Yep, i run the rally design ones on my mk1, they are good but as stated they will always be a compromise between the castor, camber and scrub radius angle (this is the bit i forgot about! ) . Also with my stiff spring rates they made the front VERY crashy over potholes etc, might well be okay on a softer sprung car, but just bear it in mind before buying them for a road based car.
What suspension are you using Ian? Have you used anything else before your current setup? My thread on the subject of Mk1 suspension/coilovers
Ignoring the bling... These look like the Ground Control ones albeit grafted around the original standard tower layout. I think with most adjustable top mounts you need to cut the top of the towers flat to fit them correctly and drill a few more holes?
Indeed Chris. I've been trying to look where vw_singh posted about making his own adjustable top mounts and not cutting up the tower, the above picture seems to show what I think he is thinking of making...
I'v just received pair of these mounts, but not entirely sure how to fit them Any advice,gary or someone? they look like top qlty items to be honest
cheers steve when it comes to adjusting it tho,looks a bit more time consuming than i thought it would judging by the pic, position of the top nut indicates allot of caster, am i right? how does it afect steering/handling? sorry for so many qstns
hi sambo, To fit them in the mk1 i needed to grind out a little of the inside of the suspension turret to give enough clearance to make them fit flush with the inside top of the turret. It'll be obvious enough if you need to when you offer it up. In addition to the 2 existing holes in the turret, you will also need to drill another hole to attach the topmount with the 3 allen bolts. As for adjusting once all attached up with the strut it's easy to adjust them by just removing the allen bolts, then spinning the top mount around to when you want it then re attach the bolts. Steve's pic above shows max neg castor and standard camber. which is odd, as with castor you generally want more positive, improving steering feel thro extra self-centring (thou increases weight too) and improves the tyres contact patch under steering load. More neg castor is like a shopping trolley, less steering weight and feel but very quick directional changes, more favoured on Rally cars IIRC. I started running mine with the eccentric centre at about 2 oclock and 10 oclock respectively(when viewed from the front of the car, left then right) which gives a bit more postive castor and a bit more neg camber, which can be fine tuned on the eccentric strut mounting bolt. Have a play from there to see what you prefer, just remember thou that you will also be altering the Scrub radius angle too, which can cause broadly speaking either more stable braking and more understeer or less stable braking with less understeer. Hope that helps a bit. If you do a search on GVK's widetrack thread there was a diagram which explained scrub radius angle a bit better. Edited by: I V - mk1 16v
- 1.5 Deg Neg camber, I do a lot of sprint events 50/50 between circuit and airfields around cones so i need the steering to be light and have better turn in, I had my car set up to my spec by one of thoes four wheel lazer things and its spot on.
