Crap handling

[NoHachi]

How are you determining your settings? All these issues are usually dealt with during an alignment session. Just guessing and rough measurement is not enough. You know now how much of a difference the settings can make.

[jondee86]

Are both tie rod ends the same length ? Measure from the outside
edge of the ball joint to the start of the thread (or some other reference
point on the rack ends). They should both be the same.

Cheers... jondee86

[totta Crolla]

jondee86 Wrote:Are both tie rod ends the same length ? Measure from the outside
edge of the ball joint to the start of the thread (or some other reference
point on the rack ends). They should both be the same.

Cheers... jondee86

Plenty to be going on with over the weekend then

[ae86ca18det]

Just in my experiance, in my old hachi ( one i sold to IVAN and DAMIR) when i had my toe correctly set it handled just like your saying, i have 195 40 14. and when the toe was in spec it was all over the road, so i adjusted my toe out, it looked odd but handled INCREDIBLE after that, i mean like on rails compared to like driving like a boat. so give the toe out a try, not much but just enough, well best of luck

[totta Crolla]

ae86ca18det Wrote:Just in my experiance, in my old hachi ( one i sold to IVAN and DAMIR) when i had my toe correctly set it handled just like your saying, i have 195 40 14. and when the toe was in spec it was all over the road, so i adjusted my toe out, it looked odd but handled INCREDIBLE after that, i mean like on rails compared to like driving like a boat. so give the toe out a try, not much but just enough, well best of luck

Been out all morning in the freezin' cold, track rod ends were 16mm out, got that sorted and the car goes straight now When you say adjusted toe out, do you mean that literally, toe out rather than toe in ?
Cheers

[matt mead]

i like to run alittle toe out when i do hillclimb as it gives it abit of extra grip on initial turn in... however i run zero toe when on the track as its alot smoother and i never have issues with turn in...

but as i take it is ur first rally i would just set it up at zero toe and see how it goes... then maybe dial in a little toe out for ur next event and gather your own opinion on which is better for you as a driver!!

[totta Crolla]

Update on this, I'm happy to say the old Corolla is, at last, handling quite nicely
Combining lots of useful info on here with working out that the front dampers were on their internal bumpstops did it.
It's now riding about 1" off the bumpstop but seems too high, how far off the bumpstop should it be set ?
thanks

[jondee86]

If you are only down 1 inch from stock with 300 lb springs and standard
length shocks and struts, you should not have a problem with hitting the
bump stops. That is, unless you are getting the car two feet off the ground
over jumps

If you are 2 inches down from stock, then it could happen. If you are
three inches down from stock, you will be pretty much sitting on the OEM
bump stops full time. Do you still have the OEM external bump stops
installed ??

What is your "eyebrow" height, measured from the centre of the front
hub to the lip of the fender directly above ??

If you are driving on anything other than perfectly smooth surfaces, you
should aim for at least 50 mm of compression travel before you hit the
bump stops. Preferably, you should not hit them at all during racing.

Cheers... jondee86

[totta Crolla]

The front 'eyebrow' height is 355mm front centre of hub. I'm not aware of external bumpstops on the front.
I discovered the problem by trying to level the car side to side and it did'nt matter how low I adjusted the platform the car would go no lower. I would estimate the'eyebrow' height to have been around 330mm at this point.
Is there anything else that could restrict me lowering the car ?
Many thanks.
P.s just had athought, classic error I know.... is the inner TCA bush capable of holding the weight of the car ? I forgot to undo them before lowering
Just found your previous post Jondee and it seems 300mm height is o.k on your car, is this with standard length struts ?

[jondee86]

OK. I am presntly at 315 eyebrow with Espelir springs that claim to be 40
down from stock height. And previously I was lower. At 300 with standard
length struts and inserts, I was close to the OEM bump stops, and the
handling was crap

To get some more bump travel I cut 40 out of the struts above the spring
perch, fitted AGX short strokes, and cut one "knob" off the OEM bump
stops. The OEM bump stops fit on the exposed shaft of the insert, but since
the Bilsteins have a larger diameter spear, they were probably discarded.
I don't know about internal bump stops, but maybe someone who knows
Bilsteins will be able to tell you. Short stroke shocks spaced up inside
the strut could bottom out early.

I would be surprised if lubricated poly bushes were that resistant to
movement !!!!! Check your springs are not binding or catching anywhere.

Cheers... jondee86