My sapphire

[capri v8 driver]

so say you lower the car by 30mm you pack the lower ball joint by 30mm therefore bringing tca back to its original position and the camber will also remain the same.

Thats not true. The TCA will get lower, but the arm will not get longer, so the strut goes inward and the camber changes.

The BMW article already mentions to raise the mounting points of the arm, this can be done, but to combat bump steer, you also need to raise the steering housing by the same amount.

3dr Cosworth some special front hubs for this matter

The best solution is the cosworth hubs.

[Marc]

I know that roll centre adjusters exist, but as far as I know they are not available for Sierras. If you do fit something like that to the tca ball joints you will also need to fit them to the steering ball joints, otherwise you will also get a lot of bumpsteer. Making a roll centre adjustment kit shouldn't be too difficult, you only need tcas and steering rods with extended ball joints. A shame there are no companies making them.

[whiteestate]

so say you lower the car by 30mm you pack the lower ball joint by 30mm therefore bringing tca back to its original position and the camber will also remain the same.

Thats not true. The TCA will get lower, but the arm will not get longer, so the strut goes inward and the camber changes.

The BMW article already mentions to raise the mounting points of the arm, this can be done, but to combat bump steer, you also need to raise the steering housing by the same amount.

3dr Cosworth some special front hubs for this matter

The best solution is the cosworth hubs.

No if you lower the car you increase the camber ! as the tca moves up it will bring the hub further out to a point
So you fit the spacer to the ball joint to hub (same distance as you lower the car) it will bring the tca to the original position thus maintaining the original camber position and roll centre.
I think you've misunderstood what I'm saying.

Ideally you should space both lower tca's and the track rod ends too as you've already increased the track rod angle by lowering the car anyway !

[Marc]

A couple of weeks ago I heard a strange noise and felt a knock through the car when braking. So the day after I checked what was wrong. It turned out a brake pad had come loose from the metal back plate. Luckily it was stuck between the brake caliper and caliper carrier. The pads were still quite new, so a bit of a waste.    So I send a mail to EBC to see what they had to say about it.



Since I had just found a set of 3dr Cosworth hubs and matching Koni shocks I started fitting those.





These hubs have different mounting lugs for the calipers so I also got the Cosworth 2wd 4 pot calipers. Unfortunately all pistons were seized, so I had them blasted and refurbished by a friend of a friend. How I got them back.





Before putting them on I put some paint on it. 









With the 3dr hubs the tcas are back to a more normal position.





The car now feels quite a lot better. Turn in is more direct, it rolls less and the feedback from the steering also seems better.

The day after I sent the mail to EBC about the brake pad breaking up I already got a reply. If I gave them the part number of the pads they would send me a new set of pads. But with the new calipers those pads were no longer of use to me, so I asked if I could also get pads for these calipers. That was also OK, but they don't do the Greenstuff for the 2wd Cosworth, instead I could choose from either Yellowstuff or Redstuff. The guy from EBC advised the Yellowstuff pads, but also advised to fit Yellowstuff pads to the rear to maintain the correct brake balance and ABS functionality. And he offered the rear pads with 50% discount, so in the end I got a full set of Yellowstuff pads for the costs of only 50% of the rear pads. I have to say I find it great service from EBC. :)

[Marc]

A while ago I picked up a rear beam from a 2wd sapph cossie.



And had it blasted.

[Marc]

The reason it didn't get a colour yet is because something else needed to be done first.

Here some halfway pictures.

[whiteestate]

Lovely did you do the work yourself ? are you going to rose joint the outer wishbone ?

[Marc]

Unfortunately I can't say I did the work myself.    I did the design myself though.    The outer mounting point will get a standard cossie rose joint.

[capri v8 driver]

I hope for you it looks like a stock beam.

According to Dutch law (RDW) you are not allowed to weld on suspension parts.

[cossiemk2]

That's not true Paul.
You can't repair rust on suspension parts.
There is no mention of modifying or strenghtening parts.
Both the RST and the Mk2 have reworked suspension and I never had a problem with the MOT.

[Marc]

You are indeed not allowed to repair rust on suspension parts, but it doesn't say you are not allowed to weld on suspension arms. I specially checked that before having this made. 

[capri v8 driver]

6 years ago i posted a link to a article about of someone I know that had a accident with his hot rod. He drove away and the throttle jammed, the car got out of control and hit a big speed bump and crashed and completely burned.  

This 600 hp hot rod had a modified suspension to handle the power. The owner is still fighting with the insurance about it, the reason, according the RDW law, you are not allowed to change the suspension.

For my capri, I had to make a list of all mod's for the insurance company, I had to let the RDW approve the car with all the modifications (that took 5 years) and needed a tax rapport, before they even would consider to insure it.

