Can anyone who is using the Spyder RSC twin wishbone rear suspension tell me the dimensions of the box section is that I apparently need to cut out of the bodywork to clear the top wishbone? How did you make up the section? Any photos would be appreciated.
Also I would be interested to hear RSC user’s experiences.
Mr Pete
I would have thought that Spyder would have an ‘Installation Notes’ leaflet or something. Having said that, getting advice from someone thats actually done it is probably woth a 1000 words.
Ian P
Ian P-
In this respect Spyder only deal in two dimensions, unfortunately. I would have thought that they would be enterprising enough to have these sections ready made up, to sell along with the suspension components, not so.
Cheers,
Mr Pete.
While I have not used the rsc setup myself, I have couple of friends who have. Other than the necessary body alterations, the only complaint I have heard is the rear brake rotor scraping on the spring. Dunno what the fix is, or if there is one.
I’ve not long fitted the twin Spyder RSC set-up and yeah you do need to cut a section out of the body work for clearence. There’s not enough room to clear the ‘forward facing’ wishbone spindle/nut so you have to remove a part of the bodywork and make up your own cover. Means in future you get on the forward facing nut on the spindle from inside the cabin. I won’t get a chance till the weekend but I’ll measure it up and try to get a couple of images.
Wayne
Hi chaps
I have an RSC kit on a sprint connected to a Spyder chasis and using their minilite rep wheels.
The only trimming I needed to do was to the inner flange of wheelarch to clear the tyres. It doesn’t show externally.
Does the box section mod refer to Lotus chasis rather than Spyder? My experience of them as a supplier is that they cover all of the angles (their chasis and Lotus) so I’m surprised that you need to do major surgery.
The combination works really well so its worth persevering.
Gavin
Regarding the brake rotor contacting the spring -
When I fitted the Spyder rear suspension to my +2S, I found one of the discs contacting the spring. When I checked the hub carrier, the spring/shock mount was badly misaligned. I cut and rewelded the mounting and it’s fine. Bad quality control at Spyder, it seems.
If you attempt to lower the rear suspension beyond a certain point, the brake disc contacts the upper wishbone. The rubber strip glued to the bottom of the rear tower is the bump stop.
Other wise I’m very happy with it. Big advantage is being able to use 14 x 6 Minilites, and height/stiffness adjustable Spax shocks. The spring/shock unit can be removed in ten minutes, a big improvement on the original installation.
Sean Murray
Spyder supplied the glass box sections with my RSC, as well as a written set of instructions and a couple photos of the proper installation. Who could ask for anything more?
Jim
Jim,
I don’t suppose that you could post the photos. The reason that i don’t have any is that I obtained the RSC stuff second hand, but unused! I got the two bits of paper when I visited Spyder, but they don’t have much in the way of dimensions.
How do you find the RSC drives/handles in comparison?
Cheers,
Pete
Oh well… as Fleetwood Mac once said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4HGlmtOcg
Thanks for all the responses
Now it’s been a while; so how many long-term users of the RSC twin-wishbone rear suspension are there on here? Most of the previous respondents seem to have taken the last train to Clarksville (along with Davey Jones; RIP).
I have had something of a marathon day under the car, changing various bits and pieces and it looks like being the same tomorrow. The problem that I am trying to trace is a loud metallic “clack-clack” as I drive over bumps. It sounds like my Lotocones are really shot- the noise is over my left shoulder (rhd so in the centre-line of the car); of course with a Spyder chassis and RSC set-up there are no Lotocones!
I’m reasonably sure that the bushes at the top of the coil-over are OK and the mounting-plate is secure; I’ve emptied the boot/trunk and hopefully thereby eliminated all the red-herrings but… the noise is still there.
All suggestions, no matter how daft, are welcome but… if there are any RSC long-termers, I would love to hear from you.
Does the noise occur at all speeds? Assume it does. If so, any sign of the noise when bouncing the rear end?
Cheers - Richard
I notice the noise most when driving along my road: and unmade private road with a good selection of pot-holes (not an ideal place for a serial Elan-owner to reside) so it is most obvious when the suspension is jolted at slow speed (before the rest of the general racket associated with driving a Lotus has taken over). However, if I hit a pot-hole at any speed it is noticeable.
I cannot replicate the noise by bouncing.
Bring along a passenger for another set of ears. They’ll watch and listen while you drive.
Greg z
Tried that, but no wiser; I’m going to persuade my Son to ride in the boot along our road.
Beg your pardon ! I am very much alive, and scuba diving in Tenerife at present
One thing you might check is whether there is enough clearance in the lower shock mounts, allowing the metal eye to contact the shock mount when the rubber bushings are subject to bump loads…
Pete, its probably your dentures. I didn
t believe my wife when she told me Davey Jones was dead, then I saw her face.
Jim
Pete,
The upper wishbones can wear quite badly at the hub connection, mine went oval after 18 months and caused a clackety clack noise over bumps. The replacements have rose joints. Mine is a zetec setup to Sierra hubs but the principle is the same.
Hope this isn’t your problem as the bits are not cheap.
Good luck.
Thanks Sean, I’ll do that.
Did you hear the one about the Irish scuba-diver…?
Pete,
The upper wishbones can wear quite badly at the hub connection, mine went oval after 18 months and caused a clackety clack noise over bumps. The replacements have rose joints. Mine is a zetec setup to Sierra hubs but the principle is the same.Hope this isn’t your problem as the bits are not cheap.
Good luck.
If I ever get past the mountain of broken domestic appliances that seems to assault me each day, my intention is to dismantle both sides of the car and fit the poly-bushes I’ve had on the shelf for a while. I changed the right-side upper wishbone when the car was t-boned in 2009; the left side (which is where the noise seems to come from) has been in there for about eight years. The hub end of the upper wishbone is a single bush; got to be a suspect for premature wear.
Thanks for the pointer, I’ll pay particular attention to that area.
So; I completely dismantled the left rear suspension and found NO signs of wear at all.
Took it for a drive and the clack-clack noise is still there.
The seat-belt mounting bolt is tight.
Not much else it can be, as far as I can see.
Here are a couple of photos taken this evening, when exploring the interior of the boot (not a place I can really recall having really scrutinised in 35 years on and off Elan ownership).
The first photo is from the Sprint (a FHC to DHC conversion; the car in question), the glass-fibre around the tubular strengthening “bit” seems much newer than the rest of the body, so I assume was added when the roof was removed and the raised lip for the Tenax fasteners was put in, when the roof was cut off.
The second photo is of my FHC; I had not previously noticed this strengthening tube, neither did I know that there is a (rusty) piece of steel channel connecting the boot hinge mounting bolts.
None of which gets me nearer to the source of the noise, as far as I can tell, but I’ll check the tightness of the nuts on the rusty channel (the Nylok nut in the first photo shows no sign of a bolt inside it!) and also on the steel cross-member which holds in the cardboard fire-wall.