scooter

I did several with different criteria before posting and didn't turn anything up, and just did a few more and still didn't find anything specific..... Do you know a link?

I am thinking about getting this kit (quoted 145 GBP). Has anyone got any experience with it, particularly with fitment to a car with aftermarket headers? Also, My car is not fitted with the Engine Stabilzer bar, and I have not seen one. I'm thinking about fabricating one myself. Any opinions on its usefulness, and can anyone post a picture (please!)? cheers

OK. I've had the lotus on hold for six week while I built up another project and now it's back on the hoist getting some attention. Front end is more or less solved but the rear is still throwing up challenges. I measured the the lower link length accurately at 385mm (and have another post up here on this). The lower crossmember appears to be standard. I feel certain that the lower link is about 10mm too long. I have spaced up the trailing arm mounts 9 and 12mm, and the drive shafts already have spacers in (S2 - driveshafts are the upper arm) and require more (up to a total of about 10mm) to straighten everything up. Unfortunately, with all the spacers in the trailing arm mounts, it has pushed the rear tyres back in the rear guards noticeably, to the point where one just touches the back of the guard sometimes. Does anyone make an adjustable lower link? cheers,

S3 is definitely different. S2 uses the driveshaft as the upper arm, so that would explain it. I didn't get a chance to measure things up last night to confirm my memory. Brisvegas is great - it probably the best time of the year at the moment - not quite as hot as summer, but still with longish days.

Alex, I'm down the road in Brisbane and I think we've spoken before - I think I saw your car getting complianced by Keith Fackrell.... have you been up the Palmwoods-Montville road yet? ;-) This summer I tried Water Wetter in my coolant and it definitely helped a lot in keeping things cooler than previously. I used the pink stuff. The only places you can get it is at Coventry Auto parts outlets. The other biggies don't stock it. cheers,

Hmmm. Thanks for the response, Tony. I don't have the car nearby to check at the moment, but your 475mm seems a lot different to my measurement of 390mm (if I am remembering it correctly). Could your measurement be the distance between the two inner lower link pins (bolts) on either end of the crossmember bolted to the bottom of the transaxle? I'm after the distance along each lower link from where the lower link bolts to the cross-member to where it bolts to the hub carrier. This has now made me think that there's a possibility that the PO has perhaps changed the cross-member for a longer one, again pushing the lower links out? I'm going to measure my cross member link pin distance tonight. if anyone has this then I'd be interested in that as well.... cheers, Ian....

Can someone please tell me what the rear suspension lower link length is from pin to pin. I am trying to do a wheel alignment and I suspect that this may be the wrong length in my car. cheers,

OK. I have done some fiddling. Front: I have offset upper ball joints in the car - they were already there and orientated to give as much neg camber as possible. After some consideration and cursing of Lotus Engineers for borrowing the crapiest design they could scrounge for the front end I ended up slotting the upper ball joint holes. I haven't had a wheel alignment yet, but my measurements indicate I might have about a quarter to half a degree neg camber, which is OK for now. Rear. After some fiddling and more lengthy consideration (consideration is good - you feel like you're doing something, you don't get dirty or skinned knuckles, and can have a beer at the same time, although the dog still thinks you are doing nothing and drops a ball at your feet....) I have decided that perhaps I may have longer lower links than I am supposed to. I have spaced out the front mounts of the trailing arms by about 10-15mm on both sides, and while I already have a 5mm spacer in both driveshafts, I need another 5mm (making 10mm total) on each side to straighten things up. The trailing arms spacing has also moved the tyres back in the rear guards noticably. Rear tyre to guard distances, measured at hub-height, are Front: 65mm left and 55mm right, Rear 25mm left and 35mm right. It may be easier to shorted the lower link by 5 or 10mm and take out some or all of the spacers that are in there. Before I go any further I want to confirm the lower link length. My lower link pins are 390mm apart, measured centre to center in the car on the ground (note - lower link bushes are about 3000km old). Can someone please confirm the correct measurement? Any recomendations on adjustable lower links? As always, any advice appreciated

