Gandalf's Evolution

[digifish]

3 hours ago, whitevx said:

@digifish nice to see another Aussie here, are you on the east or west coast ?

 

East. There's a few aussies about here inc Gandalf

[JR RS]

1 hour ago, k.young said:

That front splitter looks really well.

 

I've also been thinking of getting my roof wrapped..........I think you've just tipped me over the edge!!!!

 

[img]https://i.imgur.com/QBhImhU.jpg[/img]

 

I would love to get the roof done and possibly do a "black pack" like the Sportline........(worried how much this might cost)

 

Getting the roof wrapped makes a nice difference.

Highly recommended.

 

[JR RS]

3 hours ago, digifish said:

 

Good luck with that. I keep scraping my OEM bumper on those concrete sleepers they often put at the end of car parks

 

 

EDIT ...

 

I just went out to check, its actually the front lip of the wheel arches that hangs down in front of the wheels I keep scraping...so you may be OK

 

 

 

Lol.....I never park right up like that, front or rear.

 

It's angled driveways I'm worried about.

[Schoda206]

14 hours ago, JR RS said:

But importantly, it can b seen from the outside.

Thanks very much for that. Looks the same as mine and, as you say, is easily seen from the side and rear, which I believe keeps it legal. I just prefer to see the little flashing light at the tip. I suspect the darker plastic lenses on the dynamic ones might prevent the light reflecting all the way to the tip. The original unit seems to have one just LED that is reflected all along the clear lens, rather than a strip.

[pompom]

need rear boot line protector now

[JR RS]

Updating the build thread now that the splitter, finished in gloss black now, has been fitted.

Been almost a week now, and I've been doing well thus far in not scrapping it!!!

The front splitter sides r 11mm of the ground.  The middle section bit sits 13mm off.

The lowest point (behind front wheels) of my Rieger side skirt sits 10mm off the ground!!!

 

 

[whitevx]

@JR RSthe spliter certainly adds some distinction and yet isn't obvious nor offensive.

 

You have a mighty fine looking vehicle mate and im following this with interest.

[GWCTas]

@JR RS. That’s so low the gravel in my driveway will scrape on it!!

[JR RS]

3 hours ago, whitevx said:

@JR RSthe spliter certainly adds some distinction and yet isn't obvious nor offensive.

 

I'm really pleased with Rieger splitter.  

I like that it's not in ur face.

One would need to take a second look to understand wat they saw.

[JR RS]

over the weekend i installed upgraded/longer front endlinks.

with the car lowered 20mm, the endlinks needed to be 20mm longer, to compensate for the drop, in order for the front swaybar to continue to work efficiently with no pre-load.

these Whiteline (KLC167A) endlinks r adjustable ones, so it can b precisely adjusted to the required length.

 

i was meant to do this a long time ago, but given its not critical to do, i was in no rush.

not critical because the car was only lowered 20mm, which the factory endlinks can handle, for the most part. 

anything more than 40mm drop, then it is highly recommended, aka a must!

 

factory endlinks r 340mm.

adjusted whiteline endlinks to 360mm.  (pic below shows endlink at its minimum length, prior to adjustment)

 

installing it was tedious, as i had to remove the front bumper and front wheel arch liners, in order for me to be able to make the endlink adjustments with the suspension loaded, i.e. car on the ground.

with my car lowered and the front splitter, there was no way i could squeeze between 110mm of ground clearance to access the endlinks!! even with wheels at full lock. 

so come off they had to.  

 

 

 

Edited 17 August, 2021 by JR RS

[GWCTas]

@JR RS it seems there is no end to Gandalf's Evolution!!

[JR RS]

2 hours ago, GWCTas said:

@JR RS it seems there is no end to Gandalf's Evolution!!

 

its a slow & steady, never ending evolution for Gandalf 

[Bap33]

Since new ones are a bit shorter, does it modify the DCC reactions?

[JR RS]

1 hour ago, Bap33 said:

Since new ones are a bit shorter, does it modify the DCC reactions?

 

No, the new ones r longer.

No, it doesn't affect DCC behaviour.

 

Lowering means shorter springs, increasing the distance of the endlink mount points between the strut and swaybar.

Hence it (endlink length) increases by the amount dropped/lowered.

 

DCC is not affected, but rather it affects the turn in, steering feel and front stabilisation.

 

The longer length endlinks eliminates the swaybar preload, caused by the shorter springs.

 

Similar to the rear, but in that case u use shorter endlinks, which I've already done a while ago now.

Edited 17 August, 2021 by JR RS

[Bap33]

Err... The new ones are the 'golden' ones aren't they?

