Help - car is in for its SVA on 19th Sept in Nottingham (didn't sell it in the end - her in doors talked me out of it!)

BUT at the moment I have a problem - the steering - it has next to no self centering.

Now I know there are all kinds of thoughts and threads on the matter but wondered what settings / methods others with Velocity's have used - does the Velocity self centre with out having to revert to "fudging" the front end set up for the SVA?

it would seem that none of the se7en type cars self centre too well. All seem to need some help.

This worked for me,
toe out (it was visibily toeing out as well, looked a bit daft to me but worked).
Couple of degrees positive camber at front.
Mushroom eccentric to the front.
Tyres blown up to 40psi.

Just take care if driving there with these settings. Might be best to blow tyres up when ou get there (nominal pressure is around 18psi).

Hope this helps.

Do the job properly and once. Take the top wishbone brackets off and move them back an inch. Might need a few gussets added as well.

Should be an afternoons work and you'll never have to worry about it again.

Cheers,
Syd.

Or make new top wishbones? Might be a little easier, as long as it doesn't screw up the geometry.

I think the SVA inspectors are getting wise to the dodgy practices now - I'm sure someone was failed 'cos his car was showing blatant toe-out.

David

[Edited on 12/9/06 by David Jenkins]

I don't have the tools to enable me to change the wishbones/brackets, etc......

I've tried a little toe out (not too visable) and it does start to self centre but not completely..... not thought to move the mushrooms tho.... guess this will "lean" the upright back a bit?

Does anyone know if the GTS bones will fit the Velocity? Might try and buy some and get them fitted before the test....

(I'm sure I'd heard that the GTS bones had been engineered to provide the correct self centering ability?)

[Edited on 12/9/06 by Gazza]

I had my car 4 wheel aligned and geometry set up in accordance with the recommendations set out in the Luego build manual (albeit at the extreme limits for occaisional track use)

When i drove the car to the sva, i was a little worried that the car didnt seem to self centre loads. So i added a little air to the front tyres.

The examiner took car "round the block" and passed it.

Not sure what this means .....either the examiner was in a good mood or it showed enough tendancy to self centre that he was satisfied.

Gary

[Edited on 12/9/06 by r3nuf]

Mine also passed with a 'drive around the block'....35psi, mushrooms fwd a little bit, some toe-out. Don't think he was looking for it to totally self centre from full lock to straight ahead.

Hope this helps, Good luck!!

Rich.

[Edited on 12/9/06 by richard thomas]

If its like my Viento then you should be able to get enought self centering by moving the mushroom inserts and altering the washers in the top wishbone brackets to move the wishbones towards the rear of the car..

I hope .........

...to see if this has the desired effect!

I think as long as it doesn't need to go from full lock to dead straight I may be ok....

[Edited on 12/9/06 by Gazza]

Do the job properly.
I took that advice and now my car drives really well without having to constantly correcting at speed.
I added 7 degrees of castor to my top wishbones.
Do a search for similar threads about the subject.

..if I had enough time and if I could weld!



As I can't I'm going to see what can be done with the current set up and look at changing the bones after SVA - or if it fails I'll look at changing them for the re-test.

Was just interested in seeing what other Velocity owners had encountered......

move the lower wishbones right forward by moving the washers and 1 deg toe out and a bit more air in the tyres. mine passed on this

When I went for the test it was done as follows:

The tester took it to an open space, stopped, and put the steering full lock on one side. He then accelerated gently - all he wanted to see was the steering attempting to straighten itself out.

It has to be said that a decent amount of 'proper self-centering' is a good thing, and makes the car much more pleasant to drive (and probably a lot safer too).

David

Have read a bit about this and it seems that the route to get most self-centering from the geometry without resorting to toe-out would be to move the top 'bone fully back and the bottom fully forward (using the washers). Use the mushroom to get the upright as far back as possible relative to the top 'bone to increase trail. Also seems to me that more positive camber would help due to the tendency to lift the corners when lock is applied.
Any other views welcome - I've got to set mine up soon !
SImon