The PO of my car had a wildly wrong wheel alignment and I an in the process of sorting it out. I have done a preliminary check and bold adjustment on the garage floor (using a tape measure - yes it was that far out!) and obtained reasonable, but not good figures on a wheel alignment machine that were suprisingly close to my measured ones. Rear: I have recently replaced the lower link bushes and since covered about 2000km so they are well settled. Toe I am on top of having made my own radius arm spacers and it should come up to about 1.6mm total toe-in with the latest adjustment. To adjust the camber I'll need some spacers to put in the driveshaft at hte brake disc. It looks like there are currently some in there about 5mm thick, and I need a couple more at this approximate thickness to get about 0.5deg neg camber on each side (currently sitting at 2.5/2.75deg neg). Where can I get these spacers? I can't see them on SJ Sports cars parts list - does anyone know where they may be available from? They're not something you can knock up easily as they need to be machined with a small locating flange to locate the driveshaft centrally. Front: This is more of a challenge. Caster angle I'm happy with, toe is easy to adjust, but camber is not. I have 0.5 positive camber on one side, so I need to find a degree or so of neg camber to get it even close to right. I have had a brief look at the front end (no measurements) and it appears my options are: - making special off-set bushes for the upper arm - bending the stub axle (a bit rough, but I've done this successfully many times on another virtually identical GM set-up, but it's not my preferred option here - it also buggers up the KPI) - cutting and shutting the upper arm (that won't be happening!) - finding an off-set ball joint if it exists...? Has anyone done camber adjustments on the front end? I appreciate any hints and tips.

I am very reliably informed that the FJ Holden was half an inch wider on one side than the other. If you measure from the 'formed' centre of the car (from a point that defines the notional centre of the car, rather than the measured centre), the distance to the side is 1/2" longer on one side than the other. No reason, just a mistake with clay modelling in the 1950s. The FJ Holden is an iconic Australia vehicle from the early 1950s that was never exported (except to New Zealand, which was/is economically part of Australia anyway) to other markets. Holden is the Australian arm of GM.

Yes, but they're still in the Northern Hemisphere, therefore not closer than the south Island of New Zealand, which is the closest decent sized land mass to the point on the globe diametrically opposite the UK. Perhaps that's why Kiwis sound like South Pacific Poms. Ali G was never going to catch on in the states, much like many other great programs like 'Yes Minister'/'Yes Prime Minister' et al. It's ironic that the loop wasn't closed really, since Ali G is really just a brilliant satire of the British adaptation of an element of (the insidious and all-pervasive) American culture (hip-hip culture).

Sydney-Darwin return is a bloody long trip in ten days and you wouldn't have much time to see anything if thats what you want to do.... I am a parochial Australian but driving through the outback without stopping to look at the interesting bits that pop up every 500km or so tends to get pretty dull after a while (like driving around and around Nevada for a 1000miles and still not seeing Las Vegas), unless you hit a Kangaroo or something. Have you considered doing a single driving leg and flying back from Darwin to Sydney - domestic airfares are relatively cheap? If you're at a loose end in Brisbane and want to catch up with a fellow lotuseer for a quiet ale (with the option of loud ones), then I'd be in on that, although it doesn't look like you'd have the time! Oh, and if the movie 'Wolf Creek' is still on in the cinemas here, wait until after your trip to see it. The guy in the lead role (as an murderer in the outback) is so convincing his (actress) wife felt uncomfortable around him during filming. cheers, Ian.

I can't help you with the GPS gadget, but a google search should turn something up if you searce for a .au web address. When are you coming out? Where in Australia are you headed?

Will your system count input pulses over a specific time to establish driveshaft speed and engine speed, or measure the time between individual pulses? If you're using the first one, the key to maximising the accuracy is to have as many pulses as possible per sample so that at low speeds there's still a reasonable number of pulses to sample in your time period.

In my rally (that's 'pro-rally' for the Seppos) car, I have an aftermarket computer (Autronic SM2) that uses this basic algorithm to calculate what gear you are in (that is by comparing engine revs to tailshaft speed), and it works very successfully for those that have used it. I haven't set it up myself, though. In fact I haven't even bothered to connect a tacho or shift light as they're not really necessary.