I knew i could get the tuscan to handle.......

[m3jappa]

I have actually had my tuscan since about 2011 and have always been disappointed with the handling, despite various attempts to fix it.

Finally now i have this recipe which i am so pleased with, it now handles more like a modern car- i.e i can brake into or mid corner, make throttle adjustments mid corner, not be dragged all over the road, and generally feel a lot more confident in whats going to happen.
previously i had to keep throttle input steady through any corner, along with steering input as otherwise i could be met with a dose of oversteer or at least it felt that way.

Dont be mistaken, i still for several years had it in a way which was significantly better than standard, several tvr specialists drove it and said it drove fine/well. But i knew it could be better.

Heres what i have done and the reason i have put it in here is because i am sure it will apply to other tvrs as well.

Full poly bush kit from tvr parts.
gaz mono shocks 450 fr and 400 r
rota torque wheels with better offsets and lighter than the spiders
race tech drop links
new (standard) ball joints, track rods and ends.
pilot super sports 22 and 24 psi fr/rear which are better imo than the ad08 and federal 595rs i had before by some margin.

and the biggest ones:
sagaris steering arms - wishbones now sit level with track rods

and

taken the car to centre gravity. They actually raised the suspension from where it was, set castor to max, camber of approx 1.25 all round.
they set the geometry up literally perfectly, all set ups i have had in the past the cambers are always slightly different, this is bang on. You really do get what you pay for, they spent around 5 hours setting it up.


So i hope that helps some of you, the car is now way better than me instead of the other way round.

If and when i sell the car whoever gets it is going to get one hell of a sorted tuscan.

[m3jappa]

philburch said:

Hi, you mention better wheel off sets,what have changed to.

its been a long time since i got them but iirc its et30 rear and i still use a 3mm spacer and et 35 front without the spacer.

[m3jappa]

TVRMs said:

By full castor, do you mean you’ve put both spacers one side of the top ball joint. I would suggest thats too much . Try 1.5 spacers one side, .5 the other.

You’ll struggle to improve beyond that.

It is both spacers one side. there was also an issue which myself and a couple of tvr specialists didn't spot in that where i had fitted the poly bushes on the drag link arms the fat side of the bush was the wrong way round so it only had 2degrees of castor. Now it has 4.5 degrees.

the way it drives now im inclined to never touch it again

[m3jappa]

Andy_mr2sc said:

That's great to have some positive feedback on the arms Jasper. A couple of specialists have praised them too

Not only are they really well made they also look good too!

Honestly i can not believe how good this car is now. It devours B roads with ease! There is still some bump steer but then my cayenne v8d has as well down the same roads at 'higher' speeds. It is minimal and does not throw you about at all.

[m3jappa]

dvs_dave said:

Nice work. What year is your car? The slightly later cars, (Tuscan S, or mid ‘01 on) had different uprights and the steering racks were also raised with spacers. This improved the front end geometry and consequent handling over the early cars which were a bit of a mess. Does your car have any of those parts fitted?

No, this is a 2001 car so has the earlier uprights and rack.

While doing the work i almost bought the later uprights and wishbones until i realised id need the later rack as well which would have cost much more to do. I did previously have 10mm of rack spacers fitted (which did help previously).

The rack spacers have now been removed and the wishbones sit perfectly with the new sag arms from andy.

I do find it odd why safaris style arms were never used, its a pretty basic idea. Just lower the track rods so they aren't at such an extreme angle. But then i suppose theres loads of odd things on a tvr

[m3jappa]

All valid points, i agree. And i also agree that i have done a load of other stuff.

The biggest improvement was the day at centre gravity, i think the combination of putting ride heights where they should be along with the cambers has made a big difference.

Anyway, very very pleased with it now, i have always hustled down b roads but now i can hustle faster

I have always wondered as well why there hasn't been a mod to change the suspension pick up points on all t cars to match the sag.

Surely the chassis is the same? it would be a case of removing and remounting where the suspension joins, then the different rack etc. you would only need 1 sag to measure off and away you go. Or am i over simplifying it? Sounds straightforward enough to me.

