Project run Wabbit run ... probably not 56k friendly

[northernalex]

And my completely dull, standard, low mileage car will be a fine 'control' for the sample.

see chris, i always knew you had the purist in you too !!!!


nice to see the progress is still coming with this little puppy nick, i wanna hear this new subdued noise, hell i even want to ride in it.


J

I've got the 0-60 gps thingy on me phone - could be interesting  s:) s:)  Anyone know any private roads  s:) s:)  

Alex

[Wabbitkilla]

Well guys after the excitement of last month i now have some more additions...

A C-One rear strut tower brace i got off ebay and have had epoxy coated in my usual scheme (sorry Russ)


That's it for performance mods, but after seeing the video that Dan took while we were in Scotland i thought it would be handy to have something ready for when were all out enjoying ourselves, so ....


Can you see the camera?


There it is!

And the recorder / display is bottom right...

[Anonymous]

Where did you buy this camera? And how much did you pay?

[Wabbitkilla]

Maplin and it was £150.

It takes 2GB SD Flash card which give you 166mins of filming.
I have tried a 4GB card and it seemed happy with that too - Sandisc Ultra II.

Flash cards are dead cheap from  w www.7dayshop.com w  right now.

The only problem with it, it doesn't allow charging while in use from a usb adaptor in the car, i'll just have to see how long the battery lasts. But it is a neat little unit.

<edit> forgot to mention i had to make an extension for the cable due to the distance betwixt camera and recorder. It's 2.5mm 4 way jacks so the only place i could find them was at Farnell.

[Wabbitkilla]

Right it has been a while and i've not said much.

A few things have happened since the last update...

1. A toe in adjuster was found to be siezed in place when i went for an alignment check.
    It turned out the OSR toe in adjuster had welded itself to the bush in the suspension arm.
    We ended up damaging the rear subframe and literally burning and cutting out the adjuster and bush.
    Which meant replacing the adjusters and toe in control arms with Mega Racing arms, courtesy of FGrob - many thanks for the loan!

2. It was found that there was a serious amount of negative camber on the rear wheels.
    I worked out that the rear shocks were beginning to collapse and camber was increasing with mileage and time.
    Meaning the tyres were to end up like this...


So i decided to get a replacement rear subframe and replace all the lower suspension arms with adjustable Megan arms to allow proper adjustment of the rear cambers. However i wasn't aware of the rear shocks failing at the time. The rear end progressibly got sloppy and something had to be done. I considered my options for suspension upgrade as i was already going to be pulling the back end apart anyway. Choices choise.

Tein Superstreets ... around £800
K-Sport coilovers .... around £710
BC Coilovers ......... £649 inc vat.

Spoke to K-Sport UK, who happen to be Apex performance about 15 minutes drive from where i work.
They recommended the Apex performance coild overs (which are actually the BC coilovers).

Being of Scottish and Yorkist descent, i decided on the BC's, they would turn up with 10 days as opposed to the K-Sport 15 days.
They were ordered and a deposit paid.
A bit of a mistake was made and MKII coilovers were delivered, but 5 days after that i had my MKIII coilovers in my hands and i prayed for good weather to work in the back lane, and booked friday off work.


So i looked up the destructions on our friendly Spyderchat for fitting them, and it all seems dinky do, easy to do - so i did.

You have the right tools, nothing special i add, and this is easy - surprisingly easy, i love working on this car.
All bolts came lose easily and i measured up and slotted in the BC's one side at a time.


Ably assisted by my quality control manager



I had to take the wheels off a few times and readjust to a height that suited my eye, and try the car out in between to get the suspension to settle after being jacked up. But quality control expert said it was good...


More cutting of the frunk plastics was required to reach the compression and rebound adjustors...




Around the back obviously i don't have that problem...




There are 32 levels of adjustment between hard and soft.
This must be for multiple uses as these schocks are of monotube design and therefore the same in all applications, just with different mounts wound on.
8 from soft seems just about right / bearable   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Quality control confirmed the job was done

And i paid her off with half a tin of tuna.

It seems both Ste and i have recently been adopted by cats, we're proxy homes for them   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

Aaaanyway, the following day i was at Charlesworth (great guys) and replaced my subframe with the new powder coated one and put all the rest of the Megan Racing adjustable arms in. Absolutely everything is pillowball mounted now!

This weekend had me over to Demon Tweeks who fitted new rear tyres, nitrogen fill all around, and setup the geometry and alignment, stating they have only ever seen ONE other car with perfect alignment like mine.

The result??

My car handles like a dream, it is simply stunning how sure footed it all is, the grip is phenominal - i really can't praise it highly enough.
I love the new stance and height of it, and well, it's just perfect.

I think i will leave it alone and enjoy it for the time being - at least until next year (there is something else in the pipeline)

[muffdan]

Nice.

My wife wants a word with you about why you've added 'new suspension' to the top of my christmas list.

Jason

[custardavenger]

Looks sweet mate and I'm not on about the cute cat.

[Anonymous]

Nice one Nic.

You will get to enjoy it even more once everything as settled, you are right the difference in grip is massive  s:D s:D    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Rob

[northernalex]

Looks excellent Nic - whole car looks beautiful - and I wish I had the time/money/knowledge to do it all on my car.. very jelous!

All the best,

Alex

PS cool cat!

[ChrisGB]

Looking good. What spring rates did you get with the coilovers?

Chris

[Wabbitkilla]

Looking good. What spring rates did you get with the coilovers?

Chris

Many thanks Chris, they're 5KG/7KG.

[Chris_h]

Looking good Nic,

Look forward to hearing more of your thoughts re how it drives...

[ChrisGB]

Looking good. What spring rates did you get with the coilovers?

Chris

Many thanks Chris, they're 5KG/7KG.

