Bringing Back the Dead.

[Antnicuk]

thanks guys, i will bear it in mind

[Antnicuk]

i whipped off my trailing arms this afternoon and had a measure, i will order the rose joints next week, it should be as simple as welding them on and bolting it back up but nothing is ever that simple.

[stylussprinter]

Be very careful getting the lengths , when adjusted , the same as with poly bushes or you will have issues with the diff' nose angle that will open a whole new can of worms been there , done that

[Antnicuk]

Rob, do you mean the twist of the axle, ie making the upper arms too long pushing the nose up? what do i need to look out for? just make sure the diff nose is horizontal.

The plan is to reduce the uppers by exactly the same amount as i extend the lowers as i want to move the whole back axle backwards by 10 mm.

What sort of problems will i get if i want lift the nose of the diff slightly? it would be handy if i could as the Pan hard rod fowls it at the moment.

Just ordered my rose joints from mcgill motorsports, very helpful. Got some nice chunky 3/4 inch ones for the lower arms.

[stylussprinter]

Rob, do you mean the twist of the axle, ie making the upper arms too long pushing the nose up? what do i need to look out for? just make sure the diff nose is horizontal.

The plan is to reduce the uppers by exactly the same amount as i extend the lowers as i want to move the whole back axle backwards by 10 mm.

What sort of problems will i get if i want lift the nose of the diff slightly? it would be handy if i could as the Pan hard rod fowls it at the moment.

Just ordered my rose joints from mcgill motorsports, very helpful. Got some nice chunky 3/4 inch ones for the lower arms.

I really can't predict 'exactly' what would be the result BUT the diff' pitch is carefully calculated within the original design . That pitch linked with lowering can produce tramp which is a real pain in the arse to dial out. Moving the axle back will certainly give more predictability and a slower oversteer therefore more time to react at the wheel by the pilot I can only warn you of creating problems but it would have to be my car to evaluate the response . If the diff' is hitting the panhard rod then move that down so that it remains parallel to the ground (at either end or both ends if necessary).

Good luck with your experiments , there is no easy way behond trying BUT what you learn along the way is of far more value than being told

[Antnicuk]

Time for an update,

I have decided what i'm going to do, I'm keeping the original configuration for the rear suspension arms and fitting rose joints to the chassis end with insitu adjusters on the lower arms.

I have also put left and right hand threaded rose joints on the p/hard rod for ease of adjustment.

I made a new anti roll bar for the front as i wasnt happy with the ford focus ones, it was easier for me make a new one than it was to adjust the ford ones to fit.

I made it out of 19mm solid stainless and its the same shape as the stock one so easy to change, if its too stiff its easy to make another out of either tube or smaller diameter bar.

The box of goodies is a pair of turbos. They are originally fitted to a Mazda Cosmo which is a 3 rotor twin turbo (sequential) car that mazda didnt import to the UK or the US, it looks like a Toyota Soarer. I have seperated them and will run them in parallel on my engine instead of sequentially, this should give me quick spool and continue to flow plenty of boost way beyond 8k rpm. We had these knocking around the workshop as my cousin fitted a 3 rotor engine in his RX7 and fitted a huge single turbo so these were going spare..... worth a try.










Here is a piccy of the 3 rotor in the rx7 (Bling), this was with a supercharger fitted but we changed it and its now turbo'd

[Antnicuk]

i fitted the arms yesterday which all went as planned, i fitted the arb today but i cant connect it as McGill sent me the wrong rose joints but i should have them tomorrow.

Charged the battery and took her up the road to make sure she still drove straight....... pointless excercise, lit up the rear wheels in 4th at 3k rpm.

I have the rod ends for the front so will start to strip the front end next

Anyone know how to check the front castor without a 4 wheel alignment thingy. I would like to get it as close as possible before i go back and stick it on the machine. I have heard of people measuring the difference between the top and bottom ball joint from a vertical line down between the 2 of them.

Also, is there a simple way to check bump steer before i remove everything?

