How to make a Rover 100 (late metro) handle well???
09-07-2017, 07:55 AM
#1
Kapow!!
Thread Starter
How to make a Rover 100 (late metro) handle well???
please don't laugh.
i have bought a Rover 100 with a 1.8 k series turbo engine from a rover 75 fitted. It has MGF brakes, is stripped out ect. It has a mappable ecu, external wastegate with screamer pipe ect giving just over 200bhp.
in a straight line its great, but still on the hydroelastic suspension- so it won't actually go round a bend.
I want to take it to Nurburgring in a couple of months so I need to get something sorted.
does anyone know what I can do to make it handle?
i have bought a Rover 100 with a 1.8 k series turbo engine from a rover 75 fitted. It has MGF brakes, is stripped out ect. It has a mappable ecu, external wastegate with screamer pipe ect giving just over 200bhp.
in a straight line its great, but still on the hydroelastic suspension- so it won't actually go round a bend.
I want to take it to Nurburgring in a couple of months so I need to get something sorted.
does anyone know what I can do to make it handle?
09-07-2017, 08:34 AM
#4
Copied from a friend.......
You should first look at individualising your suspension. As standard a Rover Metro, or 100 comes with linked suspension from front to back. Obviously the car is front heavy so it naturally has a nose dive stance with this set up. The aim is to remove the interlinked hydragas suspension so that each corner can be pumped to it's own individual pressure, rather than linked between the two ends. To do this it quite simple, you need to cut down the rods in a ratio that compensates for the weight of the engine.
The ratio you would use for the front is 3 to 1, which means that if you want to lower the car by 30mm, you would remove 10mm from the hydragas actuator rod.
On the rears, a 5 to 1 ratio is used.
Okay, so the cars lower, but not stiffer, where do I go from here? The best way is to cut the rods down far enough that you would lower the car using the above calculations further than you wanted by one inch. This means that if you wanted to lower the car by 40mm, you'd remove enough length from the rod to lower it by 60mm, this means that you can then pump in enough hydragas fluid in its place to a higher psi than the factory standard 300PSI, 450 is the most widely used, this will increase stiffness by around 50%.
An individualised Metro is a stiff car and handles great. There are then more mods that you can do to make the car even stiffer, like anti roll bars and shocks. You will need to buy some individualised valves, or get them front an MGF. They are fairly cheap, under £80 for all 4.
Rover Metros and 100's don't come with shocks unless they are the Mk3 GTI. You can however buy shock mounts for the front which weld in with the ready drilled hole as your marker, and the rear turrets are also a fairly easy conversion, too. With some welding and fabrication skills you could get them in. I think by this point your car should handle very well indeed!
Watsons do a coil conversion kit for K-Series converted Minis, Its simply a spring which sits in place of the hydragas unit. I'm unsure on whether they've produced anything for the rear, since the K-Series subframe on the front is the only part which needs converting on a Mini with a K-Series since it can retain its usual shock and suspension system on the back with a regular rear subframe. It's certainly an option to get in touch with them and see what they can do, they're very helpful and reasonably priced.
You should first look at individualising your suspension. As standard a Rover Metro, or 100 comes with linked suspension from front to back. Obviously the car is front heavy so it naturally has a nose dive stance with this set up. The aim is to remove the interlinked hydragas suspension so that each corner can be pumped to it's own individual pressure, rather than linked between the two ends. To do this it quite simple, you need to cut down the rods in a ratio that compensates for the weight of the engine.
The ratio you would use for the front is 3 to 1, which means that if you want to lower the car by 30mm, you would remove 10mm from the hydragas actuator rod.
On the rears, a 5 to 1 ratio is used.
Okay, so the cars lower, but not stiffer, where do I go from here? The best way is to cut the rods down far enough that you would lower the car using the above calculations further than you wanted by one inch. This means that if you wanted to lower the car by 40mm, you'd remove enough length from the rod to lower it by 60mm, this means that you can then pump in enough hydragas fluid in its place to a higher psi than the factory standard 300PSI, 450 is the most widely used, this will increase stiffness by around 50%.
An individualised Metro is a stiff car and handles great. There are then more mods that you can do to make the car even stiffer, like anti roll bars and shocks. You will need to buy some individualised valves, or get them front an MGF. They are fairly cheap, under £80 for all 4.
Rover Metros and 100's don't come with shocks unless they are the Mk3 GTI. You can however buy shock mounts for the front which weld in with the ready drilled hole as your marker, and the rear turrets are also a fairly easy conversion, too. With some welding and fabrication skills you could get them in. I think by this point your car should handle very well indeed!
Watsons do a coil conversion kit for K-Series converted Minis, Its simply a spring which sits in place of the hydragas unit. I'm unsure on whether they've produced anything for the rear, since the K-Series subframe on the front is the only part which needs converting on a Mini with a K-Series since it can retain its usual shock and suspension system on the back with a regular rear subframe. It's certainly an option to get in touch with them and see what they can do, they're very helpful and reasonably priced.
09-07-2017, 02:34 PM
#5
PassionFord Post Whore!!
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I just used to let fluid out the suspension on my old metros untill it sat and handled how I wanted it lol 😂 worse things came to worse we had the thing at work to pump it up again should I have gone too low which I always did.
09-07-2017, 06:39 PM
#7
PassionFord Post Troll
please don't laugh.
i have bought a Rover 100 with a 1.8 k series turbo engine from a rover 75 fitted. It has MGF brakes, is stripped out ect. It has a mappable ecu, external wastegate with screamer pipe ect giving just over 200bhp.
in a straight line its great, but still on the hydroelastic suspension- so it won't actually go round a bend.
I want to take it to Nurburgring in a couple of months so I need to get something sorted.
does anyone know what I can do to make it handle?
i have bought a Rover 100 with a 1.8 k series turbo engine from a rover 75 fitted. It has MGF brakes, is stripped out ect. It has a mappable ecu, external wastegate with screamer pipe ect giving just over 200bhp.
in a straight line its great, but still on the hydroelastic suspension- so it won't actually go round a bend.
I want to take it to Nurburgring in a couple of months so I need to get something sorted.
does anyone know what I can do to make it handle?