my first car* 1.4 1990 340 Carburettor Help Please!

[Nimminz]

looks dead good!

Afraid I can't help with your lowering queries as you know more than me, I'm used to peugeots lol

Good luck on your test mate!

7 minors on a mock isn't bad. They always mark mocks a lot more harshly. They mark on the mock it like 'if a car came now he'd be blocking the junction so mark him down' whereas in a real test it would be 'IF a car DOES come now we can mark him down because he's blocking the juction'. Once you pass thats where the real learning starts. I'd reccomend PassPlus. Its a load of b*lloks really but can reduce insurance premiums by 40% for the first two years. £60 quid corse on average but it could save you £600 on your first year of your own insurance!

[jtbo]

Just try to avoid making it look like rear springs has been failed, rear should be same level or tad above front, I think.

Well, Mini Cooper (Original) was riding on bump stops constantly, however bumpstops were designed for that in it, don't know much about how it will feel, but I'm pretty sure that Shelby would not agree about it and if Shelby does not agree, it can be a problem

[valman]

cheeers for the replies!
i dont want to do pass plus - my instructor charges 230 pounds i think for it and it only takes 50 pounds off my current insurance quote of £912 i doubt ill be able to get a better quote than that, i just hope that if i pass tomorrow they will be able to email a cover note across within an hour so i can go get my tax and drive the thing on friday night

here are some measurements by the way i got. all these numbers are in millimetres and are the distance between the lowest part of listed component to the floor. (my car is likely to be different from yours though but it would work as a ball park figure im sure)
Diff: 195mm
Exhaust: 140mm
Catalytic converter: 135mm (lowest point) chhop chop, weld weld
Tank: 227mm
sump: 140mm (with guard so add 10mm for standard)
Rear damper bolts: 140mm
Chassis rails(?): 175mm (bits going towards the leaf springs)

this was the distance between the top of tire and the point directly above standing: 83mm
Lifted:183mm
and pics cz pics r kl

thats all folks

[Ian Mac]

Good luck with the test mate, hope it goes well.

[ty360volvo]

good luck!!!!

hope every thing goes swimingly

[jtbo]

So, you will have no more than 53mm of compress damping when car is standard, with two inches lowering there just is none left, so it is like driving on bump stops. Luckily when spring is cut by 2" it is not directly 2" of lowering, it is bit less, makes it bit tricky to get right.

I have got some bottoming out on race track with standard springs, I think there could be more travel, but it is quite challenging to get more travel without lifting the car and even more so with some lowering.

[mat_91]

yer i will agree that my car has got no travel but i want it hard so thats what you get
the only way to get itback is to drop the strut throu the hub say 2" then tub your arches
its on one of those to do list

[valman]

thanks for the replies!
well i was thinking of going down the tubbed arches route - mine are rusted bad anyway so i guess its something i'll do for its next MOT once the car is off the road then i can get more lows.
i don't want it riding on bump stops so i guess ill ask this next: how easy is it to drop the struts, what welds do i cut etc?
oh and because im a total noob - whats it like to drive on bump stops? just loads of jerking? or no suspension atall?

anyway, i best be off,
cheers!

[jtbo]

I haven't been riding on bump stops, but I can tell you how it feels when you hit bump stops, hurts like h*ll had sore back for 3 days when happened on track.

Basic of suspension and grip is that softer is more grip and stiffer is more control, also softer is less control and stiffer is less grip, you can think bump stops being very stiff springs, also as travel is minimal with those every bump etc. has potential hazard, especially on wet, depending how you hit one.

It is perfectly possible to make car feel faster with lowering, but ending up making car slower and bit dangerous. but for drifting it probably does not matter, however I don't see really point of drifting 1.4 and also daily car and drift car might not be too good combination for many reasons, discomfort being one of reasons, sure many do it still because of financial reasons, but that does not mean it would be good.

Also one thing to consider is that lowering front to bumpstops or near and lowering rear with only blocks is going seriously f*** off the balance of the car, there will be stiff front and soft rear, making thing understeering lot more and requiring wrestling with the wheel to make car go where one wants to, more so when there is less grip, less on sunny dry day.

Amount of work needed to get insanely large wheels fit to older car that is seriously lowered:
http://www.hilmersson-racing.com/start.asp?show=ea

There will be lot of problems to solve when trying to get it lower, especially as there is not lot of tolerances with front suspension, both side must be exactly the same and it is really important not to accidentally change geometry as it can mess up lot of things at once. Then if you drop the strut, I'm pretty sure you need to move lower spring cup too as tyre is already very close to that and distance to top spring cup should remain same or fitting to springs that are going in. Also there can be more hazzle with clearance of parts etc. haven't really looked that at all, but if you take wheel off and see what are related to strut position, you can see it quite easily. However even that is going to take some amount of work, at least it will be working suspension.
it has been very long time since I took wheel off from my car, it has been sitting there waiting that 'someone' would do few welds

Anyway as things are, no matter what one will do it is going to be quite bit of work, to get front dampers out is already taking quite lot of work, especially if one has not tool for that big nut and does not like to get into brake bleeding job, took some 8 hours

[valman]

wahaaay i passed!!!! only jsut got in from driving it since 4!! friends love it

[magnumpi]

Well done mate, it's a great feeling when you hear the words "you've passed"


With regards to lowering, maybe i'm just getting old, but i wouldn't lower it 4" (if it's even possible) mine handles pretty nicely with a 2" drop, but it's a harsh ride and bottoms out on the bump stops even with Dai's stiffer springs up front and Koni adjustables at the back, hit potholes at your peril. I personaly believe due to the way the cills slope back on a 300 they never look hugely low anyway even with quite a substantial drop which is a shame.

You could always just give it a go and see how you get on, after all blocks are replaceable, or you could chop them down to adjust to suit. Just keep a spare set of front springs incase it's too low.

[macplaxton]

excellent news.

[jtbo]

One inch is relatively easy to cut, but try to get one inch back, not so easy, requires new springs, so I think that taking one inch out, drive week, take another off, drive again week, that way it will not be straight to too low, but you get feeling of different lowering.

I don't know how other cars are, but I really start to doubt that with 360 they did not leave enough compress travel when they designed suspension, there is lot more of rebound travel, at least I find it bit odd as bump travel is needed to get comfy ride, with less travel car will always need stiffer springs to avoid bottoming out, but some reason they decided to have lot more rebound travel which just allows car to roll more.

With Valman's car for example I would think that 100mm would be available to bump travel, however it is available for rebound travel, maybe they had just some numbers accidentally swapped at factory?

I have hit bumpstops with french crap and 240 too, damn speed bumps, will not slow down when nobody is not around

[Nimminz]

Wehey mate well done!!

Just about the best feeling in the world
Learning starts here, Keep hold of that nice clean licence!

Think I did 1500 miles in the first week after my test

[volvosneverdie]

congratulations dude.

Enjoy, and dont shunt it!