Bibbs

Yesterday I took a half days holiday and shot up to Chris's workshop.

I thought I may have a few locked bushes, so thought i'd better go up there rather than the Monday in North London.

I drove the 110 miles up there and really thoguht about what the car was doing.

The rear end was very loose, under power it'd squirm, and under braking it would get very light and loose. Through country roads it was quick, but I would not be at 100% as I wasn't confident with what was going on.

I got there at 3pm, and we first stripped the car down to fit the Megan rear arms. After a bit of swearing all the bolts came loose. We then put the rack spacers (which Chris managed to supply) in the front. The two big castor bushes were solid, but they freed off a bit to be able to change a bit of the adjustment.

We then put the wheels back on, and attached all the laser gadgets.

Chris then laughed at my almost 4 deg camber on the rear wheels.

We then spent the next few hours, tweaking and Chris was great at explaining what we were doing and how it would relate to driving it on the road.

We finished about 11:30 and I took it for a drive. The car is just so much more planted. Round country lanes it stable, the tyres talk to you and let you know what happening, and then on the M'way on the way home the car was much easier to drive.

On the way up I ended up with sore wrists after having to make lots of tiny corrections, on the way home I could have almost done it with no hand on the wheel.

Was an awesome day, I'm not mechanic, but I love getting my hands dirty, and Chris was great at explaining what was going on and how changes would effect the car's dynamics.

Only one downside, after 200 miles I had to hunt Oxford for a 24 hour garage as I was out of petrol.

Few crappy phone pics ..

Car stripped for work prep.


Megan arms on.



Bent Whiteline brace.


3x 3mm spacers.


Doing up the steering rack.


Right, half done.


Let the alignment commence.

eSeM

Still a couple of places available on the North London Alignment meet with Chris on Monday.

GrittyShaker

I'm not heading down to London 'til next weekend. Can you reschedule it?

j8mie

Glad to hear all went well Bibbs, and your happy with how the car now handles. Chris works his magic once again

Bibbs

I was never a real believer in this "fine tuning" of things.

I always had the impression that if all four wheels pointed foward, and if the engine fueling was changed to meet airflow it'd perform.

The change between my SC untuned and tuned, is the same transformation now in the chassis.

I believe this "tuning" is probably the best money I've spent on the car.

Now I need to tune the driver.

rambo1

How much did u spend? Sooner or later i will pay him a visit as soon as i hav the nitrons on .

Bibbs

TBH, it was a lot less than I thought it would be.

But I'll not mention numbers.

And for what he's done, it's value for money.

I drove home last night and couldn't stop grinning.

AquilaEagle

Bibbs - you might find that the feel of the MR2 can be fixed too, without the need for your Batmobile contraption - with some alignment magic

Bibbs

Suspension isn't adjustable enough. It's got fully adjustable coilovers. But nothing for camber/castor etc.

and the effect the wing has can only be replicated by adding weight to the front of the car. and adding weight isn't a good tuning solution.

Dembo

Good of you to take a picnic table for lunch too.

I really think the control arms have made by far the biggest difference to my car. Gratuatous picture...