Previous parts of this unintended epic post were about the little adjustments needed to install upgraded motor mounts, crossmember, trailing arm yokes, and A-arms from three different sources. These were all ready made parts.
Part IV here will be about determining the best placement for new upper shock absorber brackets from AutoFutura and adding coil spring caps from mystery source number one. Just like the other parts installed, these are all early prototypes. After searching the forum for helpful suggestions I noted that this will be the first public bracket attempt since the group effort started by Mark Worthington for his RF40 last year.
Besides the information I have been given here on the forum, I have also gone direct to the shock absorber manufacturers to understand their intentions and the capabilities of my stock CAV shocks at full extension and at full compression. I am changing the upper shock absorber bracket location on my car so that I can set: the amount of suspension rise and drop, the adjustment range of ride height, and the working range of shock absorber stroke.
In Parts I, II, and III, my attention to smaller details took a few of you by surprise and I received a number of direct email comments and a few suggestions. One was especially noteworthy and I thought totally captured the essence of my posts. It was suggested that:
“For results that can be the finest, it is our advising that
clarification is needed for motor mounts and crossmember.
Never to hold these bolts two times !!! Except the battery.
Next taking the earth section may cause a large occurrence!
However. If this is not a trouble,
such rotation is a very maintenance action,
as a kindly viewpoint from Drawing B.”
Good point, well said. I immediately invited the sender to join me as a co-author.
Now to work…. With 25.7 inch tall tires the space over the tire in the wheel well is too big. In this picture the car is set to a typical 5 1/2 inches of rear ground clearance. With the stock shock absorber location, I had about 1 inch of bump travel on the shock before touching the bump stops. However, if I lowered the car any more, I would also reduce the available travel on the shock by a proportional amount. For example, (ignoring shock angle and ratio components), if I lowered the car to 5 inches I would reduce shock travel to 1/2 inch. If I lowered to 4 1/2 inches I would end up riding on the bump stops. I concluded that if I wanted to lower the rear of the car then I would need to raise the upper shock bracket to regain a reasonable amount of shock travel before touching the bump stops. Others have also come to this same conclusion.
Part IV here will be about determining the best placement for new upper shock absorber brackets from AutoFutura and adding coil spring caps from mystery source number one. Just like the other parts installed, these are all early prototypes. After searching the forum for helpful suggestions I noted that this will be the first public bracket attempt since the group effort started by Mark Worthington for his RF40 last year.
Besides the information I have been given here on the forum, I have also gone direct to the shock absorber manufacturers to understand their intentions and the capabilities of my stock CAV shocks at full extension and at full compression. I am changing the upper shock absorber bracket location on my car so that I can set: the amount of suspension rise and drop, the adjustment range of ride height, and the working range of shock absorber stroke.
In Parts I, II, and III, my attention to smaller details took a few of you by surprise and I received a number of direct email comments and a few suggestions. One was especially noteworthy and I thought totally captured the essence of my posts. It was suggested that:
“For results that can be the finest, it is our advising that
clarification is needed for motor mounts and crossmember.
Never to hold these bolts two times !!! Except the battery.
Next taking the earth section may cause a large occurrence!
However. If this is not a trouble,
such rotation is a very maintenance action,
as a kindly viewpoint from Drawing B.”
Good point, well said. I immediately invited the sender to join me as a co-author.
Now to work…. With 25.7 inch tall tires the space over the tire in the wheel well is too big. In this picture the car is set to a typical 5 1/2 inches of rear ground clearance. With the stock shock absorber location, I had about 1 inch of bump travel on the shock before touching the bump stops. However, if I lowered the car any more, I would also reduce the available travel on the shock by a proportional amount. For example, (ignoring shock angle and ratio components), if I lowered the car to 5 inches I would reduce shock travel to 1/2 inch. If I lowered to 4 1/2 inches I would end up riding on the bump stops. I concluded that if I wanted to lower the rear of the car then I would need to raise the upper shock bracket to regain a reasonable amount of shock travel before touching the bump stops. Others have also come to this same conclusion.