Interesting. The USA market BCs came with either 4/6 - 6/8 - 8/10kg/mm. I went for the 4/6 and they are "firm". They really do control body movement well though and the cornering speeds that can be had are grin inducing  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

I have found the damping can be wound up a bit as they wear in. Mine are currently at a firm 15 rear 5 front for road use.

Chris

[Anonymous]

I have found the damping can be wound up a bit as they wear in. Mine are currently at a firm 15 rear 5 front for road use.

Chris

Chris

Which way is making the firm ride - 0 solid or 0 soft?

If 15 is softer than 5 that's still some difference - do you find that stable??

Rob

[ChrisGB]

I have found the damping can be wound up a bit as they wear in. Mine are currently at a firm 15 rear 5 front for road use.

Chris

Chris

Which way is making the firm ride - 0 solid or 0 soft?

If 15 is softer than 5 that's still some difference - do you find that stable??

Rob

Hi Rob

I rate it as clicks up from soft, so fully soft = 0, fully hard = 32.

The settings are quite noticeably different for relatively small adjustments on the BCs. I found that when new, anything more than 4 front and 6 rear was simply too hard and the car would hop. With them running in and the warmer weather thinning the oil down a little, harder settings seem to work well. Something that I am contemplating long term is a move to a nicer quality damper, maybe KW or similar, but the BCs are still proving very good and the car is a joy to drive.

The MR2 does not work its front dampers particularly hard as most of the mass is at the back. I find that the car can be quite bouncy at the back end sometimes, so run it with plenty of damping. The bounce actually seems to be set off by the engine movement. A set of Kirks mounts should fix that. It is only really a problem just at the edge of what the RS2s provide grip wise when I am accelerating hard out of a bend and was similarly a problem on stock suspension also.

Next money for modding has now materialised (I sold the Fabia vRS), so just trying to decide what is next?

Chris

[Anonymous]

I rate it as clicks up from soft, so fully soft = 0, fully hard = 32.

The settings are quite noticeably different for relatively small adjustments on the BCs. I found that when new, anything more than 4 front and 6 rear was simply too hard and the car would hop. With them running in and the warmer weather thinning the oil down a little, harder settings seem to work well. Something that I am contemplating long term is a move to a nicer quality damper, maybe KW or similar, but the BCs are still proving very good and the car is a joy to drive.

The MR2 does not work its front dampers particularly hard as most of the mass is at the back. I find that the car can be quite bouncy at the back end sometimes, so run it with plenty of damping. The bounce actually seems to be set off by the engine movement. A set of Kirks mounts should fix that. It is only really a problem just at the edge of what the RS2s provide grip wise when I am accelerating hard out of a bend and was similarly a problem on stock suspension also.

Next money for modding has now materialised (I sold the Fabia vRS), so just trying to decide what is next?

Chris

That works in reverse to the Tein then 0 hard 16 soft.

I'm running pretty much equal front to back at the moment, and yes sometimes the back does like to lift the front, don't get much engine movement now, which makes for an interesting drive if you get it wrong with the throttle  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

I've looked at those KW's the Variant 3 - all stainless steel very nice - pretty dam expensive.

Thanks
Rob

[Wabbitkilla]

Interesting that you guys are running different settings front and back.

I'd never thought of that - something i'll obviously be trying as i get used to them

[ChrisGB]

Interesting that you guys are running different settings front and back.

I'd never thought of that - something i'll obviously be trying as i get used to them

I found that, with the 4/6 springs at least, the compression damping goes up too stiff to run the fronts harder than around 8. Even on track, the stiffest I ran was 10 front 16 rear. It was quicker and turned in harder with 6 or 7 front though, so that is how it has stayed. Have fun experimenting, but do remember, damping is not there to tune out body roll in transitions, so if you find you are running so stiff that you start to change the balance of the car, you need to back off the damping a bit. The balance and roll stiffness is the job of the springs.

Chris

[Wabbitkilla]

Interesting that you guys are running different settings front and back.

I'd never thought of that - something i'll obviously be trying as i get used to them

I found that, with the 4/6 springs at least, the compression damping goes up too stiff to run the fronts harder than around 8. Even on track, the stiffest I ran was 10 front 16 rear. It was quicker and turned in harder with 6 or 7 front though, so that is how it has stayed. Have fun experimenting, but do remember, damping is not there to tune out body roll in transitions, so if you find you are running so stiff that you start to change the balance of the car, you need to back off the damping a bit. The balance and roll stiffness is the job of the springs.

Chris

Cheers - and my uprated ARB's   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[ChrisGB]

Interesting that you guys are running different settings front and back.

I'd never thought of that - something i'll obviously be trying as i get used to them

I found that, with the 4/6 springs at least, the compression damping goes up too stiff to run the fronts harder than around 8. Even on track, the stiffest I ran was 10 front 16 rear. It was quicker and turned in harder with 6 or 7 front though, so that is how it has stayed. Have fun experimenting, but do remember, damping is not there to tune out body roll in transitions, so if you find you are running so stiff that you start to change the balance of the car, you need to back off the damping a bit. The balance and roll stiffness is the job of the springs.

Chris

Cheers - and my uprated ARB's   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

He he, the harder the springs, the less the ARBs get to do I suppose? I would guess it corners very flat now?

Chris

[Chris_h]

In scavenge mode, did you sell your Tein springs NIc?

[Wabbitkilla]

No I haven't, need spring compressors to remove them.

Of course if someone were to make an offer I may be tempted   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[loadswine]

I'm very impressed by the install and very interested in the ride height adjustment that doesn't compromise the spring travel. I may have to look at these more closely.

[Kool PT]

getting quite tempted by the BCs now too...ugh...more money that I don't need to be spending!   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:

[Ilogik]

Car looks cool mate.