Suspension Problem

[uriel]

Ok, so I was driving along the other night, car working fine, coming round a roundabout I relax my grip on the wheel to let the car straighten out, but the car stays on the same course round the roundabout. I had to centre the steering myself (and with a fair bit of force, more than was required to turn in the first place). I didn't feel anything 'go', no sound or lurch or anything like that.

Get home and find that the offside front is sitting a couple of inches or so lower than the nearside. Enough so that at anything other than pointing straight forward the wheels are rubbing hard against the arches.

Had a look this morning expecting to see a snapped spring or shock gone through the top or bottom mount. Or at least something broken. It all looks fine. When I put it down from the jack it sat at it's notmal height and took a couple of hours to drop to the level it was when I got home the other night.

I have yellow Spax shocks, but they were on when I got the car so not sure of any specifics. The springs are red powder coated ones, but again, that's all I know.

I assume it's either the shock or the spring that's at fault. I figure the ride height would be unaffected by a faulty shock though, just a bouncy ride as a symptom, but I also imagine a weak spring would tend to go over time and I haven't noticed the car dropping at all.

Looking through previous posts, there seems to be a few people that have had Spax shocks fail on them. What exatcly happens when one goes? I also found that RT Racing supplies red powder coated springs, but the springs on the Spax website are red also. Any way to find out which I have incase I need to replace the spring. Or would I be best getting 2 new ones from RT?

Any help greatly appreciated as I'm itching to get back to the

[shpub]

Front anti roll bar bracket snapped or come loose. See bible of gory details. I modified mine with a retaining plate and second bolt to prevent it happening again.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[uriel]

Wow, you're quick

Checking though the bible now, hope that's what it is. Would be handy since I have the owner of a fabrication company coming round tomorrow. He may come in handy modifying the bracket.

[p7ulg]

Hi Tony

Is that your red Corvette parked in the street?

[uriel]

Hi,

Yeah, it is A couple of weeks ago the accelerator pedal snapped on the wedge. The factory would make a new one, but it'd take a while and be a lot of hassle so I decided to if any local fabricators would make one or fix the existing one. Well, first few places I rang wouldn't entertain the idea of such as small job, but then I rang a place in Boldon and the guy got all excited when I told him it was from an old car. Went down to see him and it turns out he's an American car nut (as am I!). He get's the pedal welded, no charge, and as we are talking he mentions he has a Corvette he's looking to get rid of. I tell him not to be so silly and it would be stupid for me to buy it.

I go home, fit the pedal and take it for a test drive. But, I find myself driving over to Boldon and into the fabrication place See the guy, arrange to visit his garage and see the car. Was still in two minds, but once I heard it fire up I told him then and there I'd definitely take it.

Brought it back last week, but the brakes are dodgy. Have a new master cylinder now and they should be fixed tomorrow (as well as the wedge brackets). Can't wait to start driving the thing. Don't think the neighbours will like the noise though

Wedge as daily driver, C3 'vette as weekend toy...I love it

[p7ulg]

Have fun

Would keep TVR for weekends though!

[uriel]

Need more ideas. Had a look at the car today and the anti roll bar brackets are fine, both intact.

There was a problem with the main post/chassis part that holds the shock up. It was rusted through on one side, but measuring it against the other side (completely rust free) the hole hadn't caused it to move at all. That's been all welded up now, but the problem is still there.

Any ideas or would I be best taking it to a dealer and getting them to look? I don't like the idea of going to a dealer, but I can't see anything wrong with it.

[p7ulg]

uriel said:

Need more ideas. Had a look at the car today and the anti roll bar brackets are fine, both intact. There was a problem with the main post/chassis part that holds the shock up. It was rusted through on one side, but measuring it against the other side (completely rust free) the hole hadn't caused it to move at all. That's been all welded up now, but the problem is still there. Any ideas or would I be best taking it to a dealer and getting them to look? I don't like the idea of going to a dealer, but I can't see anything wrong with it.

Might be worth giving Hexham a ring not much they don't know about the cars.There is an open day there on Sunday as part of the monthly TVRCC meeting.