lowering ride height

[montenegro]

have posted this before but no replies !! has anyone lowered the ride height on a gtl ? if so by how much, same front and rear, will it stiffen the suspension at all ? surely someone has done it...

 

[Lobster]

Not on R4s but on a few Mk1 R5s so it should be pretty much the same principle....

On R5s you need a special tool for the front bars, the rears are generally harder. We used to get the car in the air and hammer the bars out using a specially made very big drift type of thing. Not that scientific but generally worked. Rear bars were always hard to do though as they were always rusted solid (and bear in mind this was the best part of twenty years ago so it won't have got easier)

Lowering them in itself didn't stiffen the suspension though - you needed uprated shocks to stiffen it up. Lowering did effect the rear brake compensator though so it made it relatively easy to lock the rear brakes in the wet

 

[Cornish4]

Hmm, I beg to differ David. When we first got our GTL I felt sure it was lower than it should be when compered with other similar cars. The ride quality seemed ok, but I didn't know any better. After raising the ride height to where it should be or thereabouts the ride was so much improved, even speed-bumps are easily negotiated whereas before these seemed harsh to drive over. The rear suspension I had adjusted by an expert, Derek Flavell of Renospeed, but prior to that I tweaked the front end by disassembling the front suspension to take the weight off the torsion bars, and just experimented.

 

[Lobster]

I think you are correct Brian! What I was meaning was that on R5s if you lowered them they didn't become much stiffer and would still wobble around corners and lean at an angle and you really needed uprated shocks to stiffen them up.

I guess if you take a car that is already lowered and raise it then it should improve the ride and handling as certainly on lowered R5s whilst they did look good it did compromise things a bit!

That said its a long time since I had a lowered R5 and we didn't have such a proliferation of speed bumps back then, don't think I'd fancy one so much now...

 

[montenegro]

well it looks like it's prob a waste of effort apart from the 'look' ! following on from my original post I have been looking into stiffer shox and the best I can come up with is bilstein's but are they adjustable ? the photo of them doesn't show any adjustment ?? and at 150E a piece I don't want to experiment... anyone found adjustable' s ?? I agree with the previous quote of leaning around corners, and as I have fitted a TS motor/5 speed box the speed has increased alarmingly and cornering has taken on a new meaning.

 

[Cornish4]

Hi montenegro, I've fitted a front anti roll bar from a R5 Gordini (16mm), that made a bit of a difference to cornering, but I've just fitted a rear one from a F4 van, only about 12mm dia but what a difference. Try KYB shockers, not adjustable but very good. Regards Brian.

 

[mr-reno-139]

5 gordini shocks bolt straight on same length and fittings aprox 14 ins fully extended
Gordini turbo 25 mm shorter
Gordini called alpine in non UK markets
Fronts only