Lotus Europa Forums > The Paddock
Spring Rates
4129R:
--- Quote from: EuropaTC on Wednesday,August 13, 2014, 12:55:27 AM ---Thanks for the tip, it's good to know that should the worst happen it's still fixable. There's a slight ramp into my workshop which I do occasionally catch with the Elan's exhaust but the Europa was ok yesterday on it's maiden voyage up and down the drive :)
Are yours the ones from SJS Lotus with their front springs, and if so where about have you got your ride height set ? On the lowest setting it looks just a bit too low/boy racerish at the moment. But of course that might all change when I look at it again today.....
Brian
--- End quote ---
Mine are from SJS. I have left them on the factory low ride height.
If you do have a problem with the A/R bar stud pulling all the thread out of the shocker casing, you can re-drill and tap the ally casing for a larger diameter stud.
I hit my concrete garage floor with the whole A/R bar. I have now leveled the driveway with 5 bags of ballast from Wickes. Cost less than £10, and the only problem now is the gravel gets caught between the garage door and the concrete. If I cut the door too high, the mice will get it ! All the fun of living in the countryside.
EuropaTC:
Thanks for the info. I spent some time yesterday with it and decided that a lot of my worries about ride height were just in my head. It is lower than before certainly but after all it's got adjustable platforms and so can go anywhere it wants to, so I'd better just get on with it.
What did surprise me was that there's very little increase in negative camber so unless I find other problems I'll leave it as it is for now and maybe make some shorter roll bar mounts to keep the relationship the same. The photo shows before and after shots taken on roughly the same part of our drive, you can see a difference at the front, the rear not so much but it is there.
And for trivia fans - when doing my calcs I'd taken the OEM spring data from the manual and for the rear it says 19.6 coils. The new ones are 19 but looked markedly different when I fitted them so out of interest I counted the old ones and found just over 22. Either that's another "Manual Misprint" or perhaps some of the "Genuine Lotus" parts aren't that genuine ?
Brian
pboedker:
They look great, Brian! :trophy:
I have the same on my rear wheels, from SJS and with the original spring rates. I set the dampening to the middle setting and has been happy with this for road use the last 6 years. I'm not bright enough to change it to another setting, even for the occasional club track days ;)
But they developed a squeek, which is mostly heard at slow speed over speed bumps and so. It looks like it is the inside of the spring rubbing on the height adjustment threads. I heard that the emptied tubes from 'silicone guns' fit perfectly in between so I will try to change this during the vinter hibernation. Of course... Now you've already fitted yours to the car, just thought I'd mention it. :)
Re. the ride height, I set the rears to a height that looks OK compared to the slightly lowered front height (which was done by the PO). I've never found a clear opinion on what the front/rear ride heights should be - other than the manual mentioning something about 5" to the front crossmember and setting the rears so the car is level. I think this is a very thin explanation, especially considering the other wheel and tire sizes we now run on. So, I'm waiting for you to find the perfect solutions, after which it will be a small task to adjust to the same bumper heights plus the offset from the wheel/tire combo. In theory... ::)
Serge:
Thanks for the photos, Brian, it really looks great!
Do you feel that you made the right choice regarding the spring rates? Not too stiff for the road?
Kind regards,
Serge
Bainford:
The car looks great, Brian. The lowered stance is perfect. If it poses no issues with steet driving, I would certainly go with the current low setting.
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