Lotus Elan Spyder front ride height...again

[Spyder fan]

How low can you go?

My +2 at Spyder today.

Having fitted the improved exhaust manifold and 65 profile tyres it was time to experiment with lowering the ride height to test on the very bumpy Fenland roads. This is the height my car is set to now, absolutely no grounding problems and looks right.

Job done

[Robzildjian]

Alan.

That is absolutely perfect. Well done to you on solving this tricky problem. How Are you able to acheive flat wishbones at this height? I feel that mine would be angled if I lowered the front this much which would have an adverse effect in handling.

Thoughts appreciated.

Rob

[prezoom]

Alan, that's what they are supposed to look like. I hope I can achieve the same ride height on mine. Constructed my own header that fits above the removable member, so that is one problem solved.

[Spyder fan]

Rob,
Stop looking at Elan.net and enjoy your French holiday!

Remember that the picture was taken with a 13 stone (170lb) driver, that's what he told me he weighed ( Andy Widnall)

At rest with no one on board the car has about 2 inches between the top of the tyre and the front wheel arch, it's perfect to my eyes, anything lower is probably affecting the geometry of the suspension adversely. I spent a couple of hours on the very bumpy Fenland roads that are adjacent to Spyders workshop and found the handling improved over what I'm used to and more importantly I didn't kiss the tarmac once. With the standard Spyder manifold this would be impossible. Hopefully they will make sure everyone has my pattern from now on.

[Spyder fan]

Prezoom Rob,
I hope you make your pattern of manifold available to people on your side of the pond. I think I have mentioned before that the standard Spyder manifold was a result of originally using a gearbox for early conversions that had the starter motor on the exhaust side. When they realised there was a better gearbox with hydraulic clutch they started using it but didn't realise that they could now make a better job of the manifold because the hydraulic clutch box had the starter on the inlet side, or maybe nobody complained or asked why. Luckily I'm on good terms with Andy & Sean so I can give them these challenges and insights that result in slowly evolving the Zetec type conversions to make them what people want.

We need more pictures of Zetec cars showing proper ride heights, lets have yours when you can and it will shut up the naysayers

[prezoom]

My fruity computer will not accept up loads from either my camera or phone. However, I would be happy to forward pictures of the entire exhaust system to anyone interested if they would PM me an email so I can forward them from my phone.

There is one caveat though. I used an annular clutch release, which I copied from Bud English, and can be seen in the Mods Section under the Zetec into a Plus2 thread. Without the need for the ring for a clutch release cylinder on the 2000E bell housing, it was removed, and the hole for the no longer needed operating arm was covered with a removable plate. This made my installation much easier by increasing the amount of room available.

The American version of a 2L Silvertop has an irregular shaped exhaust port. Dunnell Engineering offers an exhaust flange that is either water jet or laser cut to a shape slightly larger than the actual port. 1 5/8" 16ga exhaust piping will fit into this opening and can be shapped to the exact shape of the port. I made a mandrel the shape of the port and slightly tapered out, of a piece of round stock. Putting a section of the tubing into the flange opening and then driving in the mandrel from the engine side, will get the tube to the exact shape of the port. It does take a bit of effort.

The system is a 4-2-1 and is routed forward of the left side engine mount. The primary pipes are 1 5/8" merging to 1 3/4". The Y pipe section us 1 7/8" to a 2" final section. This may prove to be a bit on the small side, and if it does, a new flange and some more mandrel bends are just an email/phone call away. The header section clears the chassis, but was a little close for my liking. I did cut a small divot in the upper flat section just to make sure any engine movement would not let the outer pipe contact the chassis.

The motor mounts were also taken from the above Mods Section, where I duplicated what C42 had done. Plagiarism is the most sincere form of flattery. My thanks to everyone who have contributed to their version of the Zetec conversion process.

[gavk]

Car looking great Alan!

How much did the manifold cost?

Thanks

Gavin

[Spyder fan]

Hi Gavin,
?566 inc vat this is for the manifold and link pipe in stainless steel. A bit of work required to fit. Pictures on another topic page 9 elan-mods-f31/spyder-zetec-owners-elan-net-t34406-120.html

[gavk]

Thanks Alan

I'll be getting the bigger tyres on this month then see how I go.

Did the front lower edge of the inner arch (effectively the underside of the cars nose) need to be trimmed away to fit tyres?

[Spyder fan]

Hi Gavin,
I didn't have to do any alteration to the front arches for the new tyres. The only thing to check is the outside edge of the tyres rubbing the foot wells on full lock when parking. If you are using the Mini steering rack it won't be a problem as the lock is less than the Triumph rack.