5 replies to this topic

[bluesunbeam]

Got some bad news when i took the car to Back on Track; there is a 2mm difference in the length of the offside and nearside wheelbase. Despite this i have been loving the driving experience and have not noticed any strange handling characteristics up to speeds of 110 and the car drives and tracks in a very stable manner. I let my mate John take the car out for a few blasts because he always seems to pick up on anything wrong in a cars performance and he said the car felt very good and seemed to handle predictably and very well. The only time the car felt a bit strange was at higher speeds but i think this was due to a faulty damper that was sent back to Gaz shocks and repaired (very quickly) and though i only did one test run the car was definitely better at higher speeds. Whilst i had the shock off i thought i would check the wheel arch liner fastening points as most seemed to be missing so had to remove the liner for the first time. What i found other than a load of damaged mounting points for the liner was a dented and bent stay and distorted lower mounting point for the stay. I would appreciate any thoughts on what this indicates with regards to possible subframe damage and damage to the upper attachment points and whether this could explain the 2mm difference in the wheelbase. Also any suggestions on where i might find an undamaged stay would be gratefully received. I am going to try and include some pictures of the damaged part and mounting point

                                               Dave C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bluesunbeam]

Not sure why the photos are so tiny. I am going to try and post them again at a size that can be seen properly.

 

 

 

 

[bluesunbeam]

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[stevieturbo]

Don't have an answer, but they do look odd.

 

But if the wheels etc are straight, any slight anomalies may not mean much.

 

Did they say this 2mm wheelbase difference was unusual ? uncommon ? they've never seen it before ? etc etc 

 

I'm sure a lot of cars out there have lots of variances with no real ill effects.

Edited by stevieturbo, Yesterday, 06:29 PM.

[oblomov]

Not sure how you would even measure to that degree of accuracy.  Very much doubt that 2mm would make any significant difference to the car.  2CM maybe but 2mm?  But then, what do I know.

[bluesunbeam]

Hi stevieturbo. I told the guys at Back on Track that the car had been rebuilt after a huge shunt and that the crash structure at the front was destroyed and had been replaced. . He did point out some damage to the front of the tub that i was aware of and i  think he said that that was the cause of the 2mm difference but i couldn't really see how that could be the reason because none of the suspension is attached to that area and there is no visible evidence of any rippling or compression in the areas that the wishbones attach to. I really should have been more persistent and made sure i knew exactly what he meant but was in a hurry to get back on the road. They seemed to think it was quite a serious problem but said that it would probably be OK if i was just using the car on the road and then spent some time regaling me with stories of other VXs' that had been wrecked and resurrected and presented to them with the owners having no idea that their new pride and joy had been wrapped around a tree only months before. 

 The damage to the stay almost looks like someone has levered up against it with a crowbar or something; if you look at the cable tie by the dent you can see that part of it is squashed flat and there is a flat piece of plastic hanging of it - perhaps the stay was distorted in the accident and the dent and damage to the cable tie was caused by it being levered back into shape?