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Hey Mr T, your racing machine sits on a chassis similar to mine, what clearances do you have underneath from the road?
Have a quick look at at my thread and you will understand what I mean!
Hey Mr T, your racing machine sits on a chassis similar to mine, what clearances do you have underneath from the road?
Have a quick look at at my thread and you will understand what I mean!
Hi Scottie, don't worry, been following your thread over on the other side with interest.
I'll measure my ground clearance front and rear over the next few days and get back to you. After raising the suspension and fitting 80 profile tyres in place of the 70 profiles I initially chose I now have just enough ground clearance.
I'm also from the 'praise the lowered' slam it into the weeds generation, but the reality of driving a radically lowered car over speed bumps was a cause of much anxiety and a very unpleasant experience. I can now sail over sleeping policemen at up to 20mph without expecting to see exhaust components and bits of the sump in the rear view mirror. With my original suspension settings - 95mm lowered at the front and 85mm at the back - it was grounding on the roads round here in normal driving.
The other thing about suspension settings on these cars is that original 50's racers weren't actually that low anyway, so your car won't look silly with tall tyres and a higher ride height than you might go for on an oval bug. Ultimately, the right wheels and tyres will complete 'the look'. Good luck.
NTDWM but I happen to know where there's a 4.2 litre V8 and flappy paddle gearbox, complete with all ancillaries and pipework, taken from a rear end damaged 2002 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa for sale. Seller is in my bit of West Norfolk and looking for about £2k. PM me if you're interested and I'll put you in touch. Could prove interesting in a Herald chassis...
Hey Mr T, your racing machine sits on a chassis similar to mine, what clearances do you have underneath from the road?
Have a quick look at at my thread and you will understand what I mean!
Sorry for the delay Scottie, finally got round to taking some measurements and a few snaps of the ground clearance I now have (last one shows how it stands on the road) -
As you can see, I have about 90mm clearance at the front, around 170mm clearance at the back and 100mm to the lowest point I could find in the middle (although I could grab a bit more with different exhaust clamps in the middle).
It's the middle measurement that's critical where speed bumps are concerned - at slow speeds that don't compress the suspension when you hit a speed bump, anything between the front wheels (or rear wheels for that matter) will rise up with them as the tyres climb the slope, so the clearance remains constant even if it's only 10mm.
When the front wheels go down the other side of the slope, however, anything too low between the front and rear wheels will hit the ground.
When I had my suspension really low I actually got stuck in a supermarket car park that had those stupid black rubber wedge speed bumps all over the place on the way out. There was a serious danger that my pride and joy would turn into a Spyder see-saw if I tried to cross them and I had to wait until people vacated the parking spaces either side of the ends of the damned things so I could drive round them.
I've always loved slammed cars, but from experience, I'd make sure you have at least 100mm clearance the whole way along the underside between the front and rear wheels if you want to avoid those horrible heart stopping grinding sounds as you negotiate speed bumps.
Thanks so much for going to the trouble you did for the measurements Mr T.
I really appreciate it.
Mine would seem to be very similar at present, thank God they don't put speed bumps on major roads!
Paul - If I turn the clamps round so the bolts face downwards the ends would be about 1/2" closer to the ground, while if I try to turn them so the bolts are parallel with the ground they'll foul the chassis rail. Where they are at the moment and with the suspension set up I have settled on (excuse the pun) they have just enough clearance so I'm happy with them.
Scottie - I addressed the front tyre clearance issue by moving the whole bulkhead back 20mm on the chassis. That was simple enough with the body off, I just drilled new mounting holes 20mm ahead of the originals and bolted it on.
Even then I still had to 'adjust' the clearance by bashing the front faces of the bulkhead in with a lump hammer - you can see the slightly concave effect achieved in the picture below. That worked but now I've switched to 80 profile tyres from 70's the tyres are just skimming the paint off the bulkhead whilst manoeuvring.
This isn't a problem on the road but I'll have to sort it before the next MOT. Similar to your suggestion I'm thinking along the lines of cutting an 'H' shaped pattern of slots, pushing the resultant square sections inwards and welding fillets in to restore the integrity of the bulkhead. On the plus side, at least the tyres are marking the exact points where the modification is needed.
The good thing about this low budget rebody thing is, as Yoda would say, 'Impossible is nothing.'
Thanks for that, you spotted your problem early and were able to do the "correct" thing as it were.
Since last posting, I have had a more in depth look at mine and although annoying to have to do, it looks a relatively straightforward exercise along the lines you intend to go.
I may well have to trim a bit off the front arch rear fibre glass wing return edge, (wow! that was a mouthfull!)
as that looks a bit too close for comfort. Again, not major stuff.
As you once said ( and it seems to influence me with every mod I make since you said it!!)
"I'm sure you'll find an elegant solution Scottie!"
So, got the Spyder out of the garage this morning to give it a wash in preparation for a session with a professional photographer tomorrow...
