Legerra drivers

[Dave Adams]

there was a discussion on here a while ago on the side appearance of Legera's.........

I am interested in those side on pictures again. also the ride height from the ground (lowest chassis rail to the road surface gap.)

also .....if its possible on those cars which have a low stance. the distance from the top wishbone to the top chassis rail......mine is only about 3/4" to 1" giving about 2" to 2 1/2" wheel movement before the wishbone fouls the chassis.

Also i would like the wheel size and tyre size. i am looking at fitting Peugeot 406 wheels to my Legerra they are 14" or 15" standard and larger sizes are available (not by me!)  6J, 18mm ET. my plan is to fit 185/60 or 195/60 tyres rather than the 205 tyres it has right now (which are too wide for the car bodywork) 

[Dave Adams]

not decided yet, red was an option but black also on cards.

[Dave Adams]

this is my heavily modified Front wishbones......

the large cut outs are for the chassis clearance....the tube is 20 mm steam pipe it has a 3 mm wall thickness, the same as the Dutton parts.

you can see that i have made the wishbones wider by about 10-12mm to give a bit more clearance for the shocker.

[Adrian Southgate]

So you going off the TCA like the Phaeton / Melos?

[Dave Adams]

a picture of the TCA modified to accept the shocker mounted to it, i am in the process of working out where the shcker top will likely end up., this was taken before the top wishbone was modified to clear.

[Dave Adams]

this picture is showing how things look with the car above ideal ride height. you can see how close the top wishbone is to fouling the chassis rails even at this height.

[Dave Adams]

my new front suspension (minus the anti roll bar just now) in place, i measured the suspension movement from where i think the ride height should be. it was just 2" before i modded the top wishbone, it's now 4 1/2".....so RESULT!

the geometry works out at -1 degree camber, and 3 degrees castor......at the moment, i think when i lower the rear suspension it will increase to somewhere about 4 degrees.

[Dave Adams]

Not yet.
Might be silicone filled not sure if I will weld them.

[1midz0wwbl268]

Steve in your experience   would you advise fully welding metal over where the  tubes have been cut down? i would have thought that reducing the area the bush tube contacts the arm would be weakened  by not replacing   the metal as you have lost what looks to be half  of the total supporting  area, something like a sheet of metal cut and welded to close the  cut out sections  i think would make sence .

When you look at other front suspentions, the top arm  often is curved  to increase the area the shocker goes into , i wonder , would something like the MK design of top wishbone, but with a dutton plate instead of a ball joint  have worked?

[Dave Adams]

The wishbone tube is strengthened by the doubling i have put on them......i dont think the section i removed will weaken them beyond the original strength.

[Dave Adams]

N/S wheel.....

O/S wheel.....

they are very close to being the same.

the ride height will be a little higher than shown here as the new suspension arrangement settled out to 3" from the floor. that's with 400 lb of pre-load on the springs. the new position for mounting the shockers on the TCA has had more of an effect on the leverage ratios than i figured, so some stiffer springs are needed. The ones i have are 200 lb 8" springs so i am thinking 230 to 250 lb might be about right.

[Dave Adams]

Well at the ride height I want, the car has -1mm camber on the n/s and -2mm on the o/s.....-1 is as much as I want. So do I widen the top wishbones? Or move the tca inwards?.......or raise the ride height untill the camber works out?.....

[Dave Adams]

Its worth noting that grahams S4 has exactly the same issues........