I'm working on a 1989 XR4TI and want to tame the handling of my car. To do this I need to be able to accurately set and maintain caster/camber (obviously ) so I have arrived at adjustable tcas and compression struts (as well as a blade type arb I have figured out mostly)

I've heard horror stories of these components from different vendors failing on the street which is unacceptable to me.

Any advice or suggestions on who to buy from or advice/experience in general? I've found compbrake and burton already.

 

I would also contact mk and MT motorsport and see what they have to offer. Both of them are on here regularly.

http://mt-motorsport.com/marko/index...=index&cPath=5

 

What Caddyshack said, avoid the dodgy cheap stuff

http://www.mkmotorsport.co.uk/produc...ng-suspension/

 

To be clear I wasn't calling the burtonpower or compbrake compression struts bad, just the only ones I've found thus far. The horror stories I've heard have been vague without alot of documentation.

I'm not sure the mk.stuff is better other than perhaps a nicer bracket for chassis mounting which can be addressed with some minor welding.

Does anyone have some tales that reaffirm or go against my assessment of the parts?

 

I do not know what the quality of the Compbrake stuff is like, but Burton buy their stuff from them so it's all the same...

 

the issues tend to be with the quality of the fittings used and the size of said fittings

plus some that have sat around for ages and then gone brittle and snapped when they shouldn't have

mainly this is all around the part that replaces the arb on the front of the compression strut so as long as this is ok you shoudl be fine

 

Post 36 in this thread - does not sound good for the compbrake kit

https://passionford.com/forum/genera...-road-car.html

https://passionford.com/forum/genera...ruts-make.html

 

Even if the MK kit is better quality Ł500 vs Ł150 seems a hell of a big price gap!
Any ideas on what actually is in the extra Ł350?

 

What you want is a turbotechnics front arb, will be very very hard to find though.

 

I emailed mk motorsport and compbrake and asked them to explain who's is best and why essentially. I was more diplomatic. I'll share the replies, if they reply.

 

I have recently used a compbrake pedal box, nice enough kit but zero instructions and I had to cut a load of things to get it to fit despite it being a car specific kit. MK stuff is top quality, tested and it just works plus he gives excellent backup.

 

totally different product ,not slagging comp stuff but its the difference between a 3 wheeler and a Ferrari lol
mine are made from billet on cnc machines and top spec f1 rod ends as opposed to modded standard parts

 

hi
i havent received any emails
you dont have to be diplomatic lol
and you cant compare mine and compbrake there different products totally ,in different price ranges
mark

 

hi
what are they like ?

 

 

That roll bar is a good idea as you don't have to fit a bladed one. I'm going to be sending mine to a1 in the beginning of the new year to have my front suspension set up sorted. I'm after different top mounts compression struts adjustable lower arms and a bladed roll bar. I've been given a price through a mate who knows him and I can't buy the bits myself cheaper than he is doing it for

 

looking at that they both travel through a different arc ,thus fighting each other

mark

 

hi
steve does a good job
he uses my parts sometimes ,ie bladed roll bars ,comp struts and tcas etc
mark

 

That was my thought when I saw it.

Also for some of the silliness I'm doing in my car I could use more room where the sway bar crosses the tunnel. I plan on making a new brace, but one that gives me a little more room for my v8 t5 trans I'm putting behind a duratec. I also hate removing the stock sway bar anytime I want to drop the transmission, an otherwise quick and easy task

 

hi
i wish people would do it right ,they fit rock hard suspension and no arb and wonder why the car jumps all over the place ,you should use softish suspension and fit a good bladed roll bar ,that why the suspension absorbs the bumps and the arbs stop the body roll ,you can build antidive into the front to stop the weight transfer on heavy braking

 

This is why one is Ł500 and the other Ł150, one knows his stuff, the other mods standard parts..

 

that's the turbo technics set up, very rare but very good if you don't have the space/,money for a front blade set up

 

I have 275 in/lb springs up front on group a replica bilstien struts (with xr4ti lowers) with gravel valving.

350 lb/in in stock location outback with some nice bilstiens. I'm trying to figure out what size abs to run up front and the back currently. I love the way it handles except for maybe a tad too much body roll and some front end dartiness(hence the desire for adjustability up front)

 

I'm not sure what you mean on 'front end dartiness', but I found that fitting a set of 3dr front hubs improved the front end grip and turn in feel immensely. After that I think the best thing to do would be to fit a 6 degree rear beam. If you then still feel you need improvements I would look into different arbs.

I have always been wondering if it would be a good idea to fit compression struts, but still use a poly bush between the strut and tca. That way it would be stiffer than using the standard arb, but there is still some compliance in the suspension for road use. The nicest would be if you could swap the poly bushes for metal ones to have the stiff track version.

 

So the only major difference(as its related to geometry) in the 3 door hub is the axle centerline is higher up in relation to the balljoint. I can modify my crossmember move the tca mounting holes up to effectively accomplish the same change, for less money than getting 3 door hubs stateside

A compression strut setup allows me to alter caster and camber so I can tune more on center feel into the steering.

Currently the car just seems ready to change direction almost to the point of instability if you aren't used to it. The numb steering makes it worse.
I have powerflex bushings everywhere in the car currently in addition to the mods I posted earlier.

 

I had an issue when I fitted a 2wd arb to my 4wd car

Straight line went from nice and easy to the car wanting to change direction every second, but once the car was in a corner, the turn in and confidence was amazing

Also, fitting too stuff a bar on the rear will give you lots off oversteer, regardless of how soft the springs are, fitted an Escos 22mm rear bar to my otherwise standard Sierra with new ford springs and shocks, and was running a 3.14:1 diff turning 215/45/17 tyres and it was sideways in second with only 128 bhp 128/lb ft doing the pushing

 

If you move the tcas upwards in the crossmember you also need to change the angle of the steering arms, otherwise you will get bumpsteer as a result.

 

I wonder if I can't find some extended length tie rod ends, bumpsteer kits they are called stateside. Maybe I can adapt some mustang stuff with minor mods. Time to figure out thread sizes of tie rods and size of steering joint holes in hubs

 

Thread-bump from deep in the archives. Jeff- Did you ever find a tie-rod end that was a little longer than stock? Planning to fit Scorpio ARB, TCA, and hub carriers and hoping to be able to still run with my XR inner tie-rods rather than swap in Scorpio parts.