Alignment & Ride Height

[FunElan]

Welp, the suspension and brakes are squared away on my Elan, just as I encounter some sciatica pain...

But I was able to sneak if off to the alignment shop last week. I asked for the rear to be lowered a bit (GAZ), but didn't expect the shop to lower it a full 2 inches. I measured the ride height today, the flat part of the rear of the chassis to the ground (between where the uprights come from). It measured at 155mm, right on spec with the factory.

The front however, was not lowered (allegedly). It does look similar to how it did before. I measured the oil pan at 4 inches off the ground, and the chassis not much higher than that. Is this similar to your cars? I'm spooked at how low the pan is and how easy it might be to damage it now. Definitely thinking custom sump guard.

Images of lowered car here: https://imgur.com/a/HWjZHhl

[Jamie N]

Unless you have some hefty speed humps to deal with I wouldn't worry about that height, there are quite a few speed humps around here and our one deals with them ok
and it's almost as low as the coilovers will go. Ride quality isn't harsh either.

[FunElan]

That’s helpful, thanks Jamie. I’ve scraped the rubber splitter off 4 times on speed dips in my neighborhood, so perhaps it’s my technique too.

I assume you have GAZ? GAZ recommended I set the front to 4 clicks and rear to 2-3 clicks.

Your car is stunning btw

[FunElan]

My father drove the car, he felt like something in the suspension was loose and got scared. I haven't lifted it and pulled a wheel yet, but just peeking underneath and through the wheel, things look good. The control arms are very much angled up at resting position though. The car is very stiff.

I'm getting very frustrated and honestly might have to sell this thing. It's stressing me out too much.

[chrism]

FunElan - some bits of info:-

1. In (UK/SE) Lotus service notes the control arms look look horizontal - viewing from the front - and a str line though he bush 'eyes', across the car, should line up with the support plate under the engine. The vert height between this and the road is 170+/-2mm for the front and 160+/-2mm for the rear equivalent. (If this is a bit garbled let me know and I'll take a pic of the notes.)

2. Phil at SWLotus advised this for GAZ dampers:- Front - 12/13 clicks and rear 5/6 clicks. (Personally I found 4 clicks worked for me on the rears...)

I've fitted GAZ rears + springs and have been meaning to fit GAZ fronts but I'm hesitating if they're a little too thin and not 'clamped' properly . - I'd have thought a simple collar (from the manufacturer?) could solve the problem and add a degree of rigidity...?

Hope this helps.

[FunElan]

Thanks Chris - certainly useful information. I was looking at that section of the manual, just below the 170/160 figure was another image that displayed 160/154. I couldn’t really decipher what each set of numbers corresponded to. I think I need to tell them “make the control arms horizontal at rest” and that should probably be a good start.

The front GAZ fit fine for me!

[Tuga2112]

Matt.

im not sure if your aware of this or not, but the suspension and ride height on the FED cars is not the same as the UK cars. i dont know the details, but i would expect to find them in the manuals.

i think the fed cars are meant to have a softer and higher setup than the UK cars. if you got new stuff, (made for the UK cars), you are bound to get something stiffer than what you were used to, both because its new, as well as because even when compared to FED new items. they were meant to be stiffer.

when i installed my gas shocks and new springs i hated it, it is stiffer, but after a couple of months got used to it.

i have been extremely busy for the past month with welding the sills on my celica, that i havent been able to make a video for december, and wont be checking the paperwork to help you, but i would suggest checking the paperwok and confirming if my suspicion is correct and take it from there.

[FunElan]

Matt.

im not sure if your aware of this or not, but the suspension and ride height on the FED cars is not the same as the UK cars. i dont know the details, but i would expect to find them in the manuals.

i think the fed cars are meant to have a softer and higher setup than the UK cars. if you got new stuff, (made for the UK cars), you are bound to get something stiffer than what you were used to, both because its new, as well as because even when compared to FED new items. they were meant to be stiffer.

when i installed my gas shocks and new springs i hated it, it is stiffer, but after a couple of months got used to it.

i have been extremely busy for the past month with welding the sills on my celica, that i havent been able to make a video for december, and wont be checking the paperwork to help you, but i would suggest checking the paperwok and confirming if my suspicion is correct and take it from there.

Hi Joao - I had that suspicion as well, but nowhere have I found “fed specific” suspension settings. I’m ok setting it to UK settings as they seem to work well for you all, but I do have fed spec springs installed.

I’m ok and would expect a little bit stiffer with new suspension, that’s fairly normal. It was a little stiffer but still drove nicely before the alignment. Realizing that my issues now probably stem from it just being too low and out of suspension travel.

[FunElan]

Well, a bit of a melodramatic update/conclusion. I took the front wheels off and everything appeared to be fine underneath. While it does ride low, the harshness turned out to be because the alignment shop pumped the tires up to 38 psi. Once I lowered to 27, the car rode a lot better.

It still has a "Square wheel" syndrome which could mean that one of the wheels is bent. But when I accelerate and speed up, it smooths out and that largely disappears into just what I'd think of as road surface imperfections.

I'll try it for a month and see how I get on with speed bumps. If I can't deal, I'll have them raise it up an inch on all corners or something.

[CalElan]

Hey Matt,
I finally got around to laying under my car with a tape and I messaged you the results.
My rear is around 145mm - (It's parked on carpet atm but I used a stick pretty agrressively to find the floor, if that makes sense)
Front was harder to establish but I would say it's probably in that 10mm less than the front range.
I do have some form of adjustables on the rear and honestly not sure about the fronts.. I'll take a peak when it stops being wet and miserable here.
BTW - I do only have a couple of gallons of gas in it!

Tire pressures make a huge difference to the handling - so that is likely your issue - I'm going to check my fender heights now out of interest!

hmmm no wonder your wheel to fender gaps look better than mine
I'm at 26 at the rear and 25 and 3/4 at the front