Copy of Article Text Below
.....hot rod driver. I can set the steering wheel for him and all the armless man has to do is squirt. Simple.
I was playing with the thing at 5000 to 5500 revs in third gear which makes about 60mph. I was a little concerned about the way it was going to handle in these extreme conditions, but I needn't have worried and pretty soon found I could steer by using the brake and accelerator. If I braked lightly, the back brakes would come on first and the rear end would drift out. If you braked a bit harder the front brakes would come on and the car would tuck in as the front suspension closed down. When you accelerate the car goes back into the original course.
I took John out with me to demonstrate all this and asked him to grab the steering wheel while I drove the car. After one set of tests we were closing rapidly onto apiece of rag, with John still holding the steering. I bet him I could miss the rag without touching the wheel. I braked sharply to bring the front round, but as we went by we thought we had just clipped the rag. When we stopped and looked back we could see the tyre marks which showed I was right, and had been able to miss the cloth.
A handbrake turn was no problem at all, but starting off quickly in first gear straight afterwards, gave the car wheel tramp. I hope to be able to eliminate this with the anti-dive kit. When we start to get 140bhp plus from the engine we are probably going to be up against it, although at this stage we don't really know what is going to happen. At the moment we can get a rear wheel in the air, so we are going to have to stiffen the front to prevent too much roll. Having said that I am in favour of some body roll, as long as the wheels stay close to the ground. What gives me a lot of hope is the fact we are starting from a well thought out suspension set-up. The Fiesta has everything that the Mini boys really want.
Another test we did was going round the snake circuit, which is exactly as it sounds - deadly. There are plenty of right and left hand bends, all with adverse camber, all sharp and a blind brow is thrown in for good measure. With the two of us up it was remarkable how well the Flea handled the course. The tyres complained a bit, but I could even hang a wheel out over a slight drop without noticing any effect on the handling
The car handles pretty much the same in the wet, only things have to be taken at five to 10mph slower. There was none of this dreadful skating that you often get on some foreign cars.
More to come next, with some mods to make things even better.
Front Suspension type
Type: Independent McPherson Strut
Lateral control: Lower arms
Longitudinal control: Tie bar
Shock absorbers: Telescopic, hydraulic double-acting
Wheel Alignment (unladen)
Castor:
Standard: -0º 15 to +1º 15
Heavy duty: -0º 47 to +0º 43
Maximum permissible variation from side to side: 1º 15
Camber:
Standard: +0º 49 to +2º 49
Heavy duty: +0º 46 to +2º 46
Maximum permissible variation from side to side: 1º 15
Toe in/out: All variants
Checking specification: +1,0 mm (0.04 in.) (toe-in) to -6,0 mm (0.24 in.) (toe-out)
Set to middle of above range only if outside above specifications, i.e. set to: -2,5 mm (0.10 in.) (toe-out)
Spring usage:
|
Model
|
Part number
|
Colour code
|
Overall free length
|
Wire diameter
|
|
Standard suspension except 'S'
|
77FB-5310-CC
|
Brown
|
273 (10.75)
|
10.3 (0.40)
|
|
'S' with standard suspension
|
77FB-5310-DC
|
Brown/Red
|
253 (10.0)
|
10.6 (0.415)
|
|
All with heavy duty suspension and Italian specification
|
77FB-5310-BC
|
Brown/Yellow
|
271 (10.7)
|
10.7 (0.42)
|
Free lengths are nominal and should not be used to identify spring type but merely as a rough guide to spring condition.
Shock absorber usage:
|
Model
|
Part number
|
Colour code
|
|
Standard suspension
|
77FB-18045-AJ
|
Red/Yellow
|
|
'S' and heavy duty
|
77FB-18045-BE
|
Red/Blue
|
Spring ratings and usage by models:
|
Part number
|
Colour code
|
Free Length mm (in)
|
Wire Diameter mm (in)
|
Spring Usage - by Models
|
|
77FB-5560-EB
|
Blue/Yellow
|
270.0 (10.5)
|
10.4 (0.40)
|
Standard
|
|
77FB-5560-FB
|
Green/Yellow
|
282.0 (11.1)
|
10.9 (0.43)
|
Heavy duty and Italy including Italian 'S'
|
|
77FB-5560-GB
|
Green/Blue
|
260.0 (10.1)
|
10.7 (0.42)
|
'S'
|
NOTE: Free lengths are nominal and may vary by up to 10 mm (0.39) either way.
Shock absorbers and usage by models:
|
Part number
|
Colour code
|
Shock absorber usage - by models
|
|
77FB-18080-AJ
|
Red/Yellow
|
Standard
|
|
77FB-18080-BE
|
Red/Blue
|
Heavy Duty and Italy including Italian 'S'
|
|
77FB-18080-CD
|
Red/Green
|
'S'
|
|
