408 With Negative Camber

[Kevin H]

Brian,
I also thought the fulcrum brackets appeared to be flimsy considering their purpose when the holes in the crossmember are elongated. However, my knowledge of the forces at work in a suspension system is minimal.

I was also wondering whether coil spring length could affect the camber.



Kevin

[jeff02740]

Kevin and Brian
Thank you for your input, I do not know the complete history of the car, but I do know that the bushings that I replaced had been done at least once before. The car’s ride height is the same left to right and yes, the angled spring seats were both intact and in good condition. With respect to elongating the holes in the subframe, I guess that could be done, but new fulcrum brackets would have to be fabricated because the bushings would now be cocked and there is no room to relocate the brackets.
At this point I think I am going to run the car as it is, but if I do at some future date disassemble it again, I will address it by elongating the holes and making new fulcrum brackets.
Thanks,
Jeff

[DODD]

Kevin,

When I was rebuilding my suspension, the 4No. Bolts, 1/4” BSF securing the fulcrum brackets to the crossmember, in my opinion, appeared to be small for the job in hand. I upgraded these bolts to 5/16” BSF. They fitted in position very well with the flat side of the hex head neatly positioned close to the vertical section of the fulcrum bracket.

I can’t give you a definitive answer to the length of the coil springs affecting the camber angle but as the upper and lower wishbones are in a fixed position on the crossmember, albeit in a pivotal position and the outer extremities of the wishbones are secured to the hub, again in a fixed position; my initial thoughts are no BUT as the four fixing points are not triangulated, there has to be a degree of camber movement when the wishbones are raised or lowered. In fact I went to my 410 and roughly checked the camber angle with a spirit level on both front wheels and they were near enough when the car was sitting on the garage floor. I then raised the front of the car to confirm my suspicions and as expected the camber angle changed quite a bit. My thoughts are that if the coil springs are too long, short, over or under strength, that can have an affect the camber angle.

When refurbishing my front suspension, I decided to renew the springs without having the existing ones tested for compression, despite them being the correct length. Once fitted they made a noticeable difference to the cars stance and handling.

Another thought on the elongated holes in the crossmember: my car had and still does have the standard washers fitted as per item 3 in the parts list. I would have thought Bristol would have used friction washers in place of those specified, this would have reduced the risk of the camber angle being pushed out of line due to the “occasional” potholes on our roads here in the UK!

Brian

[DODD]

Jeff

I would speak to SLJ or Graeme at Classic Bristol Car Parts Ltd before you consider elongating the holes in the crossmember for their advice.

The parts list that Kevin posted, noted three different fulcrum brackets for the 408 Mk2, 409 and the 409/410 with power steering, that tells me the initial setup of those models will be slightly different.

Brian

[jeff02740]

Recent work.

[Kevin H]

very nice work Jeff.
Looks like you have a great workshop!


Kevin