Ready to lift ?

[hopeless wanderer]

I've assembled all the parts I think I need for the first set of mods to my 80.
namely EFS springs with a 50mm lift, Koni heavy track dampers and rubber castor correction bushes (2 degree)
The question is do I require extended brake hoses for a 2 inch lift and is it worth changing the other bushes in the arm in addition to the castor correcting ones ?

thanks in advance

 

[Gary Stockton]

No brake hose extension required that I'm aware of. I'd look to renew the other bushes for consistency.

You'll also probably need to replace the lower shock mounting bolt as well as the ones that go through the top plate on the rear shocks as they will be fairly rotten by now - mine were - and to me it just makes sense to replace the fasteners for new ones for the sake of £12 or so ...

Have a wire brush handy to clean up spring perches etc. And you may want to paint worn or rusted areas - good opportunity for some of that type of maintenance.

Sway bar end bushes may be rotten as well and as you'll have those off you might want new ones from RoughTrax or Mr T

You didn't mention steering damper (i think) - you changing that too??

Have fun ...

 

[Citizen Brown]

Looking forward to the report on this mix of shocks/ springs. Did you get the Koni's from Larkspeed or if not where and how much?

 

[hopeless wanderer]

Cheers Gary

Steering damper damn I forgot that !
I'm giving it to someone else due to a shortage of time, tools and a workshop. I'll get onto roughtrax for those bushes right away though

 

[hopeless wanderer]

Yep you guessed right.
dampers from larkspeed came to the princely sum of 360quid delivered.
Service from Larkspeed was excellent

 

[Bat21]

.... namely EFS springs with a 50mm lift, Koni heavy track dampers....

I've got to ask, why did you not go for EFS dampers? They work very well with the springs.

 

[hopeless wanderer]

I've got to ask, why did you not go for EFS dampers? They work very well with the springs.

I bought the springs in New Zealand and just stuck them in my check in luggage, the dampers would have been too much weight for a single trip.
I've had Koni dampers on other cars and the reputation kinda precedes them too.

 

[Citizen Brown]

A year has passed...any chance of a report on the set up please Mr Wanderer?

 

[hopeless wanderer]

A year has passed...any chance of a report on the set up please Mr Wanderer?

Wow it's been that long..
I'm going to try to remain impartial and objective even though I love the car to the point my girlfriend calls it "that F£@@ing thing"
firstly it hasn't been off road as yet so I can't make any assessment of articulation and all that nonsense.
On motorways the steering is precise and sharp and there is no tendency for the nose to dive under braking. Changing lanes is again precise and none of the momentum returns back from the direction of the lane change causing any roll.
I always travel to South Wales through the Breckon Beacons and the behaviour is much the same, the suspension inspires confidence in threading through bends and it doesn't roll like a ship.
The last trip I made was with a roof tent and on a section of motorway it was a bit bouncy from the rear suspension (after hitting a bumps it began to continue bouncing a little longer than I'd like) I do have the heavy constant springs so I'm hoping loading them further will make them behave better.
Finally, I've only had to make one sudden direction change after a parked car pulled out without checking his mirror. The avoiding move was fine though it did roll heavily when I returned back into my lane, but it's 8ft 2" tall with about 100kg on the roof I wasn't expecting go kart like handling.