Coil overs

[martinclan56]

Re: Coil overs

How is the inner end of the lower arm located if you remove the torsion bar ? I'm assuming additional bracketry would need to be welded to the chassis rail otherwise you would 'hanging' the lower arms of a single bracket/tab in it's original form

The bracket that mounts the inner end of the lower arm is independant to the torsion bar. The lower arm is in two parts, a large cast bit and a pressed steel bit that are sandwiched together. The cast arm has a splined hole, one half of which contains a splined bolt which fixes the arm to the chassis mount, passing through a large rubber bush. The torsion bar is just fitted in the "other half" of the splined hole. An odd arranagement in a rather odd suspension setup. IMHO :-). But it means the torsion bar can be removed independently of the suspension arm.

Cheers, Robin

PS - would still like details of the revised damper bracket :-)

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Coil overs

I realized my mistake while having dinner! I confess to probably having a senior moment as the image I had in my head no way resembled the set up on Marina /Roadster.
Must do better! Where have I seen that before!!!!!

[andyf]

Re: Coil overs

I have a similar set-up but I think my springs were 325lb from memory. They are over AVO shocks set on 5 clicks and and now have shortened Mini heavy duty rally tie bars giving 6 degrees castor.

Finally I have a car that actually handles like it should.[ATTACH]10995[/ATTACH]

I see that the fork that locates the tie bar at the wheel end on the Marina setup was replaced with a tongue to link to the Mini tie bar. Did you manufacture your own or were you able to repurpose an off the shelf part?

[andyf]

I've been busy working on converting my car to coilovers and thought I would share my progress and some thoughts/observations. The first issue that I had was that simply rotating the original shock mount round would not work as it interferes with the upright.

IMG_4770.jpg

So I moved it back so that the outboard bold hole lined up with the inboard hole which is a move of about 1.5". This resulted in a location that's very nearly good enough but the spring is very close to the brake pipe mount on full droop, as can be seen in the picture below. At ride height it's fine though as can be seen in the second photo and the ride height is good at 8"

IMG_4775.jpg IMG_4771.jpg

So I decided to get some Locost weld on mounts and weld them directly to the lower arm. In doing so I also moved the mount 4mm further inboard to improve clearance on full droop. The three photos show the arm in a jig that I made to hold it all in the correct place and two views of the completed arm.


IMG_4807.jpg IMG_4808.jpg IMG_4805.jpg

A trial fit shows that the clearance is much better, but I may still need to swap the 9" springs for 8" to get the level of clearance on full droop that I would be happy with (Sorry I don't have a picture of that.

For the mounting of the tie bar I have modified the original Marina mounts
IMG_4738.jpg IMG_4751.jpg

[nigel_cordrey]

looking very smart.

[andyf]

velovol Looking at your photo earlier in this thread it looks like you have spaced the inboard lower arm out to get more camber, is that correct? And how much camber did you achieve?

[andyf]

Now we have got it assembled it looks like this...
IMG_4819.jpg

[andyf]

We finished the conversion on Saturday and got a few test drives in. Unfortunately the caster has been set using a tape measure so I can't say what I actually ended up with but it drives straight and is soo much more refined. It nolonger crashes over bumps and pot holes, and there is less noise transmitted to the cabin. It also re-centers as expected and turn in is much better. Next step is to get the alignment set up properly. Caster is easily changed using the adjustable mini tie bars.

A competition for the eagle eyed amongst you, there is one bolt that has not been done up and it is clearly visible in the picture below.

IMG_4823.jpg

[andyf]

I didn't check the caster but the toe-in is set to 0 so parallel. That probably accounts for the improvement in turn in but it does not wash out mid corner and is stable under braking so I'm going to leave it like that.

[phild]

Hello I am asking for some information, as I am fitting Mini adjustable tie bars to my Marlin project, I have trimmed both ends of the male and female threads by 12 mm. Is that ok or will I need to trim more off, and also what is the best way to connect it. thanks Phil.

[rhysnolan]

When converting is the back part of the torsion bar just cut off behind the joint?
Duncan, the angles and locations of joints are important when comparing rates. Marlin is not lighter than yours bare weight would be greater I think. The engine alone is a fair old lump, bare it's 340 lbs.

[duncan]

Hi
My "Device was 910 kg with me in it - its currently 970 kg (more batteries) - front is now 420 kg
My Marlin with its Ford crossflow (and me in it) is 820 kg - front is 360 kg

So the Marlin is noticeably lighter

Front spring rate on my Device is 70 lb/inch

Yep the angles do make a difference -

[andyf]

I modified the original tie bar mounts by filling in the fork and reshaping them as shown below
thumb_12180.jpg
And this is how they fit
thumb_12179.jpg
I trimmed about 25mm off the threaded end of the tie rod and didn't adjust the female end at all.

I forgot to mention that I cut an extra 30mm of thread on the bar after turning it down to the right external size.

[andyf]

When converting is the back part of the torsion bar just cut off behind the joint?
Duncan, the angles and locations of joints are important when comparing rates. Marlin is not lighter than yours bare weight would be greater I think. The engine alone is a fair old lump, bare it's 340 lbs.

The torsion bar can simply be removed from the inboard end of the track control arm. There is a small piece left that has the bolt as part of it to complete the joint through the bushing

[rhysnolan]

The torsion bar can simply be removed from the inboard end of the track control arm. There is a small piece left that has the bolt as part of it to complete the joint through the bushing

Thanks Andy.