Project N14: Suspension + Wheels

Where else would this project start? A healthy ride height reduction paired with larger diameter wheels is the epitome of hot-hatch tuning, and this car was always going to follow that history-proven formula.

As I mentioned in the “Future Plans” section of the Project N14 Introduction post, I was fortunate enough to have some good friends chip-in for a set of coilovers for me as a 40th birthday present, which was a huge leg-up for this low-budget project car.

The coilovers in question are the well-known BC Racing, in BR (Gold) guise, which will be more than sufficient for how I intend to use the car.

When it came to wheels, I was always going to go for a plain monoblock design, akin to what was popular in the 90s, when everyone wanted large diameter spoked wheels, ones that tried their best to emulate the wheels you would see on the touring cars on TV on the weekends.

Wheels like Advan RG1/3, AVS Model 6, TSW Evo and others were always high on my list, the only limiting factor being the low-budget I mentioned a few paragraphs prior.

Browsing marketplace daily, as most of us do, netted me a very lucky find. A set of Compomotive Largo in 16×7.5, for a very low price. I’m familiar with the Compomotive brand, but have never seen this style before, and they ticked all the boxes. I was undecided between sourcing 16″ or 17″ wheels, but this deal was too good to pass up, so 16s it is (at least for now).

The only unfortunate thing about them is they have been re-drilled to a multi-stud PCD, and in the process, the threaded stand for the centre caps has been sacrificed, so even if I locate a set of the original caps (as shown above), I won’t be able to run them. I actually like the way they look without centre caps, and I am hoping to design and 3D print a custom (smaller) cap in the future, just to hide the hub.

A quick mock-up showed me I was on the right path.

Installing the coilovers was straight forward, being a macpherson strut setup in both the front and rear.

After messing around with the ride-height, this is where we ended up:

Now that they are installed, I have a few issues to rectify:

• The lower mounting holes in the struts (where they bolt to the hubs) are slightly oversized to allow for some camber adjustment. I have heard that once they are tightened, they can still move out of place if you go over a large bump, so I have purchased a set of camber bolts to hopefully lock them in place.
• Due to the reduction in ride height, the rear swaybar end links are sitting at an awful angle, so I have purchased adjustable replacements that can be cut down to a desired length.
• The wheels didn’t balance up too well, so there’s a chance they might need to be re-rolled. I’ll worry about that in the future, and if I keep them, I’ll give them a full refurb.
• The tyres are cheap Marketplace finds, purely for mockup. I’m undecided if I’ll stick with this size (195/45/16)

Overall, I’m very happy with how the attitude of the car has transformed with these basic mods, and it should look even better once the SSS kit is fitted, which will bring the body height of the car down with the lower front bumper and side skirts.

Next jobs to attack are the suspension items mentioned above, and then I’ve committed to some maintenance items before I do any more fun mods, those being a new radiator, water pump, drive belts, and steering rack boots.

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