So now we get on to the "sexy" topic of suspesnsion. Some readers might be quite appalled to see I'm spending as much time on this subject as I am on wiring, bonnet pins and other tedious stuff. Fact is I find everything on this car is actualy quite fun to work with*
*ok some are not so fun...
Over the weekend I got stuck in to my coilovers starting with the backs (sorry rears - still in rugby mode!). I bought used Gaz golds with top mounts from the E30 zone and got plenty of after sales advice - cheers Brian. The biggest time consumer was working out where the sleeves went, either top mount end or bottom bolt end. It turned out both and the chap found the bottom sleeves and replacement bolts posted them in great time.
Here's how I thought they should go-
HOWEVER, its best to use the bigger sleeve spacer at the top.
This is the top mount and test fit without sleeves - still working out what goes where at this point!
And then...
There's a lot of talk around the rears needing helper springs or something, so the damper when fully extended goes back to it's original position. I found it lowers just fine. The spring does rub slightly this side so I will be getting some offset top mounts to clear the spring away from the body, and selling the old ones.
The rears in total I managed to finish either side of 6 hours of 6 nations rugby in a day, even with a bit of stomach "issues". So the rears are dead simple. The fronts however... not so.
My lesson learnt for that day however was to set the ride height correctly on the coilovers before lowering the car off the stands! I thought I'd gone I thought for plenty of height, but I'd actually gone for not a lot of height misjudging where the collars should have been... So when I lowered the car, I had a bit of a shock as the jack was stuck and the wheels were on their arches. So I sorted that and went for practically the maximum height (properly) I could go which is still quite low for me!
This actually shows after me completing the front driver's side as well as both rears. From this angle at least it looks done(!) And yes of course I worked through the rain, to a point.
I went for a tenatitive test drive, after going back and forth on the road, to ensure all was well. At this point just the rears have been changed. When I got up to speed it was massively obvious how much more communicative the rear is. I went over some speed bumps to make sure everything was bolted on properly, played with the throttle and brakes and all was well. Interestingly on a wet road, wow the rear wheels are easier to light up now - it's instant o-demand wheelspin! No wonder you hear about inboard springs a lot for these track cars.