>John Taylor [The Banshee] writes:
>> >straight. This is usually undesirable! My TR2 has ZERO CASTER, which means
>> >that the only thing making the car want to go straight, is the silentblock
>> >bushings in the steering gear ( GAAK ).
I wish I did have one ;-) (Alas, I was only quoting someone else)
>notice what's happening to the outside wheels now), and with most
>suspensions (e.g. Mac Pherson struts) this effect is made even worse
>because body roll affects the suspension geometry to make the outside
>camber even worse (that's why race cars tend to be very stiff --
>you want to minimize body roll to minimize the decambering effect).
The Moke's rubber cone suspension has no problems there!
>Only one problem here: when you're going straight, e.g. when you're
>braking in a straight line, you have no lateral force on the car,
>and since you've set up the car for so much static negative camber,
>only the insides edges of the tires are touching the ground, so you
>get poor braking performance. (This also applies to acceleration, if
>you have a car with enough power that traction is a problem on
>acceleration. I wouldn't know about that. :-) )
I guess the same problem occurs with positive camber, but instead the inside
edges wear.
>So setting up any race car is a trade-off and you have to decide what
>factors are most important to you. My personal choice is to use radials
>(I don't like the way Hoosiers lurch), as much camber as I can get
>(currently about 3.5 degrees until I get the time to fabricate camber
>plates), super-stiff springs (I don't mind that the car gets airborn
>over bumps -- in fact, I find it fun :-) ) and no swaybars (I had major
>wheelspin problems with a rear swaybar, and none at all without it.
>Besides, swaybars add weight). I leave the caster alone (never even
>measured it) and use front toe to adjust turn-in characteristics
>(and rear toe to adjust oversteer/understeer balance).
I personally prefer steel-belted radials too. Mokes and (non-hydroelastic)
Minis have never been reknowned for soft rides - the rubber-cone system saw to
that! Soft, comfy seats come in handy here. As for sway-bars, I doubt you
could fit them to a Moke/Mini - even if it were necessary. The deep sump
combined with "armor-plated" sump guard leave little room to put anything.
Once you've driven a Moke (or Mini) it's amazing how horrible other "softer"
cars feel - they really sag around corners.
"Have you driven a MOKE, lately?" (Geez that Ford (Aus.) add is annoying)
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| John Taylor [The Banshee] Victoria University of Technology |
| s883351@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) |
| MOKING IS A HEALTH HAZARD. Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA |
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