shockabsorbers (continued from thread 16 april 2006)

[Michael Beattie]

Is French polishing permissible outside the EU ?

Well said Paul.

Given the lack of ease with which the geometry of a std Fulvia's suspension can be adjusted, I fear the hypothetical Ohlins would probably be a tad of overkill

I must say though, in defense of the previously put upon Koni Classics, on the recent classic road rally that I did ( much in the form of the beloved Motoring News "open road races" of the past), the suspension handled well enough with the very bumpy Irish lanes, without jarring the teeth and bones of the car's aging occupants ! Put it this way it was good enough to blow off a 2002 Tii !!

Yes, folks can spend a lot of money on go faster bits, but usually there's cheaper tuning to be found in the Nut behind the Wheel, instead


Cheers

Michael

[Huib]

I agree with Paul that it is very clear that this forum has become a great succes. The difference beteen men and boys is the size of the toys. The Fulvia seems to be a great toy for many. Hundreds of Fulvisti read the forums. Many more than those who actively participate. Whenever I meet another Fulvista or talk to one on the phone, they all have read the latest postings on the forum. As you say, anybody can do with his Fulvia what he likes. Everybody can have his own opinion To use the words of Clint Eastwood: an opinion is like an asshole, everybody has one.

One can even have the opinion that the Fulvia should be put on the Unesco list of World Treasures and thus get full protection. For those who hadn't noticed: I lean towards this opinion myself.

It is great that some experiment and share their findings. After all without this human drive to be creative the Fulvia would not have come to exist in the first place.

I fully agree with Michael when he say that tuning the nut behind the wheel is the best way to go. Another story comes up when writing this. When I still participated in the Tulip rallye untill some years ago, I preferred to book a hotel with a good restaurant some distance away from the finish / start location for at least two nights out of the whole week. Having dinner in a restaurant with 400 other noisy people is not really relaxing for me. On this particular occasion it turned out we (my driver / son in law and myself) were not the only ones. In the restaurant we found at the table next two us two old english chaps. They had noticed our Fulvia and said they knew the taillights of the Fulvia very well as they had finished second after Sandro Munari in the RAC rally of I believe 1972. Might be 1973.

There is a 4th angle, which is liability. As owner of the site and moderator of a.o. this forum I wonder and sometimes worry about this. If there are any lawyers among the visitors of this forum, they could perhaps comment on this.

[Michael Beattie]

Huib

I am not a lawyer, but like some magazine letters pages perhaps you could have a Disclaimer along the lines of

" The views expressed upon this site are those of the individuals who wrote them and are not the views of the site owner"

That seems to be the sort of "out" that you need in these law suit infested days !!

It's a real shame that you need to think of that sort of cover these days

For new Lancia owners like myself this forum has been the biggest source of good proven information as books / information as to the spec and mods of the works cars seem to be hard to find, if they even exist. the UK Historic scene nows insists that you only run mods that were used on your particular make of car as opposed to general "period" mods that may have been used. So any information is useful.


Cheers

Michael

[P. de R. Leclercq]

Yes Michael, I think that the limits on almost any car I have ever had have been higher than my own - except perhaps the Austin-Healey 3000 which had no grip at all and a 3.8 MK II Jaguar (similar) - oh yes and a Renault 4 - horrible thing.

However, that doesn't mean I don't want to feel good about the car and at least notice some changes - and by this I do not mean blue fluorescent lamps underneath!

Paul

[Thomas]

One collateral conclusion that from this posting is that very few Fulvia owners are lawyers! (Or perhaps they know of the personal liability exposure when contributing to this forum and hence avoid responding..).

[Peter de Wit]

William, apart from what others already said about the fact that shocks are not to compensate the front spring there is another point that has keept me awake: the bottom ball joint of the uprights (fusees).

The front shock can brake off at the top at the alluminium tower, at the bottom around the M8 bolt. Next it could bend the lower A-arm (expensive for HF) or, IT COULD TEAR OUT THE LOWER BALL JOINT. Since I replace those once a year also, I see how stupid they are secured. 3 small bolts. I have replaced my springs every year now. And a bit stiffer ones than std. But then about companies making std shocks for Fulvia, there is also AVO. And they make real competition ones as well. And you can have your konis done quite easily also. Result: track like shocks with stiff bump damping. Track day's dream, but I never wanted to take that risk. Raising the car a bit by gas shocks is one thing, but driving off road with very hard damping on the bump (=in) would be risky for this ball joint in my view. I have not seen proof yet, it is an amateur opinion, but I am worried. And as said way back, I drove Paul's car with the golden shocks. And they are far from track day stiff. It keeps things in one piece! Even another thing, I also stopped stiffening the front spring to extremes: Shocks too stiff, upright will come off. Spring to stiff, your whole nose will separate from the body. Also I have never fitted my 25mm anti roll bar. Just because it is fitted to the same bottom (although thought of easy way fit it to upper arm where the two bolts come through that go to the rubber block of the spring)

All depends on what you use it for, but Fulvia windows crack when you rallye them. And so does the rest