Re-drilled the bolt holes & re-inserted the top mount extension tubes. All back together and looks much better. Looks more like all the other hoods i have seen at the shows.

 

big smiles now, she sits a lot better. Again much appreciate all the comments.