Ride Hieght

[Guest Mr Pid]

Well now im having a load grief with a certain pair of macpherson strutts, we are all familiar with, shoved up the roll bar on the 2B for the rear suspension.

 

Two questions really:

 

1) Is there a defined ride height that the car must clear on the SVA?

 

2) If so any tips on pulling these strutts out some more when they wont move an inch.

 

I have so far tried whacking them with a hammer (works on most other bits) and twisting them. Im thinking of drilling a couple of holes a bit further up in the boot and spraying loads of duck oil down there to see if this will penetrate through.

 

Any one else had this grief? or got any more practical/sensible solutions?

 

Any thoughts welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Stu

[Guest Guy]

Hi Stu

 

Are they actually stuck? Did you paint them with nice hamarite and then put them in, the paint might be sticking them.

 

Mine are more floppy than a floppy thing on floppy day.

 

One thing I do know, when the back end is jacked up with the diff, the springs must stay securely in place.

[Guest Mr Pid]

Ah well thats one of the things as well, if i jack the car up i can pull the springs out as the gap is like grand canyon!easy for changing springs though.

 

Did paint them but left the shaft part metal, now thinking that they could have rusted in?!

 

Stu

[Guest 2BBoulton]

Don't know what the SVA says about ground clearence but for an MOT you need to be able to drive onto the test ramp without hitting it. If you want to clear speed humps then you will need 75mm of clearence in a 30 zone and 100mm in a 20 zone.

 

Bruce

[Guest Ant]

Is that full width speed humps, or speed humps where the wheels can go either side. I reckon the wheel either side ones are the worst problem.

 

At the moment I have 85mm under the tube in front of the sump - with no passengers. I've driven over lots of speed bumps today and had no problems what so ever.

 

Ant

[Guest 2BBoulton]

Not sure, check out the link I posted in chit chat (i think) under 'Humps'. All the info you will ever need to becomr the pub bore!

 

Bruce

[swan]

bruce,

 

just call me the pub bore! i checked that site out where it outlines the height that humps need to be, only to find that most of the humps in my local area seem to be either the wrong height for the area ie 20mph zone, too high full stop (huge) or wrongly signed up. I've emailed the Department of Transport to find out what they suggest i do if I find that a council dept has made a fundamental cock up with its humps, and the response was pretty much "well you'll have to sue them and see" there should be a way to sue a council that adjusts a road in such a way that a perfectly legal vehicle is unable to drive down it shouldnt there?

 

paul

[Guest Mr Pid]

Hi Paul,

 

I sympathise with your predicament, and yes there are laws to kerb the abuse of the Road Traffic Regulations BUT:

 

Most local laws are set and passed by Local Authorities through the powers of delegated legislation set by parliament. This gives them the freedom to make law quickly without having numerous bill read and re-read before they are passed which is very time consuming if a quick fix solution is needed.

 

Hence the Local Authorities who administer these by-laws and regulations and abuse the Statutory Instruments laid down by parliament are the first point of call when you have an issue with what they are doing/not doing etc.

 

These people do not like to be complained about and will do their upmost to make sure you have most difficult time as possible in pursuing your claim. So you will end up being fobbed off and hitting a brick wall most of the time, most Council dont have many proper lawyers and if they do they are normally engaged in much higher profile cases.

 

In my experience in suing Councils (mainly for personal injury claims for my law firm) they are completely and utterly useless. Even when they have admitted liabilty and its just a matter of a few procedures to reach a settlement- its takes forever, they mess it up, lose the file, off sick , on hoilday, cant reach them - I think you get the picture.

 

I had a case personally i was'nt going to let them get away with and it was'nt until the day of the court hearing i got a letter stating that they had withdrawn, and would be in contact to reach a settlement.

 

I know there a few law firms who specialise in road traffic offences, so if you think you have a strong enough case they may pursue it. They may charge extortionate prices and i doubt you will be eligable for legal aid.

 

In conclusion the Local Authorities know that most people cannot afford a civil law suit to fight them in the courts so they take advantage of this and its people like us who pay the penalty. Hope this is not too depressing but its life!

 

Stu

[Guest Mr Pid]

Hi, further to the original topic;

 

Can anyone tell me the length of the macpherson strut shaft remaining from below the roll bar where the rear springs sit?

 

I am drawing closer to the not so fun task of pulling these out a bit to raise it up, but am not sure how much needs to be exposed.

 

I was interested to see the height of the other cars at newark, they looked really high compared to mine, which can hardly even get my foot under!

 

Any info would be much appreciated,

 

Cheers

 

Stu

[Guest john]

Hi

I've got 6 inches from the tube bottom to the flange on the mcstrut, and it gives me 7 and a half under the side panel, measured just in front of the rear arches.

My springs sre still firmly in place when the rear is jacked under the diff.

 

What i did was jack up under the diff until the rear arms droop as much as poss, apply spring compressors sufficient to allow you to extend the mcstrut out of the tube to the dist you require, drill and bolt through the tube/mcstrut, then release the compressors and let the car down.

If you don't want to bolt it until your'e happy, just drill a small hole instead, and use a nail as a peg to prevent it going back up the tube. ( as per video )

 

This is how it is on mine , you have to assume all our chassis / rollbars were jigged and welded alike.

 

I've always thought that 2b's ride high at the rear arches, but larger diam wheels and a passenger all help to counter that.

 

HTH

[Guest 2BBoulton]

Paul and Mr Pid,

 

Recently Swindon council put some speed humps down only to have them removed and replaced as they were the wrong height. This was only done when the residents who lived on the road complained.

If you don't live on the road with the humps write to those who do and let them know that the humps are the wrong size and let them know where to complain to. A letter to the local rag can also help, just make sure you emphise that you agree with the humps but that they should not cause damage to the car.

 

Bruce

[Guest Lindsay]

Hi stu

 

I drilled holes in the macferson strut at 1" spacing, if your not happy with ride height take bolt out and jack up/ let down to next hole.

 

Lindsay