Koni Shocks for my S1

[Heuer]

I have a thicker front anti-roll bar (from an S3 I think) and it works well although I have never compared it with the standard one. It was installed as 'received wisdom' during the re-build along with poly bushes, Koni's and solid steering mounts. Debatable whether it is needed in a road car.

[JEP41]

When I was rebuilding my Series 1 OTS I fitted Rob Beere Uprated torsion bars and they are perfect. Believing more must be better I added Robs uprated anti roll bar but after just one track day I removed the uprated anti roll bar and reverted to standard. I have Leder shocks all round and found three clicks from full clockwise is about right for me. The car suffered from rear wheel steering under hard exceleration when changing gear. Chris Keith Lucas fixed this by adding 0.5 Degrees of toe-in to the rear wheels. This one change transformed the handling.

[Heuer]

John

That's interesting as I also get rear wheel or torque steering or a under very hard acceleration. Will have to give it some thought.

[kingzetts]

Out of curiosity, how is rear toe adjusted? This is not a standard adjustment so far as I know.

[Heuer]

Only way I can think of is by somehow adjusting the radius arms. The forward IRS bushings can be fitted at 90 degrees for competition work but not sure this would affect toe-in.

[christopher storey]

I believe that torque steer on the IRS Jaguars results from excessive compliance in i. the 4 metalastik hangers for the rear suspension and ii. the circular slotted metalastik bushes at the radius arm cup and iii. the small radius arm to lower wishbone bushes . If any of these become sloppy, then under hard acceleration there is a tendency for the entire rear suspension unit to twist axially under the applied torque in an anticlockwise direction viewed from the rear of the car, and for it to twist in the horizontal plane unpredictably according to which bushes have most slack in them . It is this IMHO which leads to the often expressed view ( e.g. on other recent threads ) that an "upgrade" radically improves handling , when what in fact is happening is that the suspension is restored to its designed degree of compliance

Incidentally, some of the worst rear drive torque steer that I experienced was in the early Sprites with 1/4 elliptic springs where the whole axle moved between drive and overrun

[JEP41]

To Adjust the Toe-in I drove the car to CKL workshop's they raised to car on the ramps after mounting a 4 X wheel lazer alignment gear. Then they heated the lower offside wishbone in a certain place, it was amazing to watch the alignment reading as the toe went from parallel to 0.3 degrees toe-in. The nearside wishbone was then given the same treatment. As the wishbones cooled the toe-in settled at 2.5 degrees per side 5.0 total. Chris thinks this figure is best for the lightweight e-type running remember 7.0" rims on the rear and I agree totally the car is transformed.
I answer to Christopher I have competition rear suspension mounts and all the rear suspension bushings are standard metalastic not polybush but all in good condition. I tried a Polybush kit but especially on the raduis arms found them too stiff. I believe the torque steer on my car to be a combination of 300 bhp and the wider rear wheels which together make the system work much harder than originally designed especially on a track day :)

[Woolfi]

How is the stability of the wishbone after the heating-treatment ?

Wolfgang Gatza

[JEP41]

Hi Wolfgang,

I have completed several track days and nothing has fallen off yet? I actually get a kick when I hear people talking about heating metal and the possible dangers. Installing Gas Turbine driven Compressors in the Offshore Oil and Gas Business I regularly used to watch the pipe fitters fabricate the 24"-36" header pipes to the compressors. During the welding process the pipes would walk all over the place. The pipe fitters then heated the pipes in just the right places and bring the alignment right back into spec. Those pipes would then carry gas at up to 2000 psig. So I am not too worried about heating the lower wishbone on my car