S7 With Inboard Coilovers, Upper Wishbone / Radius Arm Mount

[Guest micha_1]

over the weekend we bought a sierra based S7 (front inboard coilovers) dont know if its a MK1, 2 or 3.

 

from the chassisnumber it could be a 1997 model.

 

 

 

now we drove the car on our yard and after 30m driving we needed to stop the car and take a deep breath.

 

the complete front axle was flexing backwards... impossible to drive with this car....very dangerous!!

 

we removed the nose&bonnet and recognized that the upper wishbone / radius arm is only fixed at the pivot point on the 2mm monocoqoue lugs...there is no strenghtening/strutting/bracing (L-shaped angle iron) between drivers and passenger side which i remember from aS7 mk1 we owned some years ago.

 

has anybody a detailed pic how the front suspension is assembled correctly?

 

by the way...the car had a fresh MOT and all the bolts look like they havent been opened since years...means (certain) former owners have used the car like that...however they kept this car on the road!!

Edited February 23, 2014 by Comadis

[Guest mower man]

Hi we meet again , [one eyed mick on another forum ] I run a similar age s7 and have heard of similar occurence where the wish bones were pivoted on the tub sides frightening isnt it ?,my car has an angle iron support frame between o/s and n/s tub legs which carry the wishbones .I shall be doing some work on my car in the coming weeks and will sort you some photos if you like ,I have done approx 40k miles with it and think its good, no caterthing but I like it The biggest improvement I have made is removing the hugely stiff sierra rollbar and fitting tie bars and softer front springs you are welcome to details of this as well ,let me know your postal address and i will forward the stuff in the next 2/3 weeks mower man

[Guest robinj66]

When my 1995 S7 came into my possession the previous owner had removed (cut out!) the front cross member. Can't work out why.

 

I ended up replacing it with some 5mm thick stainless angle which I bolted on and that appears to have done the trick.

 

 

 

[i would add some photos but it's not happening for me atm and Photobucket have "improved " their B****y site again so i can't upload to there either! ]

[biksz]

mine seems to have some movement when braking but not that bad it got through the mot so dont think it major if it was major i think the mot tester would have commented on it.

[Guest micha_1]

below 2 pictures of our robin.

 

as the complete front end was flexing since years, the recesses in the front mask allowing the air paasing towards the radiator are already cracked.

 

surplus we found out that the drivers side pushrod has lot of play at the pivot point.

 

[Guest micha_1]

[Guest micha_1]

does anybody have a picture of the necessary strengthening or a weblink where this could be seen?

[biksz]

here is a pic of my front end if helps.

[Guest micha_1]

Thanks for the pic...thats exactly how i remember it from my first robin...but yours is an older model which came like that from the factory?

[Peter Bell]

Yes you have a series 3 or 3a and the yellow one is a series1. I know people reinforce the area where the the wishbones pivot on the 3 but didn't know the cetre area was weak. Can you just attach a length of angle across the front with a hole in each end for the wishbone pivot bolts to go through?

[Guest micha_1]

Thats what i do now....on the rear space is tight...i will place some flat steel somehow....finally a complete wheel alignment...

 

By the way...what are the values for camber castor and tracking?

[Guest mower man]

Camber 1.5 degs neg caster 4/8 degs pos , toe as near zero as pos def no toe out 18psi tyre pressure on 205x50 x15 tyres but set in correct order i.e. ride hieght , caster ,camber and then toe hope this helps mowerman

[cb750]

Check the welds where the front framework is welded to the monocoque sides. Mine looked OK but when I put a light behind them in a dark garage I could see that they were cracked! Had fillets added, welds ground back and rewelded.

[Guest micha_1]

as space is tight and the angled iron did not bring the expected success we now reinfirced that corssmember by gusset plates and some further sheet metal.

 

what we still do not understand: ANY 3 or 3a model with this kidn of crossmember must have the same problem as the original design is too weak taking all the load coming from the suspension and braking.

[blue]

Hi I also have a mk3 mono and I've not had this problem ????? But it seems this is deff something I need to look into .

Maybe I've just been lucky and it's not happened yet. So do I just fit a flat bar across front to prevent this starting ???