Originally Posted by
RWD_cossie_wil
Not owned a 3 door, but drove a few. I have to say the saff is easier to drive, don't forget that Ford deliberatly toned down the saff handling as plenty of people stuffed their new 3 doors when they discovered they were NOT as talented as they thought they were
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From what I can remember of the changes, the saff shell was somthing like 90% stiffer with foam filled pillars, lower front roll centre, so the turn in was not so sharp to cut down tramlining etc, and the spring rates were adjusted to make it a bit more comfortable.
These are some of the changes from 3-door to Sapphire 2wd made by Ford.
Obviously the 4-dr shell was stiffer which has to be taken into account.
Spring rates went up from 106 to 118lb/in at the front and 263 to 286 lb/in at the back.
Damper rates were made softer in bump and stiffer in rebound.
ARB was increased to 16mm on back
Castor increased by over one degree
Camber made fractionally more negative
Kingpin inclination made slightly greater.
Front knuckles re-designed to lower the front roll centre from 144mm to 70mm
Work was also done to rid the tendency of the 3-door to "pitch" front to rear.
Much of the work above was done to create a less "nervous" car and for it to have better straight line stability
I remember the 3-doors came on Dunlop D40s and the 4x4 Sapphire on Bridgestone ER90s (?) - what tyres did the 2wd Sapphire come delivered with?