• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Wedge Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with shocks

Share this page

T

tdskip

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
So the TR8 stock suspension is officially driving me nuts. I've already got the poly bushings waiting to be installed, but I have a question about getting started on her vertical control (aka de-Buick'ing her ride motion).

Should I start with shocks or springs? I was thinking shocks since it is a pretty easy upgrade and gives me a way point before deciding about going with the spring as well.
 
Do it all the first time. Those springs are approaching 30 years old - you won't regret it.

And get the lowered springs. They're tighter, but still give a good ride quality.
 
Mine came from Woody, but I would imagine there's little, if any, difference. They are considerably shorter than stock springs, but only lower the car a fraction, as they are much stiffer. Before I rebuilt my front end, the nose dove like crazy when braking. Now, no nose dive!
 
I wouldn't even consider changing one without changing the other as well. Just taking apart the front struts to change out the springs is an all day event. Call up Woody and order a set of springs, spring rubbers, and some KYB shocks. It's a nice all around set up for 95% of the TR7/8 drivers out there. For the other 5%, you can do what I am doing. I just finished building up Rover SD1 front struts with Willwood brakes, 11 inch vented rotors, Koni adjustable racing shocks, coil over sleeves, 225# springs, and adjustable camber plates. I'm still playing with the rears, but I have a Ford posi 3.73 rear with discs ready to go.
 
tr8todd said:
Call up Woody and order a set of springs, spring rubbers, and some KYB shocks. It's a nice all around set up for 95% of the TR7/8 drivers out there.
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif And don't forget the needle bearing strut tower inserts!

By the way, nice setup you're doing, Todd!
 
Wait for Woody's new design front strut set up this spring. That's what I'm going to do.
I am going to purchase my wheels soon. can't decide if I should do the Superlites and have the centers powder coated or spend the extr and get the expensive ones(dang can't remember what they are called.)
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

tr8todd, what are you going to end with with for a bolt pattern?

Building the front to match the Ford 4 1/2 x 5, or drilling the Ford axles to match the front? I'm curious because I've been planning on a Ford 8.8 and then trying to find a 4 1/2 x 5 pattern front strut suspension to graft in.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

I have a 4.6L 2002 Range Rover V8 in my 8, giving 280 BHP. I also have a stockish 7, with a developed suspension, which I'd had for years, before we built the 8.

I started the 8 on the road with the engine, big front brakes, 1" lowered front subframe, rear discs, & limited slip Heavy duty diff.

After fitting polly bushes all round, I fitted 35% stiffer front, & 30% stiffer rear anti roll bars, with an anti dive kit.

The car was brilliant.

I have since lowered it 1.25", Added 220 lb springs, & fully adjustable competition shocks, & a watts linkage. All of this has improved the car marginally, but none has had anything like the effect of the bushes, & the heavy anti roll bars.

I had gone the other way with the 7, with springs, shocks, & bushes all done, but still on stock anti roll bars. With this experience I believe that anti roll bars will give you the most improvement for your buck, providing the springs & shocks are not shot.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

I plan on running the 5x4.5 bolt pattern. I talked to a machinist yesterday about having him redrill the fronts. The Rover came with 5x5, and redrilling the rears to that measurement would be a heck of a lot easier, but there isn't a big selection of wheels in that size. For the fronts, I will have to plug the old holes with steel before redilling. The machinist I am going to use specializes in making deiveshafts, so this is right up his alley. The Rover strut is bigger in every way. The tube is larger in diameter and is a little longer. I plan on cutting it down to match the Konis. The hub, spindle and bearings are also larger. The net effect will be that the track in the front will be wider. How much wider I can't say until it is installed. I suspect it will be about 1.5 inches wider total, which will fall in line with all of the front drive wheels available. My rear end is actually 1/2 inch narrower. I plan on running rear wheels that are larger than the fronts. Probably something like 16x7 in the front and 16x9 in the rear. If you need more details, send me a PM and I can send you some pics and some more specific measurements. I could even duplicate it if I had another set of SD1 struts.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

Have to agree with a lot that has been said already. With springs and shocks, do them all at the same time. The front springs have to come off to put new strut inserts in anyway and the rear shocks are pretty easy (rear passenger shock on the coupe is a bit of a pain though /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif ) I also did the poly bushes when I did the shocks and springs. The sway bars are easy to do and can easily be done at the same time or later without any issues.

If your suspension is pretty worn out, don't expect the car to actually drop much with lowered springs. My car didn't go any lower, the suspension was already sagging quite a bit, but it did get much more controllable.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

Sold on doing both the springs and shocks at the same time.

Including poly bushings how much harsher will the ride be?
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

The poly bushings will make the ride a little harder and a little noisier. Here is a little test to show how much you really need them. Go to the back of your car. Push against the rear fender in a direction parallel with the ground. Push, let off, push, let off. You will soon notice that the car wiggles a ton. Some of the wiggle is tire side wall flex, but most of it is the rubber bushings in the control arms. Poly bushings will get rid of that. They will help the car stay stable in turns and transitions, and allow the shocks and springs to do their job.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

SCguy said:
Tom,

You rode in my car... impressions?
Click to expand...

Impression = your car is awesome! It felt 'German' in ride quality.

I think I just sold myself.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

I did an upgrade to my TR8 about 5 years ago. Spax (junk!) front and rear, springs, bars, anti-dive plates, and poly bushings everywhere. One caution on poly bushings in the rear. The rear can sort of bind up a little as it moves through its travel. WOody mentioned something about keeping the rubber bushings in one of the locations in the rear, but I can't remember which. Anyway, the car is tighter, handles better, isn't any noisier, and goes where I point it. VERY nice. The hard part is getting the old bushings OUT, but pressing in the new bushings is fairly easy. REMEMBER ONE THING -------- do NOT forget to install the bump stops when you put the suspension back together. If you bottem a shock or strut you'll destroy it. You NEED the bump stops.
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

I'll echo the comments made here. Get the complete set-up, do it once and do it right -- you won't regret it. I did mine over the summer, lowered springs, KYB shocks, poly bushings, needle roller kit for the top struts. Also a good time to do your ball joints. Probably will need new bump stops, mine were non-existent.

I wish mine was a one-weekend job, but it was not. With my car, I had a horrible time getting the bushings out of the rear and had to use a sawzall to cut through the bolt as it was "fused" to sleeve inside the bush. That was not fun. But the pain was well worth the ride I experience now.

The comments made by Shawn and other regarding the front roll bar are absolutely true also. You need some type of ratcheting tie-down strap to compress the bar and get it back into the control arms. Not sure how you'd do it without it.

You also may need to cut-down the bump stops in the front with the lowered springs.

Chris
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

Bob, what problem(s) did you encounter with the Spax?

Did the factory, or the distributor step up and take care of the concerns you had?
 
Re: Upgrading TR8 stock suspension - start with sh

I have LOTS of creaking now with the old (I believe) stuff. Is the creaking typically the spring washers, or the radius arms, or little green men, or...
 
Back
Top