MadaboutKitcars

Hi Paul, My spring is 41 inches or 104 centimetres eye centre to eye centre. This is obviously with it out of the car and resting on its' side. Hope this helps, Paul (A)

Thanks, I spoke to a spring manufacturer today, going to go see them on Monday hopefully

Hi Paul, Did you get any joy from the spring manufacturer and were you able to measure the length of your spring?

I took it down on Wednesday, hopefully pick it up next week - it's anyone's guess if it will work or not - fingers crossed

I'll cross mine for you too!

Cheers

ok, so a few updates - firstly I've made a small aluminum bracket to allow me to fit the second aeroscreen - DSC_0053 by paul ward, on Flickr

now the suspension saga ....

so I had two of the main spring leaves remade slightly longer to try and compensate for the camber issue but retain the softness in the spring that was achieved by taking one leaf out -
so here in this pic you can see the longer piece - obove the previous shorter one -

DSC_0055 by paul ward, on Flickr

Has it solved it - well the camber is still there, but maybe not quite as bad as it was - but the main thing is that the spring is no longer hitting the body of the car - so although it hasn't worked perfectly as far as the camber is concerned, it has raised the body height just enough to make it useable now.

here's the before and after fitting the longer spring -
before -
DSC_0016 by paul ward, on Flickr

after -
DSC_0056 by paul ward, on Flickr

next job now is to remake the wheelarch supports

Good to see you are making progress with the rear suspension.
( Unfortunately, I can offer no technical advice whatsoever. )

I love the passenger aero screen mount.

Good luck, Paul.

cheers

added some shims to the radius arms to try and correct the 'toe in' on the tracking -
DSC_0076 by paul ward, on Flickr
DSC_0077 by paul ward, on Flickr

made a aerodynamic mirror cover today, just got to paint it now
DSC_0073 by paul ward, on Flickr

Your car is looking good Paul. Do you know how much negative camber you have now? How did you make the mirror cowling?

the negative camber as it is now is the last two rear end pics above this - still some negative camber - but not that far off what the car was originally before I started messing with the springs. I think the only way to get it any better now would be the camber adjustment kit that you can weld onto the top of the vertical links - and I'm not sure I want that much hassle at the moment.

My guy is hopefully going to rebuild the wheelarch supports next out of solid rod - with any luck it will then be ready to take home again.

for the mirror cover - I put the mirror on first, then made paper templates to cover each side, held together with masking tape.
then once it was all correct I opened it out and uesed that as a template to cut the aluminium shape from, then just some hammers and pliers to bend and bash it into shape - and hey presto!!
did have 3 attempts though before I was happy

original camber on the car when building (before spring mods)
Screenshot_2016-11-22-23-06-38 by paul ward, on Flickr

after taking leaf out -
DSC_0016 by paul ward, on Flickr

now with the longer leaves added -
DSC_0076 by paul ward, on Flickr

the differance is subtle to look at, but as far as body clearance goes it is enough to have done the trick

Finally drove the car back today after the new batch of work including re making the wheel arch supports out of solid bar instead of tube, lowered front springs, AVO adjustable shocks all round and removal of a leaf from the rear spring as well as a slightly lengthened main leaf.
it felt ok, much softer ride than before, the camber still looks way out, but I suppose it will probably corner better if nothing else. and the turning circle has been reduced now due to the lowering of the front (it's missing the holes we cut now)
The only downside I can think of is that the negative camber might wear the tyres on one side quicker, and also it maybe looks a bit odd, but it's better than having to re-weld the arch supports every other time I take it out.

here's some pics - front arch support
DSC_0005 by paul ward, on Flickr

rear arch support
DSC_0006 by paul ward, on Flickr

Front now sits a bit lower which hides the lights a bit - which I like
DSC_0008 by paul ward, on Flickr

Rear negative camber is still there and also sits a bit lower now (I know cos the exhaust scrapes now when I drive up the ramp into the garage)
DSC_0010 by paul ward, on Flickr

Also fitted another aeroscreen for the missus

Also made a mirror faring to cover the new wing mirror on the drivers side

DSC_0007 (2) by paul ward, on Flickr

CarPhotographer - Looks like I missed the post about the mirror shield, but it looks great.

I also see you have blended the bottom of the passenger aero screen into the body shell, another neat touch.

Hope the new mudguard supports work out well.

Good luck, Paul.

Cheers

So I'm hoping to get the car to Stoneleigh this year (weather permitting)
The stronger wheel arch mods and softer suspension seem to be working OK so far although I'm still not happy with the huge negative camber on the rear.
Gonna maybe try and get a spring made up at some point that's correct for the cars weight - that's the only think I think might sort it once and for all

Not sure where I'm gonna park at Stoneleigh though as I'm all on my lonesome

I'm just jealous as mine is still in bits. My Mum took a turn for the worst so I'm currently caring for her. My motorbikes are all tickety-boo though as I keep them at my Mum's so any free time I get I pop out to the garage and do a bit of fettling on them.