Rear Coilovers

[Guest j0ngreen]

All,

 

Recently bought a 2b from a guy who had stripped a donor and stored the stuff in his garage for 3 years. Collected 2 weeks ago, And have made a start on the rear end. After watching the vids

 

As you can see from the picture, I have the rear yellow dot coilovers from RHE, but something does not look right. (They have rover stamped on them)

 

Firstly the inner springs of the coilovers (see next post), which I was told when I picked up the car, I had to insert inside the originals. Are smaller than Richards in the Video. Although they are the same length, fit in exactly when reassembled, there is no room for the bumpstops.

 

Secondly the chassis appears to have had some lopped off the rollover bar to accomodate the top of the strut. Richard is corrected in the vid to 4". But this does not appear to be enough. Look at the angle of the drive shafts. They look a bit steep, don't want to pop the CV joints. When two people stand on the rear wheel carrier the axles do straighten up. But I am not always going to have two people in the car.

 

Has anybody got this assembly, and can cast any light.

 

Regards

 

J.

[Guest j0ngreen]

Next Pic

 

Cheers

 

J.

[Guest Ant]

I'm not sure about this specific setup so others may be in a better position to advise than I am.

 

Seems to me there are two things you can do. First off push the insert further up into the bottom of the roll-over bar. From the photos it looks like this will give you between one and two inches. You could then cut more off the roll-over bar, but I'd get the engine and gearbox in before you do that as you'll have a better idea on the ride height by then. Remember the engine is behind the front wheels, so a lot of its weight ends up at the back. With one person standing around the position of the seats you want the driveshafts sloping slightly downwards. A full tank of fuel will take them closer to horizontal.

 

Perhaps better is to measure the chassis from the ground. 7" is the quoted figure for an un-laided car, measured just in front of the rear wheels.

 

Ant

[Guest John Church]

Had exactly the same problem with mine (2000 onwards build).

 

I queried it with RHE and Richard came around to have a look at it as he was local. He said that it was ok to leave out the bump stops but that when all the stuff was on the car it would go down .....and it did.

 

The spring tops need to go as far up the tube as possible (the top of the coils will limit that) and it will still look too high.

 

When I'd finished the build I was convinced that the arches were too far from the wheels - but the kids said that it looked better like that.

 

I then found that when out on the raod, it was easier to clear lumps, bumps and sleeping policemen without taking out the sump etc ........and finally, the trouble and strife said that it was a really comfortable ride.

 

Happy accident or what?

 

Regards and happy building and make sure that the nuts and bolts that join the spring and rear axle point the right way!

[Guest j0ngreen]

John,

 

You have just made me feel 110% better, I thought I was the only one with the dreaded yellow dots. And the car needed welding up for the change back to upside down Mc-Structs.

 

So just to check I have got it right right, I have to loose 4"'s off the rollbar, push the rods as far up as possible and all should be ok. Cosmic !

 

You mention the the nuts and bolts being the right way round, what do you mean? Could I ask which direct should they be installed?

 

 

Ant, thanks for your input too

 

Regards

 

J.

[Bob Tucker]

Hi J.

I had the same setup (Oct 2000 pickup), but didnt like the jacked up look. I went back to Sierra springs & shocks, which have been fine, but I'm now going for a pair of AVO coilovers, which I'm about to fit.

 

The bolt in the bottom of the coilover needs to be in line with the pivot point of the A frame. The vid says at 90 deg to the car. Thats wrong, otherwise you will twist the rubber bush to hell.

Cheers, Bob.

[Guest John Church]

Have a look at my on site photo and you'll see what I mean about height.

 

If you want the lower look, then Bob's got another solution.

 

My way of doing things was to put on as much new stuff as possible as I didn't fancy relying on stuff off a car that had done 100k. On that basis a few inches higher in the rear was fine by me.

 

The bolts at the bottom of the spring attaching it to the axle need to point to each wheel ie along the line of the rear axle.

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest John Church]

Just thought.........

 

....since you seem to have the same 2B as mine, have you also got the centre console speedo etc version?

 

If so, please have a look in the ELECTRICS section at my latest post as I'm missing the rear plug diagram from the wires to whichever number on the multiplug.

[Guest j0ngreen]

John,

 

Sorry to sound a bit dim, I have the chassis with the dash above the steering column. I do not have a rev counter dash.

 

But if you want I can take a photo of the rear of the dash and the plug and wiring that fits into it.

 

Thanks again for your help

 

 

Regards

 

 

Jonathan

[Guest j0ngreen]

John,

 

Just out of interest do you have a website of your build.

 

Jonathan

[Guest John Church]

I don't have a web site as I never realised it would be of interest later....how wrong can you get.

 

The speedo unit is one supplied by RHE as a new/replacement unit for the one out of the Sierra. If you're using the Sierra speedo, then I'm afraid it's the wrorg one.

 

Failing a positive response, I'll have to get in touch with RHE for some belated help.

[Guest steveharr]

Hi,

 

Just to return to the original topic. I have the same model and springs and I had to cut off the roll bar tubes until the top of the coil over assembly was just missing the adjasent tubing. The ride high still looks as tho it will be a bit high!

 

A piece of paper came with the extra springs that told you to remove the rubber bump stop, just to confirm that.

 

Steve.