Handling issue

[The-Mog-Warden]

Hi folks.

well, I have now got my lovely 4 door saloon, but she has a strange handling issue.

Just as a back ground, she has 1275cc engine and ford gearbox kit, LARGE riley hubs front and standards on rear. She has Van wheels, SPAX tele's on the front but big standards on rear. She has had this problem BEFORE the riley hubs, van wheels and Spax were fitted...

The prob is thus:

when going over small bumps and even the HUGE potholes we are experiencing, all is fine, BUT over humps in the road or dips in the road (esp at speed) she feels like she is rolling from front left to rear right. This can change depending on the camber of the road! Its a bit like being in a boat!! My local Mog expert says he thinks is NOT the springs as they dont "Look too old or knackered" and he says that on the bench, the dampers do what they really should be doing.

I havent YET put anti roll bar on front but will do so AFTER i have got to the bottom of this oddity....

Any ideas as my girlfriend is getting sea sick!!

Pete

[alanworland]

Sounds like dampers to me - Have another look and do the corner bounce test (push down a corner it should come back and do no more than one return)

[mike.perry]

I had some G800 tyres on the rear and some other make on the front, 175x13, and the traveller wandered all over the place, it scared the XXXX out of me, I didn't dare go over 60mph. I swapped the tyres front to rear and had no more problems.

[bmcecosse]

Does sound like damper problem - don't understand your comment re 'big standards on rear' ? The standard rear dampers are NOT 'big' by any stretch of the imagination! However - if drained and refilled with SAE 40 oil - they do a good job! Since the problem seems to start at the front - I suggest you remove the front tele dampers and test them off the car. Feel for any 'free' movement when you open and close them - and for equal damping on both. You could swap them side to side to see if that helps. I suggest the original front dampers should be checked too - and better hope that no-one has removed the valves from them! Again - they can be filled with SAE 40 oil - and they do a very good job like that.

[jonathon]

Nothing wrong with removing the valves from the original damper if fitting telescopics. Unless you are going back to just using the standard damper.
Does the car have uprated torsion bars as these can cause a 'pitchy' ride. Agree with others though and it sounds like dampers.
What distance do you have between the top of the rear bump stops and the bumpstop plate.

[aupickup]

mine did not handle a roundabout very good at 45 either

[The-Mog-Warden]

Does sound like damper problem - don't understand your comment re 'big standards on rear' ? The standard rear dampers are NOT 'big' by any stretch of the imagination!

Yeah- I dunno where that rogue word 'big' came from either- my apologies!! The dampers on the front have had their bits taken out as I have had before , BUT this was an issue before the spax fitted- the spax were put on because of this odd ride thing!! Do you think its best to have two lots of working dampers on the front then??

I think it must be the dampers too... tyres - nope- has done it with standard mog wheels and van wheels with bRAND NEW tyres on. I will check tomorrow... nothing else it could really be! Antone got any telescopics for the rear for sale??

[bmcecosse]

I absolutely believe in having BOTH sets of dampers working at the front - the more the merrier ! Many will come on to disagree - but sharing the loads between two systems makes sense to me. By adjusting the grade of oil in the originals, you can vary how much effect they have. Start with the standard SAE20 oil (yes - 20W50 will be fine!) and work up through SAE30 and SAE40 if you need more. Only caveat is - check the mounting bolts are snug - and if the same bolts are holding on the tele dampers (as is done on some of the poorer kits) - then don't over-do it! Probably best to stick to SAE 20 until you fix up a better mount for the teles.

[kennatt]

if as stated you had this handling problem BEFORE fitting the front spax then I would direct my attention to the rear only, if you have changed the front set up and the problem still exists then it must be down to rear shocks ,springs or shackles,unless you have an alignment problem on the front suspension or steering,very strange

[bmcecosse]

^^^ That's an interesting comment - and yes - it could be rear axle twisting on the springs if the 'perches' have rotted away.

[plastic_orange]

Are you sure the front suspension is all as it should be?
When I took my son's Minor suspension to bits, it was all over the place - washers in wrong place, bushes shot, bottom pin not rotating as it should, bottom arms worn etc etc - and tracking miles out. All this combined to give an effect like you have described. It didn't take much to fix, but the person I had bought it from should never have been given a tool box for Christmas

Pete

[The-Mog-Warden]

wow... i hope its not a case of the front susp being all mixed up... Im guessing the tracking will need doing soon anyway, and I have just ordered spax rear susp kit so will be able to rule that out by the weekend!! i will keep you all posted! thanks for all the help here.

[The-Mog-Warden]

RIGHT... I now have Birmingham MMC's SPAX on the rear. Lovely kit, feels GREAT... BUT is still doing (less obviously now) the whole rolling thing... The mountings on rear axle are like new, replaced bump stops, springs look dirty but not too old. Did notice a leak in rear hub whilst i was down there... SO....

I think my next step will be to get the Track rod ends replaced and tracking lasered. One track rod end has persihed rubber bit. Also noted is the front SPAX adjusters no longer adjust... the adjuster has seized up!! D'oh!!