Triumph Sports Cars

I thought I had this right, but now I'm not sure. When I did up the rolling chassis for my project I knew I wanted stiffer springs all the way around, especially in the rear. I bought the Roadster Factory's competition springs. Now that I have the car on it's wheels, it looks like the ride height iat least 1" or so too high. I think I heard someone say something about this fact when using the Roadster Factory's springs. If anything I'd like to be down an inch or more from where I am now. Does anyone have experience with Richard Goodpart's competition springs? What about Moss's units? All I know is I'm up to high and I want to go down! I'd appreciate anyone's experience here before I invest in another mistake. I also am using the Goodpart's rear camber adjustment system, if it makes any difference. As the car sits now I'm cambered out at the top- the opposite to what I want. I have not adjusted the system from the 'as they came' settings yet.

Thanks

Randall,

"Yes" I did the same thing as you with the RF HD springs. I saw the 1" over stock ride height with the full set ( The 4 wheeling setup).

I went and bought Richard Goods HD lowering springs all the way around....it will lower it about an 1" from stock ride height. I'm pleased with Goods springs.

[forum.britishv8.org] This is page 2 of my build and I talked alot about this (springs).

Calvin

Hey Calvin


Thanks- I was afraid of this. Why did I do that?? There's something depressing about re-doing stuff even before you actually drive the project it's first mile!

So where do you think your ride height is relative to a stock TR6 using the RG springs?

Thanks again for getting back to me. This why this site is so cool!

Randall

Randall,

Your welcome anytime!

With all the weight back on the car I probably will be about 1" to 1 3/4" lower than stock ride height or maybe more. Richard Goods has the aluminum spacers at different sizes so that the ride height you want can be achieved. I didn't install any spacers in my TR6, just the HD lowering springs and bushings.

For a measurment for you, the front lower suspension plate is almost sitting flat equal to the ground, frame is about 4" off the ground. I don't have any fenders on the car yet and one door is off, only body tub is on. With this Ls1 I'm using, the engine seems to be pretty light.

The back swing arm is sitting flush with the frame right now.

With the RF hd springs my frame was about 6 to 6 1/2" off the ground. Didn't like the looks at all.

Hehe I can relate to feeling depressed about re-doing stuff. I have done this several times so don't feel bad, you will kind of feel better when you stand back and say "Thats more like it". Take the time and get the results you want, you won't regret it.

Your car is a work of art, you wouldn't want to make it look like a 4x4 mud bogger being way to high off the ground after all the work you have done so far.

As for RG's trailing arm adjustable brackets, I have them all the way adjusted for some negative camber, but at this point there is zero camber from what the tires look like from behind the car. The car will need to settle some and with all the weight back on. I hope to see some negative camber.

Calvin

Hey Calvin

I ordered the RG springs today- may as well get it over with! I'll let you know how it all works out. I confirmed your frame from ground measurements on my car, so it should work out about the same as your prediction for my car. I don't know about your set-up for wheels and tires, but I'm running 155 R15's. This will, of course play into those measurements.

Thanks again.

Randall

Randall,

I'm running at the present time just to get on the road tires. The tires that I have were made in 1985 and still hold air. I'm sure they will be replaced soon after my build is completed.

They are P245/60R15's a fairly wide tire.

I'm sure you will see a huge difference in RG springs compared to the RF springs. I couldn't compress down the RF springs at all as I could with RG. RF is way to stiff for a nice ride and to high.

The outer adjustable trailing arm brackets from RG, I have all the way up in the slot. The inner brackets are all the down in the slot. This will make the back wheels look better until final adjustment. I think some of the reason your wheels are out at the top are from the trailing arm being so exstended down from the RF springs as well. My TR6 did the same with RF springs.

Glad to have helped,

Calvin

Hey Calvin

Thanks again for the info. The 'domino effect' begins... I did a 'Neil Revington' rear suspension mod set-up- that is using the old original shock mount points on the trailing arms as a pick-up point for outer ends of the rear sway bar link. The bar itself mounts on the frame spring pan section. This is cool because it moves the whole thing up and out of the way. The shocks go through the springs and I had a hard time finding a shock short enough to work. I did find one that worked- but JUST. With the RG springs I likely will have an interference issue. AVO makes the right shock for real big bucks- I mean $338 EACH from Australia- not an option for this kid! I found that GAZ also makes a copy of the AVO at $120 each... I think I can live with this if my wife doesn't read this... Any info on this shock set-up? The AVO and GAZ are 9" extended length and 7" compressed. Anyone know of a good old garden variety shock that is real short like that??

Randall

Randall,

Thanks for the info on the GAZ shock "less cost for sure" when replacing AVO's. I have the Neil Revinton's AVO coil over kit on my TR6. The cost was about 600 something with the AVO shocks(purchased from RF). I'm using RG's lowering springs with it.

I wish there was a lower cost shock, havn't found one yet.

I did look at the sway bar setup (Neil R) , but have the diskbrake setup in the rear and wanted a parking brake.


If you can weld you could probably duplicate this kit and get the GAZ shock instead of AVO's

Here is the kit below.

Do you have a website address of the GAZ shock?

Look at my post, this is in there on how I installed this kit. [forum.britishv8.org]

The round circles go into the top spring hole (from the top), the triangles get weled in for support( back side get the large ones, small on the front side), and last the brackets for the trailing arm to hold bottom of shock (bottom spring hole).


"Sticker shock I know"

Calvin

Randall,

Did you say you already did the Revington kit? We did a mod on my TR4A. You can see pictures in this thread: [forum.britishv8.org]

Hi Dan

I'm doing my version of the Revington set-up. I'm using the R200 Nissan diff, mounted on my own designed and built system. I made my own hubs to accept Corvair spindles and bearing, as well as the Nissan 240SX rear disc calipers. My half-shaft U-joint is Corvair on one yoke and TR6 on the other yoke with a common spider linking them. I have the sway bar in the same location as Revington, but I built the bar and adjustable links myself. I used the original lever shock mount points on the trailing arms, like the Revingtom set-up, but cast inserts to fill the cavity in the castings to increase the strength. I'm using a shock inside the spring, like the Revington set-up, with Richard Good springs and adjustable camber brackets. I just refuse to pay the price for AVO shocks. I've spent some time with shock cross-over info. and my latest find is so simple, I can't believe I didn't think about it before. The AVO shocks are really short, with a compressed length of 7 inches. The shock needs an eye at the bottom and a stem at the top. A TR3 front shock fits the bill with a compressed length of 7-3/8". Suddenly there are all kinds of options- SPAX, GAZ, KONI, etc, all for less than the AVO. Comparing photos that Calvin posted (thanks Calvin- I hope you're reading this) and pictures of a pair of GAZ TR3 fronts, they look VERY much the same. I was concerned about the base diameter of the shock, as it needs to clear the through-hole in the trailing arm casting, but it looks good at this point. Is this new info, or has this been done before?

Randall

TR3 shocks. Nice find! I could use the T-bar mounts out of the Gabes I am using....