The Mirage has been using a ridiculously small amount of fuel!
Because it’s hardly been driven since I stopped going to work in early March…
Literally filled it for the first time about a month ago. It has been used as the around-town run about and not much more.
I stole the wheels off it for the kids’ silver khanacross car, so this one got the random 17” wheels from the S40, simply because they had road legal tyres on them.
Going from a 175mm wide tyre on a 5.5” rims to a 205 tyre on a 7” rim gave unexpected results: the ride was more comfortable AND the steering was lighter?!
The comfort seems to be because the old space-saver tyres were bouncing on the sidewalls, but I have no explanation for the steering.
Anyway, the LHF shock was clunking and annoying me, so I decided to try the set of Racing Logic coilovers that I had.
I fitted the softest springs I had. Fronts are 175lb/in, rears are from the Fiesta coilovers.
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After spend the time sorting the body lengths and ride height, the results are inconclusive but encouraging. Overall the car is smoother and more comfortable, and the front end clunking is gone.
But there’s a new clunk from the RHR, and the front end isn’t right.
I think that the front springs are too soft relative to their length - I think that they are coil binding. The ride is nice, but then there’s a thump/clunk on moderate size bumps.
I have some much longer 225lb/in springs that I will try.
At the rear, I think that the spring is banging into the top spring seat. Will see if fitting standard shock tops and spring seats is enough to quieten it down.
I also need to sort the wheel alignment. My rough-and-ready alignment is drivable, but it is definitely not perfect.
And that’s the story of how fitting wider wheels, 40-series tyres and coilovers made the car easier to drive and more comfortable to be in… go figure!
