Suspension Options and Setup for B Series Ts

[F0RCEDXR]

What springs have people found that are low and provide minimal tyre rub?

[Smoke them tyres]

Stiff????????????

Personally, while it looks good, I think people way "over lower" these cars (and way underdamp them). Lowest does not equal best characteristics with suspension/roll centre geometry (or inner cv life on sedans).

The choice however is with the owner.

Hitting a bump with a reasonable amount of lock on will unroll the lip of the front guards.

Edited 12/04/10 11:09 AM by Smoke them tyres

[our06t]

In answer to your question, the B series has plenty of static weight (too much really) over the front axle. Ideally a 50/50 front rear balance is what you are after, but not possible in a B Series unless you add weight to the rear which will only make it go, stop and corner worse.

We can play with "weights" if you like with spring rates and sway bars. Ie. in order to shift "weight" more rearwards we can use a heavier rear spring rate. This will however mean the breakaway will come from the rear (oversteer as opposed to understeer) and while fun, may not be the quickest way around the corner and is difficult to handle in the wet or at high speed.

Erko love the work you have done with setting up these cars .

question on weight balance about to move the battery in a BF wanted to mount in the rear left side of boot ,just wondering if this a good idea as far as weight transfer goes ,It's not the reason I'm moving it (going the 4inch air box) but if it is going to adversely affect handling I will go for the in front bumper optoin from Process West.

Thinking of doing 340mm guard to hub height or do you have a different idea .

cheers mate

[Erko]

Well, I think anything you can do to take a little weight off the nose is a good thing. Whats it weigh, 15kgs?. Front bumper mount is about as far forward of the axle as you can go and will only have adverse effects, worse that the current position.

340mm hub to guard sounds about right (from memory!) Smoke them tyres post above on 2 April is on the money. Much lower than that and the roll centre is through the floor and handling is worse.

I'll have a reread of what I wrote in the past, I think my opinions might have changed in some areas as I've learned more, at the end of the day I was never trying to be an authority, just compile info for people and get some discussion happening, so happy if it provies some assistance.

Edited 31/08/10 10:05 AM by Erko

[our06t]

cheers mate yeh goin dry cell so maybe 15-20kg.

last one I did I set at 350mm height and it was good but just trying to go a fraction lower this time , will be keeping the stock 17's as to keep the price of good rubber down and the sleeper look.

fully understand your just passing on what you learn but it is much appreciated

[locknut]

Hi fella's, great reading.

I have purchased some KING Superlows (KFFL-57 (NOT 57SL's, these are old AU coils, and end up being ULTRA lows for BA's..) and KFRL-68SSL) and short body Durashocks. Honestly, is there any need for camber kits?

I have previously had an EA with Superlows (26SL and 27SL) all round, the car sat LEVEL, and had even wear across the face of the tread. As this is a different car, and geometry, I am getting mixed opinions on the camber kit.. Who has fitted the BA Super low part# above without camber kits..? What is the wear like? Would a wheel alignment afterwards be enough?

EDIT, am running stock MkII alloys 17" 235 wide.. and am also getting the SuperPro short rear bumpstops... IS there a need for anything else?

Edited 13/01/11 11:39 AM by locknut

[bigmat]

I wonder what the variations in the F6 and R spec has on the spring and dampener rates as well as roll centres etc.

I know when driving an FG turbo XR with same rubber thesure don'tnt corner the same.

I can really push my F6 and yet takes lots to induce oversteer, but never really feels like understeer.

I must admit dunlop sportmaxx original tyres seemed to do a little better but often can see a black trail from the rears (based on attitude of the car) when hammering it out of a tight corner, With a 60 km gorge to get through from here to go north it gets boring if you don't push it. Makes me a better driver that's what I tell my wife.

Tyre wear was very even on the dunlops running 36PSI (got 14,000k but the Maxxis Victra Z series were chewing shoulders inside and out got 10,000k on first set until I started running 43PSI cold...15000k and counting.

But yeah back on topic, I wonder what the spring rates and dampening are (where to start to understand if I could even make it any better). could be the geometry too as there looks like a lot more camber than standard XR6Ts.

Reason I ask is I want to put bigger rubber on but don't want to turn it into a understeering pig that falls over it's front tyres... and if I go wider greater offset (outward to 22P on 9.5 wide rims) I will probably have to increase the camber more just to make them fit under the guards.. if I run 275+ rubber on back especially.

All your views are welcome

[bradles024]

^^^ love the plates

[Erko]

Bigmat, just saw your post. Spring rates are same as BF2 F6, no difference for R Spec. 450lb/in F, 250lb/in R. The difference is in the shock valving. No difference in alignment.

[aiboart]

...

But yeah back on topic, I wonder what the spring rates and dampening are (where to start to understand if I could even make it any better). ... All your views are welcome

In short, if you like the feel and set-up of your current R-Spec F6, do what Ford / FPV wanted to do all along.

Purchase a set of high-end mono-tube digressive dampers tuned for your car.

Your current R-Spec twin-tube dampers with digressive tuning are a very low cost facsimile of the above.If you hunt around you can find the interviews with the Ford Engineering team that designed the R-Spec suspension tune, which includes the specific objectives, engineering approaches and compromises of said project.

The real thing, high-end mono-tube digressive dampers make everything but everything better: ride, transient handling, steady state handling, grip, linearity, high speed, low speed, wet, dry, low load, high load, everything.

There are no dynamic or ride compromises whatsoever when compared to your current albeit, very good setup, just all around brilliance.

FWIW, go the Bilsteins.