Rear suspension: why? how?

[ColinMarr]

Swings and roundabouts – up forces and down forces – apples and pears – yawns and groans!

In my absence over the last two days I am pleased to think we might have reached a meeting of minds.

My original doubts were about the claim that:  “.. a single wheel bump (hit a brick) will result in the other side of the car being lifted”. The use of the word ‘LIFTED’ implied a lessening of the load on the wheel at that side and I thought that was wrong.

So, I replied that:  “… one wheel hitting a bump will not be reacted to as a push up on the other side – it will be a pull DOWN and hence add to the stability.” Meaning that the cables would exert more downward pull, i.e. increasing the down-force on that wheel and hence its adhesion to the road.

And now I see that David has posted:  “…the car is pushing the passenger side wheel DOWN on to the road to counter the rolling motion from the single wheel bump.” I like the sound of DOWN much better) and I now think we are saying the same thing.

I am sure we could go on for ever debating about whether the car pushes up or down of its own free will, or whether it is influenced to do so by the pulling action of the leaf spring, but let’s not go there! And neither need we get into a debate about the sequence of action and reaction…...

Meanwhile, David, if you are visiting the woodworking show this weekend, the invitation to call in still stands. Geoff, you are welcome too, but I had better check on the state of my cellar if you are likely to make it – RSVP!

(Ah, and now we are on to Andre Telecontol dampers – another bag of delights. Must recover from the Isle of Wight first…. )

Colin

[Scarpia]

Colin,
 it would be ill advised to allow a chap such as the colonel into one's cellar.I know the 66 Trotanoy has been drinking well but don't tell him that....As i understand it a lifetime's collection could be destroyed in one "session."



 

[DavidLaver]

The rear damper picture.

Hartford Telecontrol spares also from http://www.completeautomobilist.com/ as well as http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk

Google gave me this which is chapter one from "The shock absorber handbook".

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/feats/download_sample.asp?report_id=564373&file_name=Chapter%201%20Introduction%20Sample&file_ext=pdf

Page 9 for Houdaille with a cross section on the next page.
Page 11 for the "bladder" type Hartfords.
Page 12 for a Lambda sliding pillar.

David

[inthedark]

Sorry, not wishing to divert his thread, but I have to add - th '76 Chateaux lafitte Rothschild is still pretty drinkable, even affect
the spelling ability, should have read the label before posting/drinking

'the colonel'

ps I like the way I'm invited to a woodworking show, but NOT given the location ?

[DavidLaver]

That's on a "need to know basis" - and my guess is that you needed to know about the wine and not the show.  Its a shorter walk to Colin's house than the far side of the car park.

http://www.getwoodworking.com/editorial/editorial.asp?edsec=IWE%202008

Alas tied to my lockup...

David

[Scarpia]

I believe the "Antique Vacuum Cleaner Collectors club" are holding a special symposium that very same weekend.Fortune smiles on you all indeed to be able to combine the two in one trip. Like bell ringing clubs, alcohol plays an integral part in the proceedings so the colonel should be right at home... (try getting the thread back on line after this)...

[ColinMarr]

The ‘Andre Telecontrol’ system (connect with antique) which allowed the driver to alter the stiffness of the rear suspension sounds really attractive. When I bought my Aprilia in 1962 I was a bit disappointed that the original Andre dampers had been replaced by ‘modern’ Girling arm-actuated (connect with bell ringing) hydraulic units. These worked OK, but tantalisingly the original Andre adjuster unit with its big knurled grip and pressure gauge were still there easy to hand under the dash, but connected to nothing!

I can’t recall any other Aprilia at that time that had working units. I think they were intended to be filled with an anti-freeze mixture (connect with alcohol) and I guess the critical bits just rusted away.  Although curiously nowadays I do know of one that is in use and that is in an Aprilia owned by a non-LMC member - shame!

A common mod in the 60s was to replace the rear dampers with Koni type telescopic units. The bodge was to cut into the floor pan just ahead of the fuel tank and fit bent sheet-steel ‘towers’ - simply bolted to the floor - to take the top of the damper, with the lower eye on the trailing arm fitting. Purists would object! I wasn’t tempted – I needed the boot space.

(On line?)

Colin

[Scarpia]

I say , well done!

Even more tantalising for me is having the wonderful fuel guage but not the sender unit to make it light up.I've moaned previously about that so I won't go on but isn't it funny how we are all attracted to particular cars because of the extra detail aspects when the fundamentals are so right anyway and so much more important.If for example I was in the market for a flaminia sedan i would note doubt be looking for the extra rear windscreenwiper version (as if that was really of any importance....)

Its most often precisely these nice extra touches that don't actually work or are missing on our cars yet they often draw all the attention in written articles. 

[DavidLaver]

I'll take a photo of my "milk churn" Nilfisk for you - the pride of my vacuum cleaner collection. 

What I'd really like the space for is a lawn mower collection.  THE museum is in Southport - yet to visit.

David

[Scarpia]

I was born and bred in Southport and can happily say I never encountered such a place....I would have imagined it should be in "Suffolk". (how's that for a "punch"line)

[ColinMarr]

And now back a bit for the sake of the colonel:

Geoff,

I did say in the original invitation to David that the event is at Alexandra Palace, which is a stone’s throw from where I live and I assumed that you had seen this. Perhaps you were very ……dru…dr….di…distracted at the time! Anyway, if you are tempted by the woodworking show, or any other show at Ally Pally, please call and see me. I can’t always vouch for the state of the cellar, but you can try me out.

Colin 

[Peter W]

The Series 1 Aprilia that I owned in the early 60s was still equipped with the Andre Telecontrol damper system which worked well except in the depths of winter when the water/glycerine mix tended to freeze.

Peter

[inthedark]

A drop of meths usually stope most systems from freezing (we used to put it in the Truck air braking system)

Geoff.

Thanks for  offer Colin, but wont be free this week-end.  Rain Check ?

[DavidLaver]

http://www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk/

I found it in a book called "testicles to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out"

"We've all driven past brown signs inviting us to visit unlikely sounding local attractions like Barometer World or a Secret Nuclear Bunker - they're dotted the length and breadth of Britain. But how many of us have taken the time to visit? Well, our intrepid authors set out to discover what we'd been missing. They dropped by and sampled the small, peculiar and unique delights of places that defy rationality, convention and corporate sponsorship - and in a small way define what it is to be British."

Having looked that up on Amazon I've found the follow up "Far from the Sodding Crowd: More Uncommonly British Days Out"

"Britons work longer hours than almost any other nation in Europe, taking fewer public holidays, laboring from Monday to Friday on the promise of a blissful weekend of fun. But how do we spend our precious days off? Slouching in vast herds beneath the neon canopy of some indistinguishable out-of-town shopping center, peering up horizonless aisles of self assembly wardrobes, and queuing for the vomitcoaster at a soulless theme park in a line that smells of teenagers and sugar. What the hell are we doing with our leisure time? When asked what you did at the weekend, will you mutter something about shelves and how hard it was to park? Or will you regale them with a mighty tale of your trip to the Somerset Shoe Museum?"

David

[ColinMarr]

Just a test of censorship. Is it the forum filter that does it, or is it self-censorship?

My copy of what sounds like the same excellent book is: “ to Alton Towers”, or will you see it better as “B******ks to Alton Towers”?

Colin

Footnote a minute later. Now I understand it is after all the F****ing thought police that are trying to protect us!