Getting things dialed in

[Tbev]

I am trying to get things dialed in so that I can bring my Roadster in for inspection and registration. I have been working on the ride height. Yesterday I had the front at 3.75 and the rear at 4.5. I was going to leave it there but I still do not like the look on the drivers side. The gap between the wheel well and the wheel is bigger in the rear than in the front giving the car a slight squatting look. The passenger side looks fine. Today I thought I would try raising the rear slightly in hopes to improve the look on the drivers side. I was shooting for 4.75 in the rear. I ended up with 5.0 in the rear. The look is much improved, but am I now too high in the rear and low in the front? (FYI MK4 with IRS)
One other question on a different topic. I have a Coyote with a TKX and Forte's hydraulic clutch. I have read many threads on this set up and being that I am a visual learner reading threads has helped me almost as much as it has confused me. My question is, I feel the clutch grabs very close to the floor when I have the pedal pushed all the way to the firewall. I checked the rod on the slave cylinder with the clutch pedal pushed all the way in and the piston is not coming out of the slave cylinder. Can I adjust the length on the rod on the slave cylinder to give the pedal a little more travel before it starts to engage?
Thank you.

[Mike.Bray]

My question is, I feel the clutch grabs very close to the floor when I have the pedal pushed all the way to the firewall. I checked the rod on the slave cylinder with the clutch pedal pushed all the way in and the piston is not coming out of the slave cylinder. Can I adjust the length on the rod on the slave cylinder to give the pedal a little more travel before it starts to engage?
Thank you.

Verify that the MC bore size is correct for the slave cylinder first.

[Nigel Allen]

I am trying to get things dialed in so that I can bring my Roadster in for inspection and registration. I have been working on the ride height. Yesterday I had the front at 3.75 and the rear at 4.5. I was going to leave it there but I still do not like the look on the drivers side. The gap between the wheel well and the wheel is bigger in the rear than in the front giving the car a slight squatting look. The passenger side looks fine. Today I thought I would try raising the rear slightly in hopes to improve the look on the drivers side. I was shooting for 4.75 in the rear. I ended up with 5.0 in the rear. The look is much improved, but am I now too high in the rear and low in the front? (FYI MK4 with IRS)
One other question on a different topic. I have a Coyote with a TKX and Forte's hydraulic clutch. I have read many threads on this set up and being that I am a visual learner reading threads has helped me almost as much as it has confused me. My question is, I feel the clutch grabs very close to the floor when I have the pedal pushed all the way to the firewall. I checked the rod on the slave cylinder with the clutch pedal pushed all the way in and the piston is not coming out of the slave cylinder. Can I adjust the length on the rod on the slave cylinder to give the pedal a little more travel before it starts to engage?
Thank you.

In regard to adjusting slave push rod: Yes.

[Tbev]

In regard to adjusting slave push rod: Yes.

Am I thinking this through correctly, adjusting it longer will give me a little more travel on the pedal before it starts to engage (so it is not engaging immediately after the pedal comes off of fully depressed towards the firewall)?

[Jeff Kleiner]

Regarding ride height: are you going for performance or aesthetics? If you start jacking your corners around for appearance sake you’ll probably throw your corner weights off affecting braking and cornering. Your choice…

Jeff

[Tbev]

Regarding ride height: are you going for performance or aesthetics? If you start jacking your corners around for appearance sake you’ll probably throw your corner weights off affecting braking and cornering. Your choice…

Jeff

Maybe a better question for me to ask is what is an acceptable range for the ride height for the front and the back? Is it 4 to 4.5 front and 4.5 to 5 rear? Should the difference front to back not exceed a certain measurement? I want the car to perform well on the street (none to very little track time expected), but I also want it to look good. I am not happy with the drivers side looking like its squatting down so I would like to adjust it as best I can to get it to look as good as it can while staying within acceptable measurements. I know the collars on the back shocks have to be adjusted the same side to side, as do the fronts. If the acceptable measurement is 4 for the front and 4.5 for the rear then I guess I will just have to live with the squatting look on the drivers side..

[Jeff Kleiner]

I generally set them up 3 3/4-4” front and 4 1/2-4 3/4” rear measured from the chassis. If the collars are equalized left to right this results in the corner weights being pretty much dead on. The body falls wherever that puts it.

Jeff

[Tbev]

I generally set them up 3 3/4-4” front and 4 1/2-4 3/4” rear measured from the chassis. If the collars are equalized left to right this results in the corner weights being pretty much dead on. The body falls wherever that puts it.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, That is very helpful!

[Tbev]

Verify that the MC bore size is correct for the slave cylinder first.

Thanks Mike. After a brief moment of panic I confirmed with Mike Forte that I do in fact have the correct MC bore size. I had to use a camera scope to see which MC I had since there is almost no access through the top of the foot box. I saw .75 and called Mike. He told me it should be .81 and that if I had a .75 MC installed it would need to be replaced with the .81. He asked if I could have mixed up the FFR supplied MC with the one he provided and I told him that I had already checked and all of them were .75. He apologized and said they must of made an error and shipped me the wrong MC. My thought immediately went to how in the world am I going to get in there to replace that MC without removing the body. I also thought I was just about ready for state inspection and now this was going to seriously set me back. Before I completely lost my mind I went back out with my scope and had another look and realized that I had not put the scope far enough in and was reading the number on middle MC twice. I called Mike back and we both had a good laugh at my expense.
Now I know I just have to adjust the rod longer on the slave to get the clutch to engage a little further from the floor.
I appreciate your help.

[Bob Cowan]

Jeff is exactly right in both posts. It's nice to have a stable ride height. The corner weight is more important.

Try this: jack the front of the car up at one end.
- adjust the spring collar so that the top of the spring is just touching the hat.
- do that in both ends.
- set the car back on the ground. Jump up and down a little bit on the car. Roll it Back and forth a little bit.
- measure ride height at Each corner. You will find that left and right are pretty close to each other.
- adjust left and right Springs At one end exactly the same amount Until you are at your desired ride height.
- they will probably not be exactly equal, but should be very close.
- repeat for the other end.
- go back and check the first end. Adjust as necessary.

Once you have done all this, your ride heights will be pretty darn close to what you want, but not exact. For a variety of reasons, it is almost impossible to get left and right exactly the same at both ends without significant effort. But, if you put it on a set of scales, I bet you would find that your corner weights are really really close.