alanrichey

Great day.  Weather was just about perfect for driving (I covered 86 miles, although some of that was caused by road closures and unplanned diversions).   Then we managed to spend almost 3 hours just chatting.   Nice to get everyone back together after quite a gap.

Next meet is the Corby Glen sheep fair on 3 Oct, although weather looking a bit iffy at the moment.

Hi Peter

Sorry, mistyping, I meant camber not castor.  In fact my self centring borders on brutal.  If I am in a turn and relax my grip on the wheel she will snap back to straight ahead instantly.  One of the reasons I am loath to change anything

I'm trying to collate a list of Superspec owners, so we can share technical knowledge, documentation and experiences.   I used the forum database as a start point and found over 100 people who either had the car or still have it.  I'm also trawling through Facebook as well.

So far I have found 20 current owners, but I am sure there must be others.   So if you do have a Superspec and haven't heard from me recently or think you might not be on the list already then please contact me or add to this post.

And if anyone can think or anything else I can do to trace owners please let me know.

Al

Weather still looking good so it's a goer.  We have decided on Foxton Locks, which is a nice place to park up and have a wander round.   All the Lincolnshire (and honorary Lincolnshire members) regulars are going.  If anyone wants to join us we are meeting in the Top Lock Car Park at 12:00 (Tuesday 21st).   Bring a picnic lunch and 3 pound coins for the parking charge (their pay & Display machine is cash only)

Al

Right, spent a couple of hours taking multiple readings of both tracking and castor.  My garage was long enough so I could actually roll the wheels through 360º and then back again.  So I took readings every 90º forwards and then repeating backwards, giving me 8 readings.  The castor was consistent on all the readings varying only by 0.1º, with the nearside (the one with the tyre wear) showing 0º and the offside showing +2.5º.

As before, the tracking was a bit variable. although I did the recommended procedure of aligning it on the nearside wheel then checking the tracking on the offside wheel then back to the nearside to make sure it was still zeroed.   Using the valve as my guide, I got the following readings

6  o'clock    10' Toe-out  &  8' Toe-out
9  o'clock      8' Toe-in    &   5' Toe-in
12 o'clock     5'  Toe-out &  2' Tow-out
3 o'clock       3'  Toe-out &  1' Toe-out

I'll repeat the exercise in a few days, but I think we can safely say that one or both of my front wheels are slightly distorted but that overall I am probably looking at a small amount of toe-out.   I think for next time I will swap the front and back wheels and see what effect that has.   Meanwhile, those values are so small that it's not worth losing and sleep over it and I will just carry on driving   (Although I might look at getting the camber on the offside reduced).

Al

I think a complete rotation of the top ball joint is 1/4 degree, so you can make fairly fine adjustments.  Brakes are fine, just passed MOT.  And the pull is there all the time, not just under braking.

So checked the camber with a cheap and cheerful gadget off EBay.   It was surprisingly good.   I checked 3 or 4 times, moving the car each time and the readings were pretty consistent.

However, not sure they make sense, remembering that the symptoms were excessive wear on the nearside front tyre and a tendency to pull to the left.

The nearside front wheel showed 1º negative, which is apparently quite acceptable.  The offside front wheel showed 1.5º positive, which is not advisable, although there is minimal tyre wear on that side.

So not much further forward, although I might get the offside wheel adjusted.

No, I don't think so.  Interesting option.

Based on the BBC Weather forecast we are thinking of going somewhere for a picnic on Tuesday 21st.   Haven't decided where yet but it will probably be somewhere within an hours drive roughly southwest of Grantham to fit the location of my regulars.

Anyone who wants to join us let me know and I will add you to the discussion message thread.

Anyone who wants to join another time but would rather go North from Grantham, let me know as well.

Never thought of that   Mine is all covered in masking tape so it's not obvious.  Thanks

Al

52 minutes ago, Leslie Walters said:

You also have to consider that adjusting cambers will affect the ride height.

I wasn't aware of that, but researching on the net gives lots of different answers.  Some say 'yes' and some so 'no' but the majority view seemed to be 'yes but negligible'.  I think the best answer was this one: 

"Camber change will have no significant effect on ride height...but if you change ride height that will change camber, toe, and caster ..."

So winding up my springs to increase ride height will have affected everything   I'm happy the tracking alignment is still within limits (According to the manual the reason for the two different reasons is caused by slightly bent wheels).  But I am still stuck with tight locknuts and until I find out the thread directions I can't change the tracking.

I see that castor measuring devices are only a tenner on the Bay, so I think I will treat myself to one.  Although I will leave any adjustment to an expert as it will involve breaking the top ball joint and I don't fancy doing that.

On 8/9/2021 at 4:35 PM, richyb66 said:

http://www.trackace.co.uk/

I have one of these, takes a bit of setting up but works well.

