3a Suspension

[Snapperpaul]

Are the spring platforms adjustable? i.e can you turn the ring that the springs sit on up or down.

If you can, slacken off the front springs as much as you can and tighten up the rears, this may help a little.

Do check the free movement of the front suspension, jack up the front and see if you can move the wheels up and down by hand, if they don't move easily with no weight then the bushes and pivot points may be seazed.

[Peter Bell]

Peter, sounds like you have already got rid of the anti roll bar so that’s a good start. here is a picture of a tie bar arrangement, in fact it is of Richard Halfacre’s car, a series 1 S7 he was probably the first person to make and try it quite a few years ago. (His son was on here a little time ago trying to locate this car.) I’m surprised that your wheel had fallen off, do you have any pictures of what had failed? As far as the springs are concerned the zimmer springs used to be colour coded they were marked with the rating in paint on one end of the spring as well. Reds were 170lbs/in black were 130, blue 220 and green 320. But when I bought my 130s they were red and 120! I think it just varied if they changed supplier.

[Guest mikea]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I am gradually becoming an authority on Robin Hoods!! I am new to these cars and have found some great help from the club so far. I think the symptoms you describe were what I was getting just before the front wheel fell off. How much did you raise the rack by to improve the situation?

Thanks again.

Regards Pete

 

 

mine was adjusted by the factory after SVA .. was put up on fabricated blocks .. will measure them .. I think about 20mm

[Guest mikea]

mine was adjusted by the factory after SVA .. was put up on fabricated blocks .. will measure them .. I think about 20mm

 

 

this may help. Track rod parallel to the ground

[Longboarder]

Mines a New 111. I raised my rack with spacers to eliminate bump steer. Will measure in the morning. The lower wishbones are good on the car but I remade the upper wishbones to give more castor. (I also remade the lower wishbone that got a bit bent at Barkstone but that's a different story.) The lower wishbone balljoint screws into the wishbone and must be tight and then pinned to prevent it unscrewing. I currently use AVO shocks allround. Front springs currently 180. 130 and 150 have been tried, nicely compliant but too much roll which destroys the geometry. 300 springs on the rear. Waiting for 400lb springs to arrive. Principaly because the 300's are too soft but partly to reduce roll. Might still end up fitting an aftermarket caterham style anti-roll bar (not the sierra one!) and softening the front back to 150.

Camber 1-2 negative. Castor 7ish. Toe parallel.

N.B. All above only apply to the New 111.

 

Nigel

[Guest Pete haskell]

Mines a New 111. I raised my rack with spacers to eliminate bump steer. Will measure in the morning. The lower wishbones are good on the car but I remade the upper wishbones to give more castor. (I also remade the lower wishbone that got a bit bent at Barkstone but that's a different story.) The lower wishbone balljoint screws into the wishbone and must be tight and then pinned to prevent it unscrewing. I currently use AVO shocks allround. Front springs currently 180. 130 and 150 have been tried, nicely compliant but too much roll which destroys the geometry. 300 springs on the rear. Waiting for 400lb springs to arrive. Principaly because the 300's are too soft but partly to reduce roll. Might still end up fitting an aftermarket caterham style anti-roll bar (not the sierra one!) and softening the front back to 150.

Camber 1-2 negative. Castor 7ish. Toe parallel.

N.B. All above only apply to the New 111.

 

Nigel

Hi Nigel, Got the car set up on spax adjustables with 225 front springs, which I think look OK and have some travel unlike the ones which were on the car, which were solid. However we have had the platforms adjusted full out which puts the shocks on the bump stops with 5" ground clearance and wound them right in and still have 5" ground clearance. The only trouble now is the front is on the ground with 2" under the sump and 2" lower than the back. So I want to lift the front by 2" so how do I do this because I cannot see an easy way, so please give me some leaders. Can this be done by increasing spring weight or mechanically moving mounting points?

Your opinion would be much appreciated.

Best regards Pete

[Peter Bell]

Not quite sure what you mean Pete but it sounds a bit like the shockers are too short and are on full droop. Can you unbolt them, (supporting the car!) raise the car to the height you need and measure the distance between fixings. Then compare that to the extended length of the ones you have?

[Longboarder]

Ride height is set more by shock length than spring poundage. To find a reasonable idea of what shock length you need put the front of the car on a jack, wind the platforms right down so the springs are flopping about and doing no supporting. Now adjust the height of the jack until the lower wishbone is horizontal. This gives best combination of sump clearance and suspension geometry. You can now measure between the two shocker eyes to give you the length of the shocker at normal ride height. Mine are 11.5". Now look in the catalogues. Shocks will be listed by spring diameter (1.9 or 2.25 inches) and open and closed lengths. Your shock length at rest should be at about 30% compression. So one that was 8.5" compressed and 12.5" extended would be about right. (Shockers this sort of length will be listed as having about 4" of travel but they seldom list the fact that you lose 1" of compression due to the bump stop so they really only have 3".) It will sit at rest at 11.5" which leaves a further 2" of compression available to the bump stop or 1" of extension to top out. These are all actual measurements from my car.

 

225 is too hard IMO. I would try 150lb springs at 10 inch length. When I had 130lb springs they were 11" to allow a few pounds of preload. Still worked fine but a lot of roll.

 

You should have the rear ground clearance set a little higher than the front.

 

Nigel