Mk Locost, , x/flow powered. Original 12" shocks with far too long coils.

actual situation:

coil platform on spax-shocks are already winded down to lowest point.
watching the car from front upper whsibones are parallel to the ground
lower wishbones and steering tie-rods are inclined towards wheel

we all know that the ideal situation would be lower wishbones parallel.

ok..this said i have purchased some shorter coils and set them up that the
lower wishbones are parallel to the ground (automatically the tierods also came nearly parallel)
upper wishbones are now inclined upwards (towards wheel)

now the car sits very low...imo not on the limt, but for a road car already too low (i will use it only on the track anyway)

anything i can do? not much i guess?

Drop the back so it's 1/2" higher than the front, job done

If it's scraping on the road it's to low!

Wishbone tubes parallel with the ground (how it reads to me) or an imaginary line between centre of the ball joint and the inner pivot bolt (which is what you want)?

quote:

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Originally posted by adithorp
Wishbone tubes parallel with the ground (how it reads to me) or an imaginary line between centre of the ball joint and the inner pivot bolt (which is what you want)?

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do you mean this line?

quote:

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Originally posted by alfas

quote:

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Originally posted by adithorp
Wishbone tubes parallel with the ground (how it reads to me) or an imaginary line between centre of the ball joint and the inner pivot bolt (which is what you want)?

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hmmm...which should be favoured?

just a shrt sketch: red-- before, blue after (just a sketch about the inclination)

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Blue!

The correct wishbone geometry sets the ride height, so, if it's too low you'll need bigger tyres/wheels or to move the stub axle up a tad in a fabricational way.

If you're not on a track and/or don't require the best handling/camber control/etc./etc., then just wind up the platforms.

quote:

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Originally posted by adithorp
Wishbone tubes parallel with the ground (how it reads to me) or an imaginary line between centre of the ball joint and the inner pivot bolt (which is what you want)?

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ok...got it....with the pivot-point-line parallel i will gain further ~10 to 15mm (i guess) on height....so the fnal result will be fine for a track car.

sure you can always move things higher by fitting bigger wheels...but i need to consider having a x/flow with around 100BHP fitted....if the wheels are too big, that small engine will not have enough power anymore to accelerate the car properly....which means fitting a shorter diff....so this becomes and endless story.....
i also need to put into consideration fitting wheels where i get racing tyres for. so the choice is not as big as with a road-car.

What's too low? 100mm should be fine for all but the biggest speed bumps.

today i viewed several pictures of rather modern caterhams...

interestingwise all are set with the lower wishbones parallel to ground
the "theorectical line" between pivot points would mean a different setting.

after this i searched around the web and found lots of entries in different forums around the world...all are talking about "set lower wishbones parallel to ground"

"The rule of thumb for a seven still stands - parallel front lower wishbones "

now iīm confused...are all those cars wrongly setted?




[Edited on 27/11/17 by alfas]

The simple answer is...not simple. There may be an "as designed" position, but it's not wrong to modify suspension settings for an individual choice/feel/tyre setup, shock type etc. There's a starting point, and some rules of thumb, but any car like this has adjustability built in.

Hi.
Its quite straight foward to get the best rideheight set but alot off the above is just typpical internet myth being recycled.

1. What size tyres are fitted.
2. What uprights.
3. How far is sump below chassis rails.
If you wish send u2u.

I

but the old cat/lotus cars had a triumph trunion as lower pivot point on the uprite. on those cars the pivot centre was definately above the wishbone...like on locostīs or westifields....but also those cars are mostly set with lower wishbones parallel.

bumpsteer is the related problem i think...

today i recognized that the maxi balljoint is mounted, as with most seven-ish cars, above the lower wishbone.
if it would be mounted below, than the pivot-point line would also come lower, so more into direction of "lower wishoine should sit parallel".

good idea, bad idea, crazy idea?

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[Edited on 1/12/17 by Irony]

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