Suspension And Brake Upgrades

[jonb_5 6]

Hi,

 

As some of you may know I am building a hill climb car and just want some ideas.

 

I aim to make the car as light as possible but the next job will be suspension and brakes.... so where do I go.

 

I don't want to spend too much money but I am looking at new springs for the front to lower around 25mm and then possibly a rear beam re-build and lower this accordingly. Is there anything else which would be beneficial such as struts, braces, mounting etc?

 

Also with regards to brakes, are there any fairly straight forwards swaps I can do to have MUCH better braking.. bearing in mind I would like to stick to 15" wheels for better acceleration.

 

One thing I have noticed straight away is the master cylinder looks like it has had it, is there a performance upgrade I can install here?

 

Your help/opinions would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[dcc 855]

Standard brakes with decent pads. especially if your car will be lighter.

[jonb_5 6]

Are the standard calipers pretty decent then, I have never driven a 205 gti so not sure...

Thanks

Jon

[Tesstuff 222]

So they could be the best calipers for your application but you are thinking of changing them without trying them, yet you are on a budget?

 

My advice is to slow down and work out what you want, and do some research on the forum as all your answers are already here.

 

Read other peoples projects as opposed to clicking the New Topic button.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

I would like to stick to 15" wheels for better acceleration.

 

Citroën C5 steelies ftw

Search function is your friend

[Batfink 201]

what class are you in and what are the limitations and rules on suspension?

 

An upper strut brace helps a lot with changes of camber. When Kyepan and I did a back to back test it was certainly noticeable

[kyepan 291]

yep, the bare minimum would be

 

• 
   
  
• Upper strut brace - just keeps things more in line, i can't explain it but me and kev (batfink) did a back to back test and the difference was big
  
• 24mm rear ARB - more point and less understeer coming out of bends,
  
• New wishbone bushe - any play here and it will go where it wants, not where you do
  
• New drop links
  
• Solid or much firmer top mounts - again stopping play in the geometry and replacement bearings,
  
• 309 bones - will give some negative camber, but only at standard height.
  
• Faster rack - phase one xsara vts.. de-passed.
   
  

these are the most cost effective modifications you can make

 

From my experience, i would be hesitant to stiffen or lower the front, as you'll end up chasing understeer issues, keep the standard spring rates, unless you are going to be matching it with rear torsion bars. (£££££) That's contrary to the lower is better theory that is common practice, but from my experience a reality.

 

Again lowering will lead to bump steer at the front, making it more difficult to concentrate on your lines, because you'll always be correcting.

Additionally, lowering will cancel out any negative camber you were getting once in the corner, because if the wishbones sit flat at rest, they will be up in the corner, and giving less camber.

 

as paul said, the c5 steelies are only 4.6kgs, very light, nearly half the weight of fifteens, on standard brakes they make the steering lighter, and reduce the gyroscopic torque significantly

 

on brakes

 

if it's a 1.6 originally the bendix calipers are already very light, but not the best.

either way stick with standard and go for new pads

 

• 
   
  
• Mintex m1144 / 55
  
• Ferrodo ds2500,
  
• Braided hoses front and rear
  
• AP dot5.1
   
  

Edited September 10, 2011 by kyepan

[Baz 421]

Have a look through similar topics in this sub-section.

 

You also need to read your regs, there may be things you want to do but are limited by class regs.

 

Master cylinder-wise, yes you can fit a larger one, but i'm not sure there's really any need over a std replacement if you're runing std brakes.

[harryskid 193]

Speak to Miles!

[jonb_5 6]

Superb, thank you for all the advice.

 

On the steel wheel side of things are these available new. I have had a look on ebay etc and they seem to be very rare so wondered if you could buy them from the dealer.

 

Seems to be a pretty good thing to do with regards to un-sprung weight etc. I am going to have to buy tyres anyway so might as well get the right size.

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[matt.f 16]

I found fitting a bias valve helped a lot on mine

[jonb_5 6]

The other thing I was going to ask regarding the rear brakes was would it be worth upgrading to discs?

 

I have a mini and it just wasn't worth upgrading the rear due to the small amount of braking done at the rear, is this the same case or could it be worth sticking a 1.9 setup on the back?

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[dcc 855]

No.