Hello!

Couple of quick queries for the Viento:-

- Is there a suggested set of settings for toe in/out, camber etc? Any good guides to doing this DIY?

- What tyre pressures are people running at? Mine is Rover V8 powered, 205/40/17 tyres on the front, 235/40/17 rear.

Many Thanks!

Can’t help with the Viento settings but have somewhere the settings for my Luego locost which might be of help? When lockdown is over I can recommend a visit to Procomp , transformed the handling on my car.

PS check on your car , the Viento may have a 10 mm difference in the wheelbase each side of the car? Also have you rectified the crush tube issue?

[Edited on 27/4/20 by rusty nuts]

i did my alignment with the fishing line method on each side, adjusted in line with the rears and drives perfect. Mines zetec so a bit lighter then yours and run max 18psi to max 20psi all around- same wheel sizes

Thanks Gents. I'm going to show my newbie ignorance now - I wasn't aware of Procomp, looking at their website a visit could well be in order to set the geometry up, especially as they're not that far away from me. I wasn't aware of the crush tube issue either - have looked at some old threads, will speak to the builder and see if it was accounted for, if not then it's another one to check out.

At some point I also think the car would really benefit from a rolling road session with someone who really understands carbs & ignition setup (Megajolt Lite Jr fitted) - any suggestion in the Midlands area would be appreciated.

Dale at Bailey performance gets good reviews, haven’t used them myself though

He's only about 3 miles away from me as well! Thanks for that - his website talks more about injection engines, will just make sure he's up for working on carbs, but looks promising.

I use a Gunsons Trackrite for checking toe. Simple and works really well.

Hi Just been pointed to this post.

If you'd like some more info on costs and services we offer for a setup just give me a call on Tel: 07825544254
Anytime is fine between 9am - 8pm as still working flat out.
we have space in the diary for setup work as obviously not away at mo racing.

Cheers Matt

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Originally posted by Feltwell
He's only about 3 miles away from me as well! Thanks for that - his website talks more about injection engines, will just make sure he's up for working on carbs, but looks promising.

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Thanks everyone, some great tips & contacts there.

I wasn't aware of the crush tube issue, and on talking to the builder he's not sure if my car was affected or not, so presumably there was no allowance made in the build. Matt, I will give you a bell, but not before I've checked the crush tube problem out, in case all the suspension needs to come out first to fix this.

This is my first "7" so I've not got anything to judge it against, but the suspension does feel very hard indeed when driving it, certainly bumpy B roads have to be taken more slowly than I would do on either one of my bikes or my everyday car. I think the first thing to do will be take one of the front wheels off, disconnect the shock and see how freely the suspension travels.

Ahh well, had it confirmed today that I'm off work for at least the next 4 weeks, so it will at least give me a distraction from the endless job of restoring sash windows on my house!

Easy way to check crush tubes is to disconnect each arm in turn at the outer end ,lift the arm slightly , it should fall under its own weight or very little pressure. If the movement is tight that is a good indication the crush tubes are short. Do you have any squeaks from the suspension? I was sorting the noise out when I discovered the crush tube problem , after sorting there was no noise and the suspension was more compliant. With the arms off nip the crush tube in a vice to test movement unlike one person on here who bolted the arms back on the chassis to check!

Will do, thanks for the tips. No squeaking at present.

Thanks to Rusty Nuts for pointing out the crush tube problem! Disconnected the outside end of one of the front wishbones today, not totally free but not bad, only a little effort to move it. However, took the inner mountings off, and found that the bolts were not tight at all. I'm not criticising the builder though, the build manual he gave me states to back the bolts off if the suspension is tight - which is wrong.

Bolts through the crush tubes were well lubricated, but the crush tubes themselves were dry as a bone on the outside and a little corroded - clear that the crush tube inner had been turning on the bolt, rather than the crush tube outer turning in the bush.

Measured the crush tube and bush with a caliper, the crush tubes are about 1mm / 40 thou short, which is a lot!

Reading some of the old posts on here, I'll carefully shave some off the bushes with a bench mounted disc sander and test them in a vice. I haven't got a lathe to make new crush tubes.

Looks like I've got an unexpected job to strip all the suspension down :-(

What should the bolts be torqued to?

Don’t know the exact torque figure for the bolts but I would suggest around 65 lbft or 90 NM ? New nylon nuts are a good idea
Someone, can’t remember who ,used dowty washers instead of skimming the bushes , it works but I think it would be very fiddly. Steve Lovelock managed to find a supplier of new bushes and stainless crush tubes that did the job straight from the box.
The “build manual” was written by a student that I don’t think had a great deal of practical experience from what I can make out, leaving suspension bolts loose is a fatality waiting for a map reference!

Think I've found an easier solution, well for the upper wishbones at least.

Superflex sell the crush tubes in stainless separately, 19mm OD x 12mm ID x 43mm length should be perfect, may require just a tiny bit taking off the existing bush but certainly a lot less than 1mm!

Stainless is a good idea I think, mine were already starting to show signs of corrosion and that's on a car that's lead a pampered life. Even though I'm buying the proper PTFE/Silicone grease, tolerances are such that not much gets in there.

I haven't taken the lower wishbone off yet, will do so today, I expect they're the same size.

I agree, new Nyloc nuts are a must. I also noted there is nothing except a pinch bolt holding the "mushroom" end of the upper wishbone into the top of the suspension upright - not sure I'm comfortable with that.

So is it just the inner end of the wishbones on the front suspension that has this crush tube problem? I haven't investigated the rear suspension at all yet, I believe it all came from the Sierra donor car.

I would double check but I think the lower arm has 4 sets of bushes and the upper has 3 so you are likely to need a total of 22?

Spot on - just looked at the pictures in the build manual, 22 required. More expense!