Series 3 Front Suspension

[Snapperpaul]

Great thread Longboarder

[Guest eastyorks]

Thanks Nigel,

 

been checking car and had a few runs out, I thought I had an oil leak so had a quick look underneath and managed to put my hand on the exhaust, now typing one handed!

 

Geometry doesn't look bad tbh, mushrooms are a pain taking in and out to set camber, there about 30mm proud of the hub but still showing below clamp and lined up.

I'm going to drill an 8mm hole tap and put a grub in just to make sure when all is set 100%

 

oddly there's three threads difference between each top ball joint, guess it was welded on a rubber jig?

 

It would be very appreciated if you have a spare rim, more than happy for postage, it just looks nice to have an original style one.

 

I've taken some pics but they won't load, keeps saying file to large and I don't know who to make them smaller?

 

Regards, Paul

[Longboarder]

Yes, the two sides of the car don't match on mine either but still work OK. Seems to go round left or right hand corners about the same!

You have a pm.

 

Nigel

 

p.s. thank you Paul.

 

p.p.s. Here's a wheel. Centre caps are my own.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Longboarder

[Guest mdav1970]

Hi Nigel,

 

On my 3 the steering rack is lying flat to the floor, held down by 2 U bend brackets. So i'm guessing then i would be best to raise this by an inch by placing some sort of plinth under the rack. Theres enough length in the U bend brackets to still hold down the rack after its raised, so no need to fabricate anything. Ive only managed to drive the car a short while before parking up for the winter, but was going to look at getting a local garage that i know has worked on a couple of Westfields to setup the suspension for me as it did skip across the road a bit when i did manage to drive it.

 

Mark

[Longboarder]

Mark. Moving the mounting position of the rack is about bump steer and correcting it. I wasn't aware that this was a problem with the 3/3A. (The 'New 3' has slightly different front suspension.)

By all means use the poles and string method I posted earlier in this thread to check if you do have bump steer. If that confirms you have a bump steer problem then moving the rack position is the answer. It may need to go up or down. If you do need to move it up or down make sure its securely mounted when done. You may need to make new brackets. Having the rack loose or waving in the breeze is a lot worse than bump steer!

The other suggestions in this thread are all important. Tyre pressures. No play in the wishbone joints and lubricated. Shimming the top wishbone back as far as it will go. Raising the mushroom as far as it will safely go to reset top wishbone angle. Changing from sierra antirollbar to tiebars.(This also gives means of adjusting castor) Getting the castor, camber and toe-in set correctly. Spring weight and good shock-absorbers.

 

Nigel

[Guest mdav1970]

Hi Nigel,

 

If yours is a 'New 3' then thats what mine must be as its the same as in your picture on this post.

 

Mark

[Longboarder]

OK. Outboard shocks at 45 degrees, wishbones top and bottom, no antirollbar. In that case you may well need to raise the rack. Do the test I described and see if the wheels move out or in slackening or tightening the line as you raise and lower the front of the car. Then shim up and repeat till there doesn't appear to be a change. The you must fabricate some brackets to hold the tops of the rack mounting bolts firmly so it's all safe.

 

Nigel

[Guest 2b cruising]

The easy wat to find rack height is to keep your track rods parallel to the ground or in the same plane as the steering rack.

Best done with car in. Normal ride state.

This will minimise tramping under braking conditions. The straighter the horizontal line with your rack, and the toe set the better the ride control.

 

 

[Longboarder]

Rats. Mines set-up all wrong. Nowhere near horizontal.

 

Nigel

[Guest 2b cruising]

It's not a must Nigel, just a guide.

[Guest mower man]

Watching this with a little interest what follows are my ops not musts as every RH seems to be different . Before moving any thing get the ride hieght set correctly then all steering angles , tyre pressures and then you have a base to work from ,idealy steering arms and lower wish bones should be horizontal ,not angled up or down ,I found with my own car lifting the rack approx 4mm makes a world of diference. mick

[Bob Tucker]

Ideally the bottom wishbone should be horizontal (it never is)

and the steering arm parallel to it viewed from the front (it rarely is)

with the knuckle in the rack (inside the boot) directly above the pivot

point of the wishbone (highly unlikley).

 

But just get as close as possible.

[Guest mdav1970]

This is the front of mine, which recently i have been told may not be a 3 series but an S7?

[Longboarder]

Definitely a new three and probably a slightly later one at that. You can see that RH partly corrected the low steering rack position by building the original rack mounting platform into a box section which raised the rack an inch or so. Pic compares mine to yours and mines an early New3.

Two changes I would start with on yours. The rack does need to be raised. It's a different rack to mine so no top mounting bracket needs to be made.

The upper wishbone mountings need to be raised as much as they can safely go and still have the mushroom solidly held by the strut clamp of the hub. From the picture you can just about see the lower end of my mushrooms is about 2mm above the bottom of the strut clamp. (Yes it lives outside and is a bit rusty.)

 

Nigel

Edited February 14, 2015 by Longboarder

[Guest mdav1970]

Yeah I see the way you have the upper ball joint mount (mushroom) all the way up, as apposed to mine being all the way down. I have the wheels off at the moment, so once their back on I will do and try it your way, see how the car behaves.

Edited February 14, 2015 by mdav1970