The definitive suspension thread

[8ARF]

Well, just a bit of a update.... Ive bought some TMS top mounts today direct from TMS along with a bush limiting kit. while I was brousing, I bought a AFE inlet boot which apparently adds a little more power and torque (every little helps).
Anyway, my good buddy neil at automac will be supplying some Eibach ARB's, raer arms and poly bushes including the subframe mount bushings.
TBH, i'm not looking forward to finding out what lies beneath the car regards any cracking etc but I did ask the boys at Bowker BMW to give that area a thorough looking at at its last MOT!

Also ordered some Rogue rear mounts from CA Auto. havnt dealt with roy and the boys in years........

Going slightly off topic :whistle: I've bought some rear Boxster S calipers off Ebay along with mounting brackets and lines from Porschecalipers.
I have 6pot BMW Performance front calipers with CSL discs with DS2500 pads.

Looking forward to throwing it all on and trying it out at snetterton in a few weeks

[Mike RT4]

Well, just a bit of a update.... Ive bought some TMS top mounts today direct from TMS along with a bush limiting kit. while I was brousing, I bought a AFE inlet boot which apparently adds a little more power and torque (every little helps).
Anyway, my good buddy neil at automac will be supplying some Eibach ARB's, raer arms and poly bushes including the subframe mount bushings.
TBH, i'm not looking forward to finding out what lies beneath the car regards any cracking etc but I did ask the boys at Bowker BMW to give that area a thorough looking at at its last MOT!

Also ordered some Rogue rear mounts from CA Auto. havnt dealt with roy and the boys in years........

Going slightly off topic :whistle: I've bought some rear Boxster S calipers off Ebay along with mounting brackets and lines from Porschecalipers.
I have 6pot BMW Performance front calipers with CSL discs with DS2500 pads.

Looking forward to throwing it all on and trying it out at snetterton in a few weeks

I'd make sure that the ARBs are actually an upgrade, as most are for the M3, which upgrades them to the same size as the CSL already has LOL.

[northernjim]

Although my car is a humdrum e46 m3 and not a knicker elastic snapping CSL



Ian.

Do you know shimmy?:119:

.
Anyway, my good buddy neil at automac will be supplying some Eibach ARB's, raer arms and poly bushes including the subframe mount bushings.
TBH, i'm not looking forward to finding out what lies beneath the car regards any cracking etc but I did ask the boys at Bowker BMW to give that area a thorough looking at at its last MOT!

Are the ARB's Hollow?

I'd make sure that the ARBs are actually an upgrade, as most are for the M3, which upgrades them to the same size as the CSL already has LOL.

:whistle:

[8ARF]

that's a good point guys but remember, my car is just a standard m3 with a bit of CSL tinsel
eibach f/r 29/25mm
m3 26/21.5mm
csl 30.8/22.5mm

I got those figures from a e46 fanatics thread
but still, the eibach for my car are a great improvement in dimensions.

ACS do a ARB kit but that is north of £600 and for me wouldn't be worth the near doubling in outlay but youre welcome to tell me i'm wrong :thumbs:

[shimmy]

That was just the last vid on my channel to enable you to find the rest. There are plenty of the 300 circuit:

Here is one being held up by a standard GTR and 997 GT3 RS (both get in the way on the corners where the Escort excels, as with 4 wheel drive as soon as you turn in, you can use full power to drive out of the corners faster than anything 2wd, as all 505lb ft can be utilised with no traction issues - and it weighs the same as a CSL). The only place that I suspect a well driven CSL being faster is round Corum and the corners at the end of the straights, where it is very difficult to judge the amount of retardation required due to the speed these are approached at (so I always end up scrubbing off too much - discretion being the better part of valour and all that LOL) Obviously following another car, this wouldn't be an issue, as the Escort has better brakes than a CSL and the 4 wheel drive makes it easier to avoid triggering the ABS when braking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4onG...e_gdata_player

Just watching tis vid Mike and a few points, I don't think I've ever had ABS triggered in the dry in the CSL, and I think the CSL average speed around every corner a Snett would be faster than the Cossie, and I even think the average speed down the straights would be faster.(no slicks allowed), you may get a faster top speed but that's it.

I think the big trouble is that big BhP drivers tend to point and shoot, thinking that they need all the bhp working when often they don't. Just look at our mx5s running in the CsCc beating cars with twice the bhp just by using the cars good
Outs to the max.

[Mike RT4]

Just watching tis vid Mike and a few points, I don't think I've ever had ABS triggered in the dry in the CSL, and I think the CSL average speed around every corner a Snett would be faster than the Cossie, and I even think the average speed down the straights would be faster.(no slicks allowed), you may get a faster top speed but that's it.

I think the big trouble is that big BhP drivers tend to point and shoot, thinking that they need all the bhp working when often they don't. Just look at our mx5s running in the CsCc beating cars with twice the bhp just by using the cars good
Outs to the max.

It's hard to judge corner speed from a camera without V-box attached (especially when the straight line speeds appear so high / combined with a smooth driving style ), but I know what you're saying as it is VERY difficult to judge just precisely how much corner speed to scrub off when you arrive at a corner 30mph faster than most things. Even with the 380mm 6-pot water-cooled WRC brakes, you end up just standing on them and (so far) always making the corner, but probably having scrubbed off 10-15mph more than you needed to (due to the not wanting to crash factor kicking in ). However, the good thing with the Cossie is that the second that you turn into the corner, you can just nail the throttle, so although entry speed might not be quite as quick as the CSL, exit speed is far superior due to the traction / acceleration advantage.

I appreciate that a lot of it is down to drivers (and having a "nice" car doesn't automatically bestow you with talent), but you can see from all the vids that the old girl is being held up in the corners as well by cars that are "supposed" to be capable of very high corner speed.

The only cars that I have ever had problem with is the high powered Radicals - I push them down the straights (as naturally they don't want to pull over ), and then when a fast corner comes, they don't even need to brake, so you go from being glued to their bumper to losing 7-8 car lengths (especially at the end of the pit-straight at Snetterton, which is a 100mph corner in a non-aero car, but 20-30mph faster in a winged car :hahaha: ).

I know you want to diss the Ford, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised at it's pace .