Sunken suspension

[LaikaTheDog]

Lotus elan +2

It has been stored for a couple of months, took it out today and noticed that nearside front is an inch lower than the osf

Looking at the spring it see a to have collapsed.. but isn't broken... first time I have come across this... any ideas?

[LaikaTheDog]

Stripped out the front suspension, the spring is completely compressed/bound, the arachnid supplied spring NSF is made of cheese and could be used in a biro...
I knew when I fitted them they looked wrong...but was assured they were correct. But as they could not provide spring rates for the rear, I should have known better.

Going to chris neil/oakmere to get some proper springs!!

[john.p.clegg]

Name and shame , or al least give us a clue...save someone else being taken for as ride...or not as the case may be..

John

[oldelanman]

Name and shame , or al least give us a clue...save someone else being taken for as ride...or not as the case may be..

John

......... the arachnid supplied spring .....

[john.p.clegg]

AAaaaaahhhh

John

[rgh0]

Plus 2 front springs are very highly stressed and prone to sagging overtime even if good quality. Sounds like yours are of somewhat lesser quality.

cheers
Rohan

[vxah]

Had that issue with my +2, the car just kept getting lower and I kept winding up the perches until they became coil bound over bumps. Came from SJ though, found some nos Lotus ones, been fine since.

[LaikaTheDog]

Oakmere had NOS front springs in stock, arriving tomorrow...

While the dampers are off I will have a go at fixing bumpsteer, properly this time.

[vxah]

Started looking at my bump steer at the weekend, as my chassis is on trestles and I have no hubs or spindles on I cut some 3/4" square ali box into 18" lengths and bolted them to the uprights where the calliper mounting plates go so, now I can get the tracking pretty close and use a laser level set on the side of them pointing backwards so I can set the steering straight ahead. A laser pointer stuck in the stub axle hole draws the line on my wall for bump steer.. Anyway, it struck me that even if the rack height was set perfectly from new, what happens when a track rod end is replaced and it's track rod hole centre is far higher that the one fitted in 1970? Would one need to raise the rack by the same amount to keep it correct? How many variations of rod end are there?