OK - Have to hand it to Nitron - excellent service and shocks being returned Tomorrow as requested.
Problem was they ( or one anyway ) needed re-gassing.
Ian - buy 'em anyhow you know you should - they really are in a different world compared to the LSS
Agreed
That’s the plan! Glad you’re happy again Andy.
It’s turning into a little project though, currently:
It struck me as probably being cheaper/easier/better to do it all in one hit.
Anybody got any thoughts/comments/suggestions on that lot?
Ian
yes, doing nitrons, toelinks, and bushes at once will save on labour and having to re-do the geo everytime you do something.
Ref Geo tweeks, nobody seems to play with them like they do on the S1 elise. So if anybody has come up with Geo settings more appropriate for the a048, then please share them
Thanks Carsten.
RussT, was it just the front camber that you tweaked? Do you know by how much?
Ian
Why would you need a steady bar?
If you want tingles down your spine you can try using Geary’s adjustable (and very solid) bottom support and his upgraded right side engine mount.
Plenty stiff!
OTOH, I have played with different geo settings, and have had mixed results.
Right now I have a bit more neg camber at the froint (close to 1 deg) and a bit less caster (quicker steering but sometimes nervous, may go back to std on caster)
Why would you need a steady bar?..Geary’s adjustable (and very solid) bottom support
I have found, especially in the wet, that coming off the power and on to the brakes the engine’s movement unsettles the rear slightly, so I’d like to tie it down a bit. It should also stop the mounts from breaking.
Geary’s adjustable bottom support is what I had in mind. I know it adds a bit of cabin vibration but I only thought that was an issue when sat in traffic?
Ian
Before shelling out the money you can try this (I will get around to do it one day, it’s possible and practical)
To achieve a harder engine mounting, remove the bottom support and press (in a press, doh) the rubber out of it.
Turn it 90 Deg and press it back again.
It’s made in such a way that originally it lets the engine move.
If you turn it, most of the rubber is in the direction of the movement so it won’t.
Try this first.
Ian, these were the settings given to me by a certain engineer:-
FRONT
0.75 degrees neg camber
Zero front toe
3.4 � 3.9 castor
REAR
1.5 degrees neg camber
1.4mm toe each side (total no more than 3mm)
Ride height � 100 f /110r mm
Hope that helps, it felt good on the road/track to me at the time.
Cheers
Thanks Russ. You running a more track based set-up now?
I assume the standard settings are in the workshop manual?
Ian
Yup, the guys preparing the car (Terry King Racing) have given it some more neg. camber, and we are running 425/500 springs. I do not know enough about damper settings to mess around with them yet, so they are set around the middle until I learn.
Russ - best way to learn is go to a trackday and take help with you. First of all set all dampers to the middle setting. Go out, work out what the car is doing in each corner - understeer, oversteer, speed of change of direction etc. Then go through front and then front independently putting to full soft, full hard. You are obviously not going to get a good set up from either of these, but it will give you an appreciation of how the changes affect the handling of the car. At each point, ask the above questions about each corner on the circuit, and take a note book. If you get through all these, try the anti roll bar in the same way, full soft then full stiff. Once you have done this you can start fine tuning.
You will be surprised how easy it is to feel changes, particularly at the front of the car, so it might be worth doing the front first.
Cheers
Righto, thanks Mark. I am also going to stick my head in a book about suspension - any suggestions??
Haynes manual… no I’m not joking Russ someone lent me a copy of this a couple of years ago (unfortunatley gave it back ) from what I remember it was pretty detailed, titled something like “tune your race car suspension”.
Righto, thanks Mark. I am also going to stick my head in a book about suspension - any suggestions??
I’ve been flicking through Skip Barber’s “Going Faster” which has a nice section of chassis dynamics and setup but with more regards to the drivers point of view, i.e. not the usual beardy technical drudgery of “Bill Winston’s Suspension in every minute painful detail!”
It’s quite nice, say about bumb and rebound and what they do to a car and more importantly what you’ll feel as a driver Also stuff about ARB’s, suspension mountings, wheel rate and spring rate and all that jazz… ANd not to heavy to digest IYSWIM
Haynes manual… no I’m not joking Russ someone lent me a copy of this a couple of years ago (unfortunatley gave it back ) from what I remember it was pretty detailed, titled something like “tune your race car suspension”.
If you can’t find it let me know. My out-laws live just down the road from Hayes, who keep the vast majority of their books (why have they never done an Elise one? ).
Ian
Ian
I did the exact same with mine last year - all the same mods in one go.
IMO the engine steady is a requirement - do it.
Nylatrons - were a complete PINA to fit as they were no manufactured to tight enough tolerences and that meant having to adjust them and make up new inners etc etc - So be carefull
Nitrons - enough said and yes I have those spring rates
Geo - I’m running RussT settings - perfect it is too
Toe link - made our own up
So you drove it with those mods at Llandow…
Ian it might be a bit GJOB ( or whatever ) but if you have the wishbones off for Nylatrons its worth getting them (gently) blasted and painted - I just used smooth hammertite … and the hubs cleaned up checked - I had 2 duff wheel bearings …
Skip Barber’s book is excellent, and not just for suspensions either…
Also worth a look is Allan Stanniforth’s Competition Car Suspension - published by Haynes…
IDG
I think your list sounds perfect…its what i’m gonna do as well when the time comes…
Is interesting to hear that the nylatron bushes may need modifying to fit properly… that;'s a worry… Andy were they Gearys that you used or the Nitron ones??