I have never been overlie confident with my handling and set up, i know i need to get it set up professionally.
Me personally thinks it is the corner weights that is the biggest issue, i might be wrong, here are reasons.
1- under heavy breaking it is always the offside front that locks and never the nearside front.
2- when cornering, if i turn sharp left you can feel the car bite into the tarmac instantly and respond straight away, but when i turn right the back end seems to sag down and it doesn't feel as responsive.
Should i try and adjust one of the back ride height to compensate and see if it improves.
Thanks
Brad.

Get it done proper. TBH, corner weights in a two seater car are a bit academic - you will never get them exactly right.

- could you have a sticky caliper on one side, or a biit of air in the system?

- have you checked your front geometry accurately? Are you running the correct camber/castor/toe in on both front and rear wheels (if IRS)?

quote:

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Originally posted by twybrow
Get it done proper. TBH, corner weights in a two seater car are a bit academic - you will never get them exactly right.

- could you have a sticky caliper on one side, or a biit of air in the system?

- have you checked your front geometry accurately? Are you running the correct camber/castor/toe in on both front and rear wheels (if IRS)?

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On my astra mk3 the nearside locks when i am driving, when i have a passenger it is about right. If it is the offside i would say a caliper problem as there should be a significant weight difference in favour of the offside.

Thanks
Darren

Although the best answer is to get it done professionally, there's quite a bit that you can do to get it fairly close:

1. Check your tyre pressures are the same on each side of the car!

2. Corner weighing - easy enough to do with a few cheapo scales (although I borrowed a proper tool! ). Made a very big difference to my car.

3. Shocks setting - do the clicks match on each side of the car? Mr Protech will say that those clicks don't mean a lot - but counting the clicks is the best we can do without using specialist test kit.

4. Ride height - also easy to do. I have the back of my chassis approx 1" higher than the front. If it's the other way around then you may find it all floaty at speed!

5. Wheel camber at the front - nice to have them both matching, whatever angle you choose! (unless you're going oval racing).

6. Tracking and wheel alignment - I got mine done with a fancy laser gadget at my local (trusted) garage. If you have toe-out it will go into corners really well, but will probably be scary in a straight line. If you have toe-in it will be stable in a straight line (if everything else is OK) but won't snap into a corner so quickly. I compromised and set mine parallel (0 degrees).

This is all my personal opinion - but these steps worked for me. I'm sure that Protech could make my car a lot better, but I still reckon it's pretty good for the time being.

Thanks fellas, i am convinced it's the corner weights, i will have to buy some cheap scales, can it be done by jacking the back and setting the corners and then jacking up the front or does it have to be all four corners at once.
Brad.

Second all of Davids locost solutions.

Also what spring rates do you have, because the std supply front springs are too hard for a BEC

quote:

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Originally posted by ReMan
Second all of Davids locost solutions.

Also what spring rates do you have, because the std supply front springs are too hard for a BEC

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One thing i will say is that i am going to try different tyre pressures, mine are set at 17-18 PSI but i am running 215-40-17 tyres so i think i need a lot lower tyre pressure.

quote:

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Originally posted by roadrunner
Thanks fellas, i am convinced it's the corner weights, i will have to buy some cheap scales, can it be done by jacking the back and setting the corners and then jacking up the front or does it have to be all four corners at once.
Brad.

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[img][/img]

I missed one thing out regarding toe-in & toe-out - if it's different on each side then the behaviour on corners will be similar to what you describe, ready & able one way and less willing the other way. Combine that with wrong corner weights and your life will be 'interesting'.

quote:

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Originally posted by roadrunner
One thing i will say is that i am going to try different tyre pressures, mine are set at 17-18 PSI but i am running 215-40-17 tyres so i think i need a lot lower tyre pressure.

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I'm even more old-fashioned - I've got 185/70 all round, on 13" wheels!

And I also think that ultra-low profiles don't suit the Locost's old-style suspension & low weight. Look pretty though!

quote:

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Originally posted by Frosty
Oh and 17 inch wheels on a BEC? They must look MASSIVE on a kit car!

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quote:

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Originally posted by roadrunner
One thing i will say is that i am going to try different tyre pressures, mine are set at 17-18 PSI but i am running 215-40-17 tyres so i think i need a lot lower tyre pressure.

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Another one for corner weights here. Many argue that it's very tricky to properly set the corner weights up with a car that has lots of of centre weight (such as a driver) due to the dynamic effects of which. However, you can make significant improvements from my experience by balancing the corner weights as best you can statically (obviously with you in it!)

When we were testing the Locost the other year, before first test we had very limted time to set the car up and did the preloads purely on the desired ride height and it was pretty awful. Locking one inside wheel the whole time and struggling with traction on the diagonally opposed wheel. Next time out, having seen to the corner weights, car was transformed.

Obviously you want to be checking the obvious things first like tyre pressure and any indications of sticking calipers. But I'm sure a lot of your troubles would be solved with some time spent setting the suspension up properly (oh, and putting some 13''s with sticky yokos on too )

[Edited on 23/10/09 by andylancaster3000]

MK themselves recomend

camber 1 degree all round
tracking parrel
tire pressure 18 psi
shock settings all the way out then 6 clicks back

Hi

Assuming you've done, toe, camber, ride heights (with a bit of rake in it) and preferably put more compliant wheels / tyres on it..

Then

This is the cheap and nasty, but fairly accurate, method of corner weighing a car.
(probably as 'accurate' as using bathroom scales anyway!)

Insert ballast roughly equel to your weight in drivers seat (my missus sat on a power pack here )

Chock the rear corners of the chassis (The chassis / floor rails immediatly in front of the rear axle is easiest) so there's no weight on the rear suspension.
Use a pole and fulcrum (i.e. a Scaffold pole & brick!) lift the chassis at the front - dead centre.

Using your eye.. watch which side unloads first, adjust the FRONT spring seats until equal.

Remove chocks from under rear of chassis, repeat lifting at front using pole & fulcrum.

adjust REAR spring seats until the front's are loading / unloading as equal as possible.

That should get you roughly close until you can have it / afford it done properly.

[Edited on 23/10/09 by JimSpencer]

Fix the Corner weights

A set of wozshers wishbones helps alot

tony

You can do locost corner weighting with a set of bathroom scales as well.

Use a bit of wood and two lengths of dowel as a lever arm to get your indicated weight below 300lbs (where most bath scales give up).



As pictured this will show half the actual weight on the scale, changing it to 1' and 3' will show 1/3 etc.

You'll need to space the other three corners up so the car is level.

Cheers, Ted

[Edited on 24/10/09 by andkilde]