Hello all. I’ve been a member of RHOCar for about 7 months now but haven’t yet started any sort of post/thread, so here goes my first, and sorry, it’s a bit of a book filled with questions...
In light of the quarantine, I am taking this as an opportunity to do a few bits of overhauling on my Robin Hood SF Mk 2. I am currently working on the front suspension, which if anyone is familiar with the mark 2, the coilovers are inboard rather than external (see my attached pictures). The top eye bushings have very much seen better days and having removed the coilovers today, the bottom eye bushings aren’t far behind, and generally looking at the condition of the rest of both shocks, I’m thinking that I might splash out and treat my RH to a new set of front coilovers, particularly as the shocks that I’ve just removed have no easy damper adjustment facility like all the modern shocks seem to have.
I found these build your own Protech shock absorbers. I have used protech before when I was building a MEV a few years back that I never completed (long story for another time!) and loved the general quality/design/weight/adjustability https://www.protechshocks.co.uk/build-a-shock/
I’m generally armed and ready with my measurements for the shocks. My one concern is the open height. Protech request that you take the open height measurement from the centre of the top eye hole to the centre of the bottom eye hole. As you will see in my photos, my bushings are absolutely clapped out and the best I could do for a measurement was to take it from where I thought centre was originally at each end and the closest measurement I could deduce that is available for ordering was 13”. However, there is a 12.5” option available which does seem too short, but I notice that the bushing tear pattern on the old shocks suggests that the shocks installed originally might be too long for the design of the mark 2. Would this make sense? And would it be prudent therefore to go for 12.5” open length? The only time the shocks would ordinarily be in full open length would be when all four wheels are off the ground, which I endeavour to keep as only being the case when I jack the car up!! Thoughts on whether I should go for a shorter reach would be much appreciated.
I’m also thinking that I would like to reduce the poundage of my springs from what’s on there currently as the current setup is a bit rigid (perhaps spring length and poundage may be a factor in the wearing of the top and bottom eye bushings??) and I do find that the handling is a bit lifeless until you really give it some welly at which point I get the wrong kind of life; all I ever seem to get is bump steer and understeer, which I’m guessing is a bi-product of the bump steer. I’ve read that a recommended mod to the front suspension on the Mk2 is to do away with the Sierra anti-roll bar and do a tie bar conversion. This is something I mean to do along with the grease nipple mod on the wishbone once I have access to more of my workshop equipment (annoyingly not with me where I’m at in isolation). I’ve also seen that reducing the poundage of the springs goes a long way to making the handling and ride generally better on these old Mk 2s. Does anyone know if it drives ok with reduced poundage whilst still running the sierra anti-roll bar for the time being or should I hold out on changing to lighter poundage until the tie bar conversion is done? I’m looking to order a new set of springs with the shocks and so I need to be clear on what poundage to go for in any case (I don’t even know what the existing poundage on there is and I guess it’s not especially easy to find out without the right equipment).
And final question (I promise)... Does anyone happen to know if it’s the standard (obviously non power steering) sierra rack and tie rod ends that the RH Mk 2 uses? I need to change the rubber boots and tie rod ends on mine and I’m also thinking of possibly getting a quick rack to reduce the amount of loping about I have to do when parking!!!
Thanks in advance everyone. I hope you’re all keeping well in these unusual circumstances!
RHOCaR Member
