Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Daily Musings

For whatever reason been a few delays to Matt's car.

However things should get going now.

Dropped the "reconditioned" diff out, came from Jigsaw. Dunno what's wrong with it, its smooth when the pinion is rotated, however when the output flanges on the diff are rotated its really clunky, rough and binds solid....Its had oil in it and been rotated now and then...Its about 7 years old but never turned a mile...Anyway there is the alloycased quaife to go in, so...

When removing the diff I noticed the handbrake support/runner and bracket were totally manged, no idea whats gone on there...Anyway some time wasted straightening it out and refitting the cable runner from another chassis.

You can see below the bent up bracket...Anyways thats now ok. I hope to use the normal handbrake setup for the spitfire, as there is no doughnut to clear the other mounts should not be needed...Have to play that by ear.

Battery will be stuffed as they do not like being flat, again this is well old and has been flat for ages. Tank out.
The previous genuis had stuck the firewall right over the body mounts, so to access the bolts I had to slice a section out and cut all the sealant away. I can make some alloy covers once finished. Loosen up some other body mount bolts and have just enough space to get the brackets on.
Thats to fit this marvelous suspension "kit" from Tony Lindsey Dean. Basically a set of rotoflex telescopic damper conversion brackets, and a pair of avo dampers and pair of springs.

I shall conclude info on this as work commences.

Lets say the brackets came from the TSSC, the AVO's from AVO. The AVO's have 1/2" bearings in each end...The hardware supplied with the brackets will need lathe adjustments. Of course, the "KIT" doesn't include any hardware at all.

This means I will need make/obtain all the sidespacers for the shock bearings etc...No bother, just....(rollseyes).

This draws me to another interesting conclusion, that the maker of the kit has never actually fitted it to a GT6 or Spitfire, only a Vitesse. Below shows a small area that needed dressing to get the bracket in.

In the picture the bracket extension has been roughly fitted...below its plain to see its impossible to fit the shocker unit behind the bracket. You can't even get a nut on! The picture isn't great at showing the problem...The shocker eye bearing needs to go back 2"...This means a huge section of floor would need moding.

Better idea is just get it as straight up as possible and set as far back as possible at the top and live with where ever the bottom ends up...Its about getting clearance for the CV unit, the spring against the upright etc....The shocker has to be spaced out corrrectly...I will need make spacers for the shocker/bush/bearing at the bottom too, as there are none supplied, obviously!
I get images and a brief text with the package's (it all arrived months apart!) telling me to fit the shocker unit on the rear-end of the bracket so its pointing backwards from the upright, using a longer bolt (not supplied of course!, good job as it would be useless!)

You can see this detail below. Now, yes sure, the shocker will fit behind the bracket on a Vitesse! Vitesse has a load of room behind the bracket No f'ing way on a Spit/GT6. So why say, specifically, your own kit will not work with the shocker placed centrally in the bracket? This is the only option with the Spitfire/GT6. I for one am not cutting a massive section out the floor/wheelarch and boxing it up!

I do not see any huge problems anyways, its just annoying to be told impossible stuff.

The shocker is off centre from the castor line anyway, its miles over to one side. So its never gonna be ideal, the ideal place for a shocker where the spring eye bush, or a pair either side of the upright, ala E-Type Jag...The upright is always gonna be inclined to get castor change with the shocker setup at the rear of the upright and miles off centre. So the system is far from perfect, on any coil-over setup done this way.


Anyways oneside is dressed, painted and now ready for the bracket to be slipped in. The cut out is needed to get a nut on the end of the shocker bolt. Fat chance of fitting a shocker behind the bracket.
Be glad to get the rear-suspension done, cause its really been a pile of shit!
Dropped the engine back in mine, with the tunnel in place, to check a few measurements etc, took longer than normal, a gentle 5minutes or so.
Gaitor is a Spitfire one, works sweet. Engine back out!


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Greetings,
Would you be willing to share the specifications on your rear shock/coilover set-up?
If info such as spring rate, shock length, etc. is already in your blog, please feel free to tell me to learn how to read. LOL!

David Powell said...

The setup on that car will be shown soon.

My personal setup will be somewhat more involved and will not appear for atleast 12months.