First time Silver Shadow Owner - Mod Plans

First time Silver Shadow Owner - Mod Plans

Author
Discussion

Tee1

Original Poster:

35 posts

146 months

Wednesday 21st March 2012
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Hi guys, purchased her few weeks ago, not many decent forums about online so thought I'd hit you up for some advice. '78 SS II in cream.

Firstly I'd massively appreciate if someone could show me wiring diagram for alternator regulator next to battery in boot. My battery is frying and bulging whilst leaking acid, so too much charge. I think my regulator is wired wrong.

Secondly, for the love of me I can't seem to find the wheel figment (pcd) for this model, is it something like 5x139? I wanted to upgrade her shoes.

Finally I'd like to install adjustable suspension as I'd prefer the ride height slightly lower. Now I'm assuming eBay don't sell coil overs for a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow! So what's best way of going about this..?

I know it's a lot of questions but any help appreciated. I'm based in the Leicester area so if there's anyone's local then give me a shout. She's running a bit rough at the moment and i was told diaphram in dizzy could be faulty so I'm in process of buying a distributor, and I'm also getting an overhaul kit for the rear brake pump as I've got a big clicking sound so if anyone knows where I can get reasonable priced parts let me know. Thanks me lovelies!

Balmoral

40,943 posts

249 months

Wednesday 21st March 2012
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AFAIK, any of the wheel and tyre combos fitted up to 97/98 will go on the car. I've seen plenty of them running about with the standard Turbo R wheels on them, so anything should fit the hubs, the very maximum being 9.5 x 18 with 255's (which is what I have on my old bus, bring yours to a Midlands meet and we'll try one on it, to see if they fit).

As for lowering and suspension mods, very tricky I would imagine, unless you plan to ditch the hydraulics completely, cut the original equipment springs down and fit a proprietary brand of off the shelf damper. But, I'm not much of a spanners man, maybe someone else can answer that for you.

ecurie

383 posts

203 months

Wednesday 21st March 2012
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You can find all workshop & parts manuals here : http://rrtechnical.info/

ADP68

528 posts

172 months

Wednesday 21st March 2012
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Lowering the ride height will not endear you to other owners. Horses for courses, but presumably you want to sell it at some stage. Read the thread about wrapping a dashboard on a gt on this forum and you'll get an idea of how unpopular you'll be! For parts, try introcar.

Balmoral

40,943 posts

249 months

Wednesday 21st March 2012
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2woody

919 posts

211 months

Friday 23rd March 2012
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a couple of answers here.....

I have a spare distributor if you want it.

The pcd is peculiar only to Rolls Royce and Bentley, I'm afraid. So other wheels are "out".

regarding the ride height - this is no different to any other car in that you'll bugger up the handling if you lower it. All suspension systems are designed to work in a particular way with the links at a very well defined angle to the road and the car. Expecting them to work as well at a different angle is unrealistic and always results in poorer handling. A small difference, say half an inch, will have a large effect in handling.

Granted, a lower ride height, and lower c of g could improve handling, but only if the suspension geometry is adjusted to suit. On this car it would probably involve vertically re-locating the wishbone inner pivots at the front and moving the semi-trailing arm pivot position at the back.

Having said that, a Shadow would respond very well to some modern tyres (235 max), an anti-roll bar upgrade and the later steering rack and mounts from a '93 car.

Turbo R had much stiffer roll-resistance, but do bear in mind that a lot of this came from changes to the rear suspension hydraulics, rather than anti-roll bars alone.

Tee1

Original Poster:

35 posts

146 months

Friday 23rd March 2012
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Thanks for info. 2woody, drop me a text or call re. dizzy - 07737812413

I understand lowering and upgrading wheels won't earn me top points at the Rolls Royce club! But I use my car almost daily, as opposed to most owners who bring it out once a year. Each to their own. When it comes to selling I'd return to stock springs.