With the front arms now sorted, I was able to switch everything round and get the car on to it's wheels. It wasn't too bad, although it needed some major tweaking to get the wheels to a reasonable point.
When they first went on I was at 4 degrees camber on the right, and 6 on the left! As I wasn't planning on any japanese drift action I thought bringing it into spec was better. A few adjustments got me 2 degrees camber on all four wheels;
Now, while it was in the garage I found the right hand side was touching. This camber setting was really not helping though, and at 2 degrees I now have decent clearance;
Well, I say decent... I think it's still a bit close to be honest. But the main thing is that I don't have to go for major surgery on the wishbones. Spacers are the order of the day here. I did measure the front and rear track, using the discs as measuring points I got 57 inches on the rear and 55 on the front. It means that the rear is already wider, so an extra inch won't hurt. Comparing it to the body work I've got to cover 80mm on the front and 70mm on the rear, so again bringing them out a bit will actually just even things up rather than looking ridiculous. Then if I go for 80mm fenders all round I should be good for IVA.
I also considered height clearance. Both front and rear are now halfway up the spring height adjustment, with the rears running the longer coilover;
From a looks point of view they're perfect, but from a compression point of view the fronts are still too tight. As before I can bounce the front and the bonnet lifts. Rears are nowhere near hitting, they'll find the bumps stops before the bodywork. I might swap back to short dampers on the back, but I'm not going to make any more decisions until the fenders are in place.
I also checked speed bump capacity;
Front valance, then sump. Pretty much as expected really. If the front drags I have two foot of braking distance before the sump is left on the road. I might trim the front though, it's pretty untidy with lots of mould release marks and damage.
This is it now for suspension. Brakes can go straight on now, and I can bleed the lines. Driveshafts and propshaft are needed to get it moving, but the prop still needs cutting down.
One brief distraction, the centre mirror got fitted as well;
Such a basic item, but it looks the part. Or at least it will when the masking tape is gone and the gauges are a little less 'papery'.
I think it's time now to focus on the gauges. I've put them off for a while now, and they're not getting any closer to completion. It's still the temperature gauge and oil pressure that I'm stuck with. I'm just not convinced they'll fit vertically, and I'm starting to question why I'm still pushing for it. Well, I kind of know why I'm still pushing for keeping them vertical, it's because moving them horizontal will look rubbish!! I quite like the fact they're vertical. If I could box them in sufficiently then I'd be set.
Oh, and talking about being boxed in... there is every chance I'll need to put a radiused edge at the bottom of the front lip, it's most definitely a hard surface so I don't have much choice. I really don't want to make the whole dash squishy. This is the specific wording;
- Must have a
radius of curvature not less than 19mm or
- 5mm and be covered with a
non-rigid material
Hmm, perhaps some tube covered with the seat pleather might be a nice finish... Hmm number two, perhaps a full dash cover in seat pleather... ooh, now I have a dilemma... I really wasn't going to go for a covered dash, but I really really want to now!
No comments:
Post a Comment