[Antnicuk]

The lower wishbones are now rose jointed and ready to be fitted.

I removed the upright and unscrewed the top ball joints which are the metro ones and put the new ones in.

I have now got to refit everything and i will have all new suspension joints, bushes and wheel bearings all round which can only be a good thing. Then on saturday, back to my mates workshop to 'borrow' his 4w alignment machine again and adjust everything where i want it.

I can now easily adjust camber, caster and toe all while its on the ramp, and with rose joints i will have half turn adjustability

[Antnicuk]

as its been quiet on here for a couple of days, i thought i would put an update. Got it all back together and drove it tonight which wasnt fun in thick fog. All seems ok but need to get it aligned on saturday.

I'm hopefully doing an MSV trackday at Snetterton on 24th January, £99 for a full day open pit lane which is quite cheap.

[Antnicuk]

After the twitchy test drive the other night, i put the stylus on the 4 wheel alignment machine yesterday morning. I had to be there at 7 so it could be done before they opened, I left my house in the stylus at 06.30 am but was suprised at protected i am with the windoows on, even without a roof. People did look at me like i was mad though!.

The caster is now 3.5 degres both sides give or take a couple of minutes. The camber is at - 1.8 degrees and the toe is straight. The rear axle is also toe'd straight now. I have set all the heights with a little wedge. The front is 125mm and the back is 150mm, With smaller tyres it would sit lower but the R888's only come in a 50 profile in the 15 and with 225's i have on the back they are quite tall.

By moving the axle to the middle of the arch it has allowed me to lower the car at the back an not rub the arch. When it was towards the front of the arch, it rubbed on the lip at about 2 oclock position, so the car look better and feels less like a dgar car

I took it for spin through the twisties and even though it was -1 degree and a little slimey the difference is amazing, it feels so much more planted and tighter, i also couldnt feel any vibration through the rose joints front and rear but its definately more responsive, also i think the ARB is going to make a big difference but its difficult to tell in these conditions. The car feels flatter than before but going around small roundabouts it doesnt want to understeer. In fact even under braking, i was suprised at how much pressure i could use without locking the fronts in this weather. I'm sure its down to the extra soft compound r888's that i have on the front, shame they dont do them for the 225 rears.

Snetterton is fully booked so it looks like rockingham international on 31st January will be the first opportunity to test her. It uses part of the oval so i should be able to stretch her legs a little.

[stylussprinter]

She wont be understeering with 25mm wedge Tony . Now you'll be able to get the wedge just right on track , just keep dropping the rear until understeer pops it's head up again then back a turn or so (lowering the rear below the front end = more rear grip but more understeer ) What tyre pressures are you running

[Antnicuk]

they are just 20 psi from cold at the moment, when on track i usually start with 18 then as they warm up keep them at 18-20 as they get hotter which doesnt take long.

[Antnicuk]

i maybe able to go a little lower at the back or raise the front but with the 225's i will rub the arch too much at the back. Next time i get tyres, i will go 215's which will give me a bit more clearance to lower the back some more and the side wall profile will be a bit lower also reducing a bit of height.

[stylussprinter]

At the weight of our cars the R888's soft compound gets best traction if kept at 17 psi depending how long you stay out on track . I always re adjust to 17 whatever it rises to , just before going oout again. Even 2 laps will raise them 19 to 20 and trackday stints of 6 to 10 laps around 22 psi. I still drop them back to 17, regardless of being hot or cold temp'. Did quite a lot of testing on the SG and the GG compound at Goodwood and found that although traction was different between the compounds the optimum pressure was the same Yoko's do better with 1 to 1.5 psi less , I found.
Nearly all the guys I competed with used much higher pressures than I did , say 18 to 24
There's only one way to be sure you're getting the best out of your tyres and that's consistant lapping followed by tyre temp' checking OUTER MIDDLE & INNER over each tyre. then adjusting camber & pressures accordingly

[Antnicuk]

thats useful rob, i'm going to have to get one of those infared temp gadgets.