Lowering The front - Again!

If Gary was refering to cutting, and re welding coil springs, I would definately agree with him. If I had a pound for every time I have removed springs from a Mk1 or Mk2 Escort that have been done like this! They normally go straight in the skip, along with the Ford VV carburettors!!!!! :laugh:
 
Surely if you weld a coil spring the joint wouldn't be strong enough and it would just snap ?

I agree with Al on the strut front, just look at the number of dedion elbow failures, and they're standard !
 
As an engineer (pause to adjust hanky on head) I must say I'm not too scared in principle by the suggestion of shortening the top ball joint to spring strut, whilst leaving the portion nearer the spring standard - and hence having a standard length spring. As always the devil is in the detail! The actual cut and shut isnt too much of a problem - you'd need to brace the joint with a welded over sleeve or similar but not too difficult. The real issue comes with the suspension geometry. With a simple unidirectional strut eg escort or Cortina front mcpherson, theres no problem. With the P6 this strut is pivoted off the front bulkhead so you are almost certain to effectively incline the hub back slightly - ie shorten the wheelbase. Not impossible to resolve but you'd probaly finish up making a new strut to a completely different geometry. If someone has time to kill then set a front suspension up minus spring and plot the movement of the hub with suspension rise and fall and then do the same with a shortened strut. Richard can probably set that up on a PC graphics package!!!!

Regards

Chris
 
To be a kill-joy but I think that cutting the manufacturer's components & then re-welding them together is potentially very dangerous and is probably a MoT fail point.
i think this referes to major suspension components,ie drag links,drop arms,wishbones,trailing arms,etc the bottom link on the p6 is forged/cast as one,any cut"n"shut would invite MOT failure,....i toyed with this idea before,got as far as grinding the weld out of the bottom swivel pillar,cutting 25mm off the bottom,reweld the hub carrier back on,bottom link strut had the ball joint cut off,it was machined,threaded,fitted with a track rod end from a p4 rover(or was it a land rover,can,t remember which),the lower link was a problem i never managed to solve without major expense to me and the small workshop i was running at the time....
 
Its GULLY in Sydney again.

I am delighted to advise that I have now successfully lowered my 1976 P6 THANKS to information received via this forum.

The rear is now 1" closer to the ground via lowered springs and the front is 2" lower via trimming the rod between the upper control arm and the spring.

The rear springs needs to be stiffened as the car is bottoming out under load.

I have also added Bilstein shocks to the car and the front factory sway bar has been slightly enlarged which has significantly improved the handling of the car.

I am very pleased with the tougher appearance of the car now that it has been lowered.

The car is in the car audio shop this week for installation of 6 AVI speakers and Alphine CD/Radio player with IPOD. After that it is having a metal sunroof installed then off to the motor trimmer for a complete leather interior (including sound deadening throughout the entire car).

My car has been repainted in a light lime green colour (it is a BMW motorcycle colour) and receives lots of nice comments from a broad cross section of people as I drive it around..........'tis a combination of the colour and the fact that there is not many Rover 3500's driving around Sydney.

It is just great to be able to drive something which is old, unusual and fantastic NOT plastic !!!!!!!!
 
Just had a quick look at some pictures, and from memory, the rod from the arm to the spring seat basically bolts into the arm.

So I'm thinking that with the right mods and a fine pitch threaded rod and lock-nut arrangement, you could have adjustable ride height.

Ultimately you could replace that section with a hydraulic ram and be able to adjust the height on the move !

Anybody any thoughts ?
 
Hi. I noticed you Bilstein shocks to your car together with the front factory sway bar. May I know some feedback? Has it improved the handling of the car? My current options are Koni and Bilstein, by the way.
 
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