andyelcomb

When were those pics taken? We've just put down some new tarmac in front of the last terrace before North Tower in preparation for our sprint there at the end of May. All public welcome! Crystal Palace sprint 30-31may10

That's me, that is!

A subtle comment on the previous post... Oh, and whoever is next don't use the easy-peasy Route 66, please!

ahem... copy and paste yourselves (very rude). Have this instead..

Dear Tony, My current horseless carriage appears to have a problem with the front suspension, don't you know. I have attached a photo rather than try to explain what happens on speed bumps - maybe you can advise. Thanks awfully, old chap! Reginald Horsewallop III (ret'd)

If you have a good time at North Weald on Sunday, why not come back for more at our sprint there on 4th April? 7Oaks sprint 4th April regs 7Oaks sprint 4th April 10 entry form I've entered my Eunos, but might use the Legacy if the snow comes back like it did in 2008...

For something like that cornerweighting is well worth doing. Assuming all else is equal (no sticking brake calipers), then if the weighting shows up that the left side is light - in particular the front left - then it certainly will be more prone to locking that side. Lots of people will at least measure the weights, but it can be quite time consuming (=costly) to have it set up correctly. However that, and then a full geometry set up, should work wonders.

I would advise some caution re jacking the front of any car with power steering and turning the wheels vigorously from lock to lock by pushing/pulling the road wheels rather than with the steering wheel. Its possible to damage some of the rack seals by doing it that way - should be ok if you do it slowly though. Certainly agree with Tony - disconnect the track rod ends and that will show where the stiffness is. Years ago had a neighbour come to me complaining that the steering wouldn't centre on his Marina so i took it for a drive round the block and found it a complete nightmare. How they hadn't had a crash I'll never know. Went through the same rigmarole and eventually disconnected the offside trackrod and found the kingpin totally seized and it was impossible to turn the road wheel by hand.

Really as per the link. 7Oaks motor club ran a sprint for a few years there ten years ago and we've been able to resurrect it - subject to putting in a lot of demountable armco and resurfacing some of the track in front of the terraces. Intend to run the Sunday as a clubby sprint and the Monday for more historic cars. Won't be in any championships, but open to the public and we expect a good crowd both days as we were just building a very good reputation for the event when we had to stop because they decided to "Victorianise" the park which meant a new silly white resin surface... If you are interested in entering then please register interest with Karen Webber at competitors@motorsportatthepalace.co.uk but spaces will be very sought after! Does that help?

Yes and the holes in the strut are bigger than the bolts and the hub upright so there is a fair bit of adjustment available, but there's no way of fine adjusting it like on an MX5 as there is no cam or offset bolt. Once you have slackened then off it just flaps about... Would much prefer to have a proper offset bolt like on many other cars. I could open up the holes a bit more to allow the upright to come out further from the strut which would correct the camber, but don't know if it will affect anything else significantly.

Thanks for that Tony, sounds good so I'll pull it all apart soon and have a good look. Initially I thought the strut might have been bent as there is a kink on the wheel side about level with the rim, but had a look the other side and it was the same - must be some sort of clearance modification built in, so was a red herring. Of course I could just open up the strut / hub bolt holes some more to give me some more adjustment and get the camber more reasonable - do you think its worth doing that or is it likely to throw the castor etc even further out? In the meantime I've reduced the camber as much as I can which has left it with 1/2 deg toe out both sides so have just tweaked the track rods 1/2 turn each which has brought toe to zero. Should at least reduce the wear on the inside of the tyre while the camber is still applied. Probably ideal setup for the track though - should turn right nicely with that amount of camber! Cheers, Andy

Here you go: n/s castor +2deg, SAI +12.25deg o/s castor +3deg, SAI +11.75deg measured with Wheelforce 1900, on turntables on flat (as near as dammit) garage floor, brand new tyres. camber: n/s -2.0deg, o/s -0.75deg. To me, I wouldn't have thought those differences would indicate anything massively out of kilter or not enough to give excessive camber but as I don't know much about this I'd love to hear your thoughts please Tony.

Not yet - got to go to Crystal Palace this morning for a meeting about setting up our sprint there in 30-31st May Unashamed plug - click Hope to measure this afternoon.

No, the -0.75deg is offside and -2.0deg is nearside. So offside at -45' is fine, as expected.

I've been trying to find the stock suspension settings for our 2003 SEAT Arosa 1.4 TDiS but can't find anything in the handbook or poking about online. Any chance WIM can let me know what they should be? My specific problem is that following another pothole bashing, the front nearside tyre wore out the inside edge and my good old fashioned alignment kit shows 0.75deg neg camber offside but even after loosening the lower strut bolts and pulling outwards I'm still left with nearly 2 deg neg nearside with toe about zero. Can't see any bend in the strut or wishbone (although if the latter was bent I would imagine that would create positive camber) or any other damage anywhere. Any thoughts on the problem and can you advise what camber and toe I should be aiming at?

Who says U turns are illegal? Had a poke about on Google and found this: Illegal U-Turns A U-turn is considered to be illegal if one of the following happens: You cross a kerb You cross double white lines in the centre of the road (unless there is a gap between them) Road markings or signs indicate 'No U-turns' You are on a one-way street If you are unable to make a U-turn, a turn in the road is the better option.

Was beautiful out this morning..

Certainly strong - hope you don't mind the amount of noise that's going to make!

No I wasn't, but it did work now Still that didn't answer the question unfortunately, just brought up the insignia Don't think Sigma exists - maybe it was cross between a Signum, Sintra and Insignia? If it was, then no wonder its falling to pieces!

Of course snapped springs on MX5s / Eunos are common - found I had one myself. But have just bought a '98 Legacy and that has both front springs snapped at the bottom coil too. Could it just be the potholes and bumps / ramps or do cars with open wound springs suffer this more? Presume a spring that only has 4 or 5 coils will actually be working harder than a closer wound one and maybe that leads to earlier fatigue? Or is it just poorer quality steel?