Cracks

[Guest alexpink]

Interesting. I've been having a chat with theduck about strengthening the diff mounting points, its just another job for the winter list.. I'm going to just bolt some angle through it for now to spread the load, and get it welded at a later date as that will require the fuel tank to be removed

I'm surprised mine has cracked so soon though as its mild steel. Would have thought stainless would be much more susceptible to it in comparison.

[alantoon]

I have a mild steel mono Exmo That has been on the road for 18 years and covered 60,000 miles and the bulkhead corner plate on the passenger side had a 2 inch crack appear 2 years ago which I welded up without any strengthening and it has been fine since. I noticed that the drivers side is just starting to crack so that will be sorted the same way. My car runs 180lb springs and tie-bars.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Alantoon

[Guest mower man]

I would Advise as I have others drop the spring rates to 120 it makes the car much nicer in my op mick

[alantoon]

I haven't softened the front springs for two reason , firstly the car suits my style of driving, I have it stiff at the front and softer at the back which means I don't get any roll on the front end and the back end is soft enough to allow plenty of grip to put my limited 1600cc power down, It may not make sense to others but as I say it works for me .Secondly, softening the front springs will mean that the front struts will have to do a lot more work to damp the suspension movement. Because you can't get hold of the struts anymore, anything that preserves their life has to be a good thing. When the time come to change the struts I have plans to convert to a wishbone setup and then I will consider softer springs.

[theduck]

Looking at this from another angle, has anyone ever stiffened the rear? We seem to talk about the front setup a lot but only ever seem to mention camber shims for the rear.

[kevin the chicken]

I wouldn't call myself any kind of expert but I could tell within the the first fifty miles that I drove my car that although the rear felt ok the front end was too hard. It did turn in ok but I felt that softer springs would stop the crashing and banging and make the turn in better. This change is on my winter mods list.

I am however an expert in saying I am going to do things in the winter and not getting around to them!

[Guest mower man]

Why is it everyone wants it stiff ? soft springing ,firm damping is the way to make a 7 work read more about Colin Chapman !!! mick

[Snapperpaul]

On my S3 the rear works with 190lb springs but much better with new shocks

Front was so stiff you could jack up 1 side and both would rise

Standard was so understeery I could not break the rear

Dropped to 120lb better but still very stiff and still understear

Ground the front anti roll bar to half thickness better and you see the front move independently but still to stiff

Tie bar conversion and wow much much better

[theduck]

Why is it everyone wants it stiff ? soft springing ,firm damping is the way to make a 7 work read more about Colin Chapman !!! mick

Was just a thought mick. Sounds like 120lb front with tie bars and 190lb rear with refreshed shocks is the way to go. Is that 190lb in the standard position or converting to coil overs though?

[cb750]

On the 3A I'm running 180/190 on the rear (need to check my notes). These are on coilovers mounted at the rear of the Sierra arms at the original damper mounting points. They then sit slightly off vertically and mount to the body at the top on a custom made box section hanger to spread the load. I mounted them off vertical to minimise the twisting motion caused by movement of the rear Sierra arms

 

As Mowerman says, all the suspension books that I have read say that soft springing and firm damping is the way to go so as to keep the car down on the road and not in the air.

 

Also you need to remember that the spring rate will vary depending on where it's mounted and the weight that it has to carry. When I bought my coilovers they said that I needed a lot higher rated spring but I insisted I had the lower rate and it's worked well for me.

[Guest mower man]

I had std sierra springs on mine with long gaz shocks no idea what rate the springs were , shocks were a 8/10 out of 27 not tail happy but if it did come unstuck O DEAR assume the position ! only happened a cuople of times and one was a diesel spill luckily it spun up the white line the return home was very sedate !!! mick

[richardm6994]

Just to give my penny's worth........

 

I have 180 on the rear and new gaz coil-overs.........these work a treat.

 

The Exmo needs a slightly stronger springs on the front compared to the S3 & S7’s due to the S3 & S7 having inboard springs and the top pivot suspension arm;

The lever ratio on the top suspension pivot arm is approx 1:1.15……meaning a 125lb inboard spring has a 144lb effect on the wheel hub.

As the Exmo has the springs acting directly on top of the hub, it’s a 1:1 ratio and so I went for 150lb springs on my Exmo which worked well in my opinion.

I think RH supplied 180 front and back as standard on RH’s.