It scrubs up quite nicely imho and it's survived its first six months on the road with just one or two settling cracks.
The old MGB wires haven't fared quite so well though. Having grit blasted them myself, then degreased them, given each two coats of primer, two coats of Simoniz wheel silver then two coats of clear lacquer, I expected them to last pretty well. After only 1,300 miles on the road, however, they now look like this close up -
I'd expected them to start rusting after a couple of years and had planned to have them powder coated when that eventually happened.
I took my egg crate grille and had it powder coated when I wasn't happy with the paint finish I got with a rattle can, but when I tried to wash off what I thought was dirt this morning I found this -
Hmm, it's rusting from the inside out which is a bit of a surprise after all the hype about how tough and long lasting powder coating is. At least I made the grille removable as it just bolts into the bonnet brackets. I might have to revert back to using Smoothrite on the grille and wheels as that seems to be resisting rust where I used it on just about everything else.
I guess long term ownership of one of these is going to be a lifetime of tinkering. Good job I like that sort of thing...
hey Mr T hows it going? Its pretty tough about that powder coat, its got me with second thoughts about having my whole chassis blasted and powder coated. how has the powder coat place responded if you've talked to them?
Really good powder applicators will warranty there work, my man blasts everything to SA 2.5 spec to get the right surface prep and the finish is like glass and lasts forever . Do you know if they blasted it or just coated what you supplied?
After having 2 chassis powder coated I wouldn't do another, powdercoat is a mare to touch up and a lot of the time a small chip can let water under and by the time you notice it the substrate is thoroughly rotted!
I did get a price off my current powdercoater to do my chassis and he would give me a 5 year warranty but the price was scary! I guess you get what you pay for ?
I haven't spoken to the powder coater as I only noticed it had rusted this morning. I didn't ask for a warranty as I just expected it not to rust and, to be honest, it looked really good when it was first done. The grille was blasted and coated for £25 at a local place so at least I didn't spend too much. I think I'll sort it myself with Smoothrite when it gets too bad.
If I ever built another one of these I think I might just have everything metal - chassis, bulkhead, etc. galvanised during the build. Either that or move to Australia. No problems with rust down under, hey 1iTim
Wow! You do have my sympathies Mr T.
You must have been gutted to have viewed that lot just before a photo session.
Don't know if its of any help, but when I had my wheels sand blasted professionally, the painter insisted I wrap the wheels in dry towels and drive straight from the blasters to his paint shop where he was waiting
with etch primer which he sprayed on immediately.
He reckoned with bare steel the rust process starts that rapidly, without this action he would not guarantee his work.
When I do my own de-rusting I always coat the bare steel with Kurust, at least two coats and paint right away.
looking forward to some nice photo's then towed .....are you off now ..
Nope, still working Phil. Finish at midnight on Christmas Eve but I'm off for a few days then. Looks like weather's going to be crap though which is a shame as I fancied a Christmas morning blast in the Spyder.
Hope you have a good Christmas Phil, see you soon.
Wow! You do have my sympathies Mr T.
You must have been gutted to have viewed that lot just before a photo session.
Don't know if its of any help, but when I had my wheels sand blasted professionally, the painter insisted I wrap the wheels in dry towels and drive straight from the blasters to his paint shop where he was waiting
with etch primer which he sprayed on immediately.
He reckoned with bare steel the rust process starts that rapidly, without this action he would not guarantee his work.
When I do my own de-rusting I always coat the bare steel with Kurust, at least two coats and paint right away.
Good luck with the photos!
I did all the above prep, I blasted them myself and three out of five got degreased and sprayed within minutes. The ones I left overnight had developed a flash coating of grey powder by morning so I had to blast them again.
I'll probably have another go at stripping and painting them again, but the Kurust idea is a good one and I'll definitely give it a go. Then I'll finish them with Smoothrite as it seems to have done the job on my chassis. Maybe in white to match the grille...
Mr T - Are the professional photos for just yourself, or are they for a magazine article?
It is a shame about the rust, but hopefully it will make it look a bit more "vintage" for the photos.
Merry Christmas, Paul.
Hi Paul, pic's are just for me and the photographer. A friend's son is an up and coming photographer and has been begging me to let him take a set of pictures for his portfolio for ages. I suppose I could charge him but I think a set for me for free would settle the score.
Mr Towed, definitely go with the kurust, if done correctly it certainly does retard the rusting process.
When putting my Kurust on, because I have no patience, I pre-heat the work with a heat gun, and heat the Kurust as it goes on, that way it dries to a black colour immediately.
This method allows you to apply several coats quickly, and it can be etch-primed as soon as you've finished.
I have done this for years with great success. The rust rarely returns, and if it does, it is only one or two tiny patches and is easy to put right. Give it a Try.
Good choice of venue for your pictures!
Why do we always choose ecclesiastical settings for our pride and joy?
Here is an old pic of my pride and joy, which, if I remember you
thought was a wreck, and a possible engine donar for my XKSS!!
