I’m still trying to improve the handling on my three wheeler, it feels 90% better than it did but still has a bit of roll when going in a straight line at about 50mph. I think this could be down to the anti roll bar, I think it could do with being a bit stiffer has anyone any suggestions on how to upgrade or improve it?
- Thread starter Steve I
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malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
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- Bedford UK
Roll in a straight line still sounds a bit suspicious. What do you have your front tracking set to? And have you double checked it using a long stick to measure? Wouldn't trust a garage to set it.
On entering corners, where roll is inevitable, increasing front damper stiffness can go a long way towards reducing roll rate, with rate being the bit you notice. Increasing roll stiffness too much can cause the inside wheel to lift. Having said that, you'll likely have a 10mm anti-roll bar. Rough road cars and vans were fitted with 12mm anti-roll bars but these can be tricky to find in the UK. It is possible to connect 2 anti-roll bars together, and that's a common development trick to reduce the need for ordering parts. But that's all for corners, not for straight line.
If you want to knock heads together Clementine used to work for Lotus (not in handling, but I did share their office) and offers a £15/hr consultancy service. You could make a sticker to put on the side saying "Handling by Clementine". Fell free to pop down - I've got a tracking device too.
On entering corners, where roll is inevitable, increasing front damper stiffness can go a long way towards reducing roll rate, with rate being the bit you notice. Increasing roll stiffness too much can cause the inside wheel to lift. Having said that, you'll likely have a 10mm anti-roll bar. Rough road cars and vans were fitted with 12mm anti-roll bars but these can be tricky to find in the UK. It is possible to connect 2 anti-roll bars together, and that's a common development trick to reduce the need for ordering parts. But that's all for corners, not for straight line.
If you want to knock heads together Clementine used to work for Lotus (not in handling, but I did share their office) and offers a £15/hr consultancy service. You could make a sticker to put on the side saying "Handling by Clementine". Fell free to pop down - I've got a tracking device too.
I may have the answer I set the track parallel with two 6ft bit of angle so I knew that it shouldn’t be the tracking I tested one side N/S for camber with a sprit level that looked ok. Today I started to replace the clutch, that’s a story on it’s own, the clutch plate, laycock, had gone hard and was slipping when given power I suppose 20 years without going above 30mph.
Anyway looking about as I was undoing the gearbox I noticed 2 spacers on the top mounting on the O/S
and no spacers on the N/S, got the spirit level out and it was nowhere near the N/S reading have you seen anything like this?
I thought that the plan could have been to put one on each side to alter the castor?
As I have said before the car looks as though an engineer started to build the car and then passed away and someone else finished it off
So I may have found the answer but won’t know until I’ve rebuilt the car.
Anyway looking about as I was undoing the gearbox I noticed 2 spacers on the top mounting on the O/S
and no spacers on the N/S, got the spirit level out and it was nowhere near the N/S reading have you seen anything like this?
I thought that the plan could have been to put one on each side to alter the castor?
As I have said before the car looks as though an engineer started to build the car and then passed away and someone else finished it off
So I may have found the answer but won’t know until I’ve rebuilt the car.
angel
Enthusiast
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- Athens, Greece
These spacers are not fitted on any R4, for sure.
They must have been fitted from the car builder, in order to adjust the camber (when equal thickness is being added/removed from both bolts) or the castor (adding/removing from one bolt only). Just like the Fiat 124.
They must have been fitted from the car builder, in order to adjust the camber (when equal thickness is being added/removed from both bolts) or the castor (adding/removing from one bolt only). Just like the Fiat 124.