Then I don't understand... Or... I need to go back to my ophthalmologist 

[MarkyG82]

Can you explain why you are getting preload with lowering springs.  'Shirley' the sway bar is just pivoted up a bit?  I get why you would want to fit longer ones to get the bar in the right position, but don't agree that the reason is preload.

 

Also, do you have access to scales to get the corner weights right?  That with a full alignment would get amazing results from your setup.

[Bap33]

22 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

Can you explain why you are getting preload with lowering springs

IMHO, since the lowering springs are shorter, the shock absorbers are necessarily already 'preloaded' (as if OEM springs were compressed to get the same length as the lowering springs).

[MarkyG82]

2 minutes ago, Bap33 said:

IMHO, since the lowering springs are shorter, the shock absorbers are necessarily already 'preloaded' (as if OEM springs were compressed to get the same length as the lowering springs).

 

This doesn't affect the loading on the sway bar though.  The only time the bar gets loaded is with different forces on either side.  If the front springs are the same on both side then the bar will just move up a bit.  Hence the requirement for longer links to bring it back to a good position.

[Bap33]

Sorry, I misunderstood you and thought the preload concerned the shock absorbers, intead of the sway bar.  

[JR RS]

9 hours ago, Bap33 said:

Err... The new ones are the 'golden' ones aren't they?

Then I don't understand... Or... I need to go back to my ophthalmologist 

 

U missed the bit where I said "pic below shows endlink at its minimum length, prior to adjustment"

 

 

7 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

Can you explain why you are getting preload with lowering springs.  'Shirley' the sway bar is just pivoted up a bit?  I get why you would want to fit longer ones to get the bar in the right position, but don't agree that the reason is preload.

 

From the numerous forums and research I've read - they all mention, and explain why there is preload after the car is lowered.

And I also saw it for myself - when I had the old endlinks removed and the car was on the ground, I could see swaybar's normal position, which was far off from the factory endlink's bottom point.  This was because of the shorter Eibach springs

 

Yes, u can push/pivot the swaybar upwards, but it requires a lot of force and the swaybar doesn't stay in that position, instead it rebounds back to its original position - as is expected normal behaviour for a swaybar.

 

Try it for urself.

 

This tension/resistance is the pre-load everyone refers to.

 

Again, as I said before - it's not critical to do, and the factory endlinks will put up with "shortfall".

 

I did it cause I wanted to.

Edited 17 August, 2021 by JR RS

[Bap33]

7 minutes ago, JR RS said:

U missed the bit where I said "pic below shows endlink at its minimum length, prior to adjustment"

Then I need to go to my ophthalmologist... . Sorry, if I missed this point.  

[MarkyG82]

6 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

From the numerous forums and research I've read - they all mention, and explain why there is preload after the car is lowered.

And I also saw it for myself - when I had the old endlinks removed and the car was on the ground, I could see swaybar's normal position, which was far off from the factory endlink's bottom point.  This was because of the shorter Eibach springs

 

Yes, u can push/pivot the swaybar upwards, but it requires a lot of force and the swaybar doesn't stay in that position, instead it rebounds back to its original position - as is expected normal behaviour for a swaybar.

 

Try it for urself.

 

This tension/resistance is the pre-load everyone refers to.

 

 

 

Pretty sure that is just friction in the bushes. Release the bolts on the bush clamps and maybe add some lube and it'll go away.

 

But as you know the bar will be in a suboptimal position so correct length links are needed to bring it back in line.

 

......and they look cool!!!

[JR RS]

53 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

Pretty sure that is just friction in the bushes. Release the bolts on the bush clamps and maybe add some lube and it'll go away.

 

But as you know the bar will be in a suboptimal position so correct length links are needed to bring it back in line.

 

......and they look cool!!!

 

yeah.....nah!

to get to the front swaybar clamps, u need to drop the sub-frame - no thanks!!!  

 

[MarkyG82]

7 minutes ago, JR RS said:

 

u need to drop the sub-frame

 

 

Can you at least get to them with a nozzle of something?  Not trying to wind you up, genuinely interested for future mods.  Is there enough space to get an arm close and squirt some silicone?

[JR RS]

4 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

Can you at least get to them with a nozzle of something?  Not trying to wind you up, genuinely interested for future mods.  Is there enough space to get an arm close and squirt some silicone?

 

lol, all good.

 

but i'm not sure, maybe, though i highly doubt u'll b able to spray it with a nozzle of some sort.

if u have access to a car lift/hoist, u might b able to get a better view to see if it would be possible at all.