Received mine now.   First attempt took a fair time, but now I have used it half a dozen times it has become very easy and I do the check in just a couple of minutes.  Love it

The first reading I got was 20' toe out, and then after moving the car so the wheel turned 180º I got a reading of 10' toe in.   So the average was 5' toe out.   I did wonder about tweaking it to give a small toe-in, but I couldn't shift the lock nuts on the track arm.   Are they opposite threads, or they both normal right hand threads?

It does give me a slight problem, I have suffered from excessive wear on the outside of both tyres and had assumed it was the tracking so could easily fix it.  Having got those readings it obviously isn't the source of the problem.   So googling it tells me the cause is more likely to be wrong camber.  So my latest theory is that winding up the front suspension springs to give me more ground clearance under the sump (Superspec owners will now this is a big problem on the car) has caused the wheels to tilt outwards at the top, putting pressure on the outside of the tread and causing the wear ?

Anyone any thoughts on that ?

Once again we have been invited to display our cars at the Corby Glen (NG33 4NS) Sheep Fair (https://www.sheepfair.co.uk/)  on 3rd October.   

This is a traditional small village fete with all the usual stalls, entertainment, food and drink, dog show, craft shows, car display.....   and this is the 783rd one so they must be doing something right.

Unlike other shows the organisers are very relaxed about the car display and although the Fair is open from 10:00-16:00 they are happy for us to arrive whenever we like and leave whenever we like.  I normally park up about 09:30 and reserve some spaces (I live only 1 mile away so it isn't difficult).

For those regular attendees it's the same as every year, parking by the war memorial.  If anyone who hasn't been before would like to come this year just message me and I will send full details.

Hi Tim, nice to see another Superspec owner joining us.   That is very useful information, but it doesn’t appear to include a sender for the fuel gauge ?

Thanks for that, I hereby eat my words (although only if he didn't clip the release bearing into the release arm)    But as you say, I will not replace it until something else forces me to drop the engine/gearbox.   It's been rattling for 25K miles and doesn't seem to be getting worse.

I've seen the pictures, it would need a miracle to recondition that plate.  

Dean: The code I passed you before (Exedy MZK2100) is the one that Chris used to replace his clutch plate.   Have you tried that ?  Euro Car Parts carry it, you should get a discount with the Club membership.

Looking at the pictures he/her has a huge job on his/her hands.  I hope they know there is 16 years of knowledge on this forum and lots of people keen to help

Nasty.   

Yes, I have brochure which has the lightweight, the 2B Plus and the Superspec as the product lineup.

OK, that theory has been advanced before.  I am still a bit sceptical as if that was the case I would expect the rattle to be there all the time, whereas we know it disappears the moment you press down on the clutch pedal and force the release bearing against the pressure plate.  Hence  my theory that it is related to the release bearing.  Unfortunately if your mechanic fixes the bush and clips the bearing into the release arm we will never know which of the two caused the rattle  But regardless, it’s good news for you as you will have the quietest Superspec on the road

I gather you posted a picture of the broken clutch on another site, can you post it on here ?  Or PM me a copy ?

Cheers

Al

Wow, I wonder what caused that.   Was it just the clutch plate, or the pressure plate, or both ?  Good news that a new clutch should fix it.  

I don't fully understand his comment about the MT75 needle roller, I have never seen anything like that on an MT75 and it doesn't match up with anything else that has been reported.   Maybe he is talking about the bearing that was originally fitted to the gearbox input shaft to match the hole in the output shaft of the Granada engine.   We know that didn't fit the Rover engine, which is why RHE machined the phosphor bronze (I think) bush as a replacement.   But even though we know the tolerances were a bit iffy I don't understand why a slightly loose fit of the gearbox input shaft into a phosphor bronze bush would create a metallic rattle.   I would have thought it would just wear away the bush.   But I am prepared to eat my words if his fix works.

Is he using the old home made release bearing or a proper new MT75 one?  And could you ask him if the release bearing should actually be clipped into the release arm ? 

Fascinating stuff, keep the information coming, it's incredibly useful for other Superspec owners.

I wish they would list them so we could buy what we think we might need.  At the moment it’s guesswork.

I've just ordered one.  Cheaper than 2 new front tyres    And yes, to adjust camber you have to break the top ball joint.

16 hours ago, richyb66 said:

http://www.trackace.co.uk/

I have one of these, takes a bit of setting up but works well.

Looks good, but I did note this on one of the sites:

Please note: Trackace requires a minimum of 100mm under vehicle ground clearance so for low vehicles it may be necessary to raise the vehicle by placing suitable blocks under the wheels.

Is that a problem ?

I haven't heard of any Superspec not fitted with the MT75 (LHD Granada model).   Was the gearbox actually different or was it the release arm ?   And I don't think the turbo aspect makes it any different.