RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

I did Targa High Country last weekend and managed to bent the Eurosport (Eurospeed? - cannot remember) watts link bracket. It hit the ground going through a dip onto a bridge resulting in the lower section bending backwards. TBH it didn't seem to effect the car handing a massive amount although it did feel a little squirrely. My size 10's had no chance of trying to straighten it up so I had no choice but to continue.

From the boot floor to the bottom of the triangle bracket is 260mm. The bell crank's lowest edge sits maybe 5-10mm higher but there is scope to play with the roll centre and raise this (I have never bothered playing as there are other things to sort before refining the suspension tuning).

How low do other's watts link brackets hang? I remember that Danny uses some lovely looking CNC billet thing that I recall being smaller. Could be wrong. JP uses the same bracket as me and his looks to hang low too. Think Roger may have used an ex-v8 tourer one with wind up/down roll centre.

I use 275/180lb springs and bought some slightly harder ones but never fitted them. They may help to keep the important bits off the ground!

My triangle can be mounted higher on the crossmember, I have an extra row of bolt holes and gussets in the 'beam' that align with the bolt holes below those shown to be used in the most recent photos. This brings it up about another 30mm. Ill admit while its on the trailer it doesn't need to have been assembled properly
I am using the smallest triangle available from that manufacturer. as in the photos its about in line with the bottom of the diff. there is 50mm of travel left before the bump-stops are compressed so the triangle will always be a bit low unless I trim it. I can raise it up further with new holes or a new triangle design. pretty simple water cut sheet aluminium.

Others' all seem a similar dimension. a fact is the pivot and diff centerline relationship means they all need to be similar depths.

JP

And of course the bell crank thingy will always need to be where it needs to be for the desired roll centre.

Raising up the crank generally does what to the handling???? More hours doing research........

How bent is it, have you got a photo?
and how much suspension travel have you got and is it bottoming the bum stops out

Will post something when I get get in the shed to take a pic....

I have often derided the english preference for the twin tower watts with fixed centre welded to diff but this must be a safer 'rally' setup as the wheels would still protect the on full bump to a degree...of course dipping a wheel of the edges of roads puts them into strike range.
watts pivot wants to be centred on the diff at the mid point of actual not theoretical travel. then add roll centre adjustment. Hopefully that puts the pivot high enough to trim the tower bracket and add extra clearance.

JP

Of course thinking about it overnight. Its the bell thats the lowest bit. Not the bracket but bell that struck, so doesn't really matter how short the bracket can be.
What did it handle like bent?
JP