A little more than just a 4 wheel alignment...

[TimJM]

I am at Centre Gravity today having my Cerbera setup. It was bloody miles out and not nice to drive really but hopefully things will be improving quite soon:


I think the ride height is a little high here:


Some of the bolts do not want to play ball and have been causing some issues:


And after a couple of hours this is whats left of the offending bottom damper bolt, if only people used copper slip:


Hopefully the other side will be a little easier but time will tell.

[MartH70]

Definitely somewhere we want to take the Tuscan, it's just a shame their so far from us. Please keep us all updated.

[TimJM]

Will do. Some of the measurements pre-setup make me hopeful apparently after going on the shaker the shocks are pretty well matched and the car weighs around 650kg front and back (with a near full tank of fuel) so the weight distribution is 50/50. Once all geo and the corner weighting is done I should be able to get all the pre and post settings. The ride height will have to go up slightly as it turns out I had virtually no suspension travel before hitting the bump stops!

[iamrtl]

Car looks great Tim, bet she'll be planted on the trip home!!!

[TimJM]

iamrtl said:

Car looks great Tim, bet she'll be planted on the trip home!!!

I am expecting great things. I can't wait to give her some on the way home and not be in fear of my life - well not all the time.

[geeeman]

what was the total car weight with fuel?

[N7GTX]

MartH70 said:

Definitely somewhere we want to take the Tuscan, it's just a shame their so far from us. Please keep us all updated.

While having the tracking checked after the reconditioned rack was fitted, I took mine to Kwik Fit and their latest alignment gadget is very advanced, a bit like the one on here.
After entering the car's details it showed all the geometry on the large screen and by how much it was out, inc. camber, castor and toe in/out. By making the relevant adjustments until the pointer was in the channel on the screen then the whole car could be set up. This was the Hunter 4 wheel alignment tool.

[TimJM]

N7GTX said:

While having the tracking checked after the reconditioned rack was fitted, I took mine to Kwik Fit and their latest alignment gadget is very advanced, a bit like the one on here.
After entering the car's details it showed all the geometry on the large screen and by how much it was out, inc. camber, castor and toe in/out. By making the relevant adjustments until the pointer was in the channel on the screen then the whole car could be set up. This was the Hunter 4 wheel alignment tool.

I didn't know Kwik Fit had shaker rigs to make sure the suspension is healthy and matched across the axles and did corner weighting as well as the four wheel alignment. My local quick fit doesn't have a clue what they are doing and just want to sell you batteries and exhausts regardless of the condition of yours. Plus I would never leave a car with them let alone a TVR - I saw them once wheel spin a customer car onto the ramps dicking about when I went late one night as they were closing up to ask about the price for new tyres on my daily.

I will post an update later tonight on how we have progressed over a long day 1 (8:30am till now) and what work will be tackled tomorrow on day 2.

[TimJM]

geeeman said:

what was the total car weight with fuel?

I think it was pretty much 1300kg dead. I do have extra weight though in the car over a standard one (NOS bottle, AMP, big sub, extra speakers etc. Additional oil cooler and other additional bits and that was with a full tank (a weight was added to the boot as the fuel was just under full). I would think a standard 4.5 would be around 1230kg ish.

[N7GTX]

This is taken from the Hunter website.
http://www.hunter.com/alignment/proalign_sys/index...

and to see how it works on a car on the ramps:
http://www.hunter.com/videos/index.cfm?cat=2

and choose the video 'Wheel Off Adjustments'. This gives a good idea of what is involved.

It may be that your local Kwik Fit does not have this system but the larger ones do. Then all you need to find is someone who knows how to operate it. Looking on some other forums there have been positive comments after using this tool but they were done at independents.
I have posted for the benefit of those who cannot go to your repairer.

[TimJM]

I am looking forward to getting back to CG today to see how we get on with the rebuild on day two. Day one was mostly spent stripping, cutting, heating and pressing various seized nuts/bolts from various suspension points and today we are going to be putting it all back together with new parts.

This was how I left the car yesterday:


The front was a little easier but moving that top front hub upright was a pain - it turned out the new wishbone slot wasn't quite machined right and pinched the bolt so out come the file:


The other side was a little easier but as one of the ball joints has some play two new front upper hub ball joints have been added ot the every growing parts list.


The rear nearside wishbone was also a PITA and after some very careful cutting it was finally removed ready for some vice based persuasion for the new toe adjusters and threads/bolts.



One good thing about this work is that over winter I have a few little jobs to do, new diff bushes and a new handbrake cable. At least with this work all those seized bolts that would of cost me endless days of frustration have been dealt with by a garage with the right tools and attitude. A good example was the lower shock mount bolt. It was seized in the shock and had to be cut out. The seized part of the bolt was then pressed out the shock by using with a ball joint separator and an old bolt. Little tricks like that can really save you days of headache and the potential of breaking things with the cure all drift/mallet approach.

So once all the new bolts, nuts, thrust washers, ball joints, steering UJs (both of them), toe adjusters, threads and whatever else I need are back on we should be able to achieve the correct geo settings. The good news here was that the Ohlins freed up nicely. We may relocate the remote reservoirs on the front but other than that they look good.

[TimJM]

Well it turns out the new toe adjusters are not the right thread and the UJs haven't been playing ball either so today will now be tomorrow possibly but if not early next week. I was looking forward to getting the car back but the effort that CG are putting in is 1st class and I can't get too upset at not getting the car back due to a supplier error. It will all be worth it - that's what I keep telling myself!

Edited by TimJM on Thursday 11th September 19:21

[Byker28i]

TimJM said:

I think it was pretty much 1300kg dead. I do have extra weight though in the car over a standard one (NOS bottle, AMP, big sub, extra speakers etc. Additional oil cooler and other additional bits and that was with a full tank (a weight was added to the boot as the fuel was just under full). I would think a standard 4.5 would be around 1230kg ish.

Interesting, mine was quite a few kilos lighter when 4 corner weighted albeit done in the paddock at Rockingham. 1/2 tank of fuel and it was 52 front - 48 rear on the balance.

As well as the extras, do you have a large exhaust (original size huge silencer type)?

[Milky400]

Fuel can ad a huge amount of weight at 1kilo a litre.

Had my tuscan aligned and corner weighted by Mat Smith and although it didn't need much adjustment it certainly changed the handling. In a positive way.

[purpleliability]

Mine was 1217 with half a tank and the original back box. I would thing it's a bit lighter now with the full ACT system. Also SP12's instead of Spiders...