[cossiemk2]

I listed all my mods on the car valuer and that rapport went to the insurarance company and they accepted it without any hassle.
But I'm using mostly original parts with a fewctweaks here and there.

[Marc]

Since the metal above the rose joints was a bit too high and would probably hit the floor of the car that has been lowered a bit. A sort of triangle is also welded to the inner joints to make it a bit more stiff. On the bottom of the beam small cut outs have been made to make sure the arms can't hit it when the arms are in their most upper position. On most locations the new metal is 4 mm thick, which is thicker than the standard beam.







And some original welded parts have welded a bit better to make it stronger.



The modified arms.

[capri v8 driver]

I listed all my mods on the car valuer and that rapport went to the insurarance company and they accepted it without any hassle.
But I'm using mostly original parts with a fewctweaks here and there.

The Insurance companies will insure it, no problem. The problems start when you have a accident and they have to pay. Normal cars it isn't a big problem but with custom cars, where the value of the cars or repairs is higher. Insurance companies don't like to pay so they do everything to avoid that.

If the mods are not registered and approved by the RDW, the insurance companies now have a reason not to pay.

The problem is that the RDW rules clearly says, that if you modify the car you need to approve the modifications or the car papers are invalid. This rule is what insurance companies use for not paying, because the car papers are invalid after the mods.

You can download the rules from here:

http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0025798/Hoofdstuk6/i2/geldigheidsdatum_14-06-2013

[Marc]

I have just checked it, but under chapter 6 (changes in construction) it says nothing about changes to the suspension. It only says things about changes in wheel base, track width.

Interestingly, it does say that the engine code must match the papers and that the engine power must be within 20% of the number written on the papers. I don't think that many people have this done after changing/tuning an engine.

[fordrwd4ever]

Mmm, that would make my car almost illegal then.
(since after chipping it has 20 hp more from the stock 100..)

But as long as it looks stock, no one is going to check the actual power of a car.

And if it`s old enough, the hp is not listed on the papers anyhow

Just as long as it`s build properly,even the RDW approves it.

[capri v8 driver]

Eisen wijziging in de constructie

Artikel 6.3, lid 5: Een personenauto, bedrijfsauto of bus moet bij wijziging in de constructie tevens voldoen aan de in bijlage IX, hoofdstuk 3, artikel 3, onderdeel b, opgenomen eisen ten aanzien van het weggedrag, voor zover dit naar het oordeel van de Dienst Wegverkeer noodzakelijk is met het oog op het veilig gebruik van het voertuig.

A car, business car or bus has to, when modifications are done to the construction, also comp lay to the insert IX, chapter 3, article 3, Sub B additional demands for road holding.

There you have it, suspension is also a construction (or part of a construction). The RDW could, and I say, could, demand that your modified car needs to do a handling test in Lelystad, witch is € 275.-.

As for the HP rating, don't wurry about chip tuning. No mot or police station has a rolling road to test it.

As for the HP not being listed, that's not needed anymore.

[Marc]

The beam freshly powdercoated.

[Marc]

Ordered new outer bearings for the trailing arms from Graham Goode.



And put the beam together.

[Lemon-Ade]

Very nice Marc looks really smart  its a good job you lowered the front pick up box section as mine is very close in that area, its fine with poly beam mounts but the alloy ones are much thinner and it touched the floor.

[Marc]

Bought a set of Powerflex bushes.



And fitted the bushes.

[robrs2]

Some man size inner joints there 

Just some information for you. All the beams that have been done like yours had had a few funny handling problems. It may have been down to trying to lower the suspension too far and the outer bearing starting to foul/jam up.

Need to get my done now

[Marc]

What do you mean with beams that have been done like mine? I have never read anything about beams having funny handling.

I checked the arm through its full travel (fully down upto the bump stops) and it moved freely, so no jamming on the outer bearings.

[Marc]

Maybe the funny handling you mentioned was because the modified arms can foul the subframe if the springs compress very far. My subframe has been modified slightly to make sure that doesn't happen.

[Marc]

Removed the old rear beam to make place for the new one.



With a lot of fiddling I managed to fit the subframe and diff underneath.









And fitted the rear arms. The springs were not fitted yet so I could check if the arms would not touch the subframe when they are against the bump stops. Small cut-outs have been made on the subframe to make sure this wouldn't happen and luckily this was the case. :)

[Marc]

Put the springs back and replaced the rear Koni dampers with Bilsteins.





Drive shafts put back.



And the bearing carriers with hubs.





Put the brakes back on and painted the calipers red.





And the wheels on. On the pictures it's quite clear to see the wheels stay much more vertical than normal.

[Lemon-Ade]

Looking good, I bet you can't wait to feel the difference?

[Marc]

I am indeed very curious to see how it will drive! 

[Dave]

Looks a good job you done there