[m3jappa]

Whitey said:

So what is the suggestion to improve a June 2000 Tuscan? Are the Sagaris steering arms best suited to an early car combined with good shocks and a decent wheel alignment?

if you follow my route above i assure you will not be dissapointed. The car really does handle well now, not just one hand on the wheel stuff at 90 but it goes round corners and inspires confidence.

Of course these mods dont transform it into a 2020 gt3rs but i assure you its now a good car, i know at least one other owner who has done exactly the same, im not sure if he's on here but his mate has a sagaris and has driven the tuscan and he says its as good or better than the sag. i cant comment on that but i am happy.

With regard to the steering arms all i can say is now the wishbone sits parallel to the track rod, before even with rack spacers they were wildly out, whatever way you look at it theres a section of travel now which is vastly improved than before. Of course at some points of travel they wont be, but it is an improvement. i haven't got rack spacers now but the other guy i know does have, i think all these cars are slightly different.
for example when setting up you can see my car doesnt sit that low, but there was no more room for less front camber which is odd as this is much more camber than standard.

fyi i also have a cayenne v8d. Great car and drives like its a lot smaller, this is a modern car (compared with tvr) and even that still has some bump steer when pushing on down a b road.

Bump steer hasn't gone completely but now instead of chucking you about its now just small steering inputs.

im so impressed with it i wish i could leave it with a few people to drive and see what they think but thats easier said than done

[m3jappa]

Another thing which i think is good is that the car is very very compliant now. The ride height is quite high and set to the softer end of the scale. The poly bushes which aren't actually poly are nice and soft as well.

I took a scooby owning mate out the other day and he was amazed how it can drive over bumps in the road with no upset.

[m3jappa]

DuncanM said:

Your car looks incredible! If this came out today it would look bang up to date, especially in the colour and wheels you have, great taste

Do you mind advising on your damper settings front and rear?

Thanks duncan

I have them set fairly soft. iirc 5 clicks front 5 clicks rear towards the soft side.

Bare in mind these are the mono shocks so much much better (imo) than the normal golds. Very compliant ride.

[m3jappa]

It seems this is a very complicated subject, with some saying they are terrible and some saying not that bad. It is subjective and depends how you drive them, i really believe that.

When i got my car it was lethal, i will never forget flooring it, being dragged across the road (and the dash flying off)

I am very very fussy with handling and 'feel' .
i have previously had an evo 9 and a stripped out m3 with bilsteins which was set up by geoff steel racing (btc team). As you can imagine they both handled well!

I am mechanically very sympathetic, always warm up etc but i do use the car, i think many years ago i took a member from here out on track and he said he had never been in a tvr driven like it so i do use it!

I knew i could make the tuscan what i wanted, infact in my early days of ownership (read that as gaz mono, decent geo, lighter wheels) it was actually quite good. my issue wasn't so much bump steer it was the rear end, it felt detached and unpredictable. It would catch you out! the front was quite good tbh.

I have now put that down to tyres (i always used a track biased tyre) and possibly worn bushes at the rear.

Now i have done all this work i cant assure you enough just how well this car handles, id love someone else to drive it (properly) it is no longer an oversteer monster i am nervous about, it doesnt pull all over the road, its actually very stable, it does still have some bump steer but then i have never driven a car down a b road that doesnt have some. even the porsche cayenne i have has a bit!
i even let a scooby owning mate drive it as im that confident in it, i wouldn't have done that before. He loved it

i have heard later cars are just as bad, again subjective, if your doing 50 down a b road its totally different to 90...... (kph of course).

remember as well most people are raising their rack up, like i used to which was 10mm now those spacers have come out and my arms sit totally parallel. There is no noticeable issue at all. the only reason the rack is raised (from factory as well) is to try and level the arms up afaik.

Im just a normal bloke with no engineering experience but can drive a car. I think the whole package of whats been done is why its now good. And of course having it set up by centre gravity is as or more important. best geo i have ever had done on any car!

[m3jappa]

spitfire4v8 said:

What you want to avoid is this fail of a bumpsteer mod which was marketed some years ago ...

what was this mod? and also how have you loaded it up like that to take pics? i can try and do the same if possible to see what mine looks like.