Suspension upgrade - Willy 1

[Ant-Williams]

Have bought a Willy 1 last week :D and looking to do it up as it has a few niggles but nothing too major. Main problem is the handling. Steering column needs welding up as there is a fair amount of play in it. But the handling in general is a bit wooly and crashy and the steering pulls to the right a bit! So want to replace suspension, wishbones and bushes and track rods. Is there anything else that would need replacing?

Whats the best suspension kit to get for the Williams for mainly fast road driving and an occasional track day. Car is my daily drive but dont mind it being firm but do not want it to be horrible lol. Have had the K-Tec/Gaz kit and FK's recommended?

Whats the best bushes to get standard or polys? And wheres the best/cheapest place to get them from. Am going to fit new 172 wishbones as they are cheaper and easier to get hold of and have been told they are same as the Willy items is this true?

Cheers Ant

[busterhymes]

if you find it pulling check out the front brakes might have a fooked caliper also checkout the track rods (inboard) they can cause a vague feel to the steering easy to check jack up then grip tyre at 3 and 9 o clock and check for movement in the steering hope that makes sense :) :)

[busterhymes]

oh and std setup is plenty good enough only when u get into serious trackday stuff do improvements and upgrades become beneficial plenty of help on here for that stuff :)

[Ant-Williams]

Cheers for the reply. Is there not much point going coilovers/non-std suspension and polybushes then for road use, will have the occasional track use and want to go to the ring at some point :twisted:

Used to have a saxo and an escort rs turbo, had bilstein suspension on the saxo with some polybushes and it transformed the feel of the car and had polybushes on the rs as it was cheaper than gettin std with std suspension and that felt a lot tighter. Thats why i was thinking of them for the Willy. And i want it lowered slightly, only bout 30-40mm no more as dont want an adverse effect on handlin as had the saxo 60mm and it did bump steer and wore drivshafts lol :?

Want it to be an absolute monster for country lanes/back roads as thats the majority of roads around my area and only down the road from bruntingthorpe and a few other tracks are within reasonable distance

Cheers Ant

[MAXIBOY]

i would suggest trying to drive a restored willy and a coilover as only you can decide really..

i have ledas and love them but mine was a valver...

only you can decide on the outcome...

price up new standard parts and the coilover/polybush alternative thentry and drive both on a road you know well ish..

[J o n]

Unless you track the car stick to standard imo. If you do a few trackdays then you'll either be spending a couple of grand on a proper setup that works equally well on road and track (most are hard or really hard with no inbetween), or you'll have to compromise, which usually means a firm day to day ride that's useless or borderline dangerous over any uneven surfaces... all in my opinion of course, but I've not been impressed with many coilover kits. The AST's I found were the best compromise, very good on track, bit hard for the road, but nothing like FK's or GAZ...

Spring rates will also play a part too, I use 450/750 on mine but you'd hardly realise it was on coilovers they are that soft setup at the moment. Like standard without the roll :)

[Ant-Williams]

Will have to have a look in to it properly, wont be tracked that often just occasionally for a bit of fun just want it to be very good on the road, dont mind it been firm but as mentioned not dangerous or useless :shock:

[Ant-Williams]

How much were the AST's if you dont mind me asking as i am looking into their solid top mounts? Dont know anyone around my area with Willy's or valvers std or modifed so cant drive any to compare. Have been out in my friends modifed 172 cup ph2 with Gaz coilovers and found that to handle very well and didnt feel to harsh but its a different car so....

Cheers Ant

[J o n]

Not sure how much they are for a Williams, they are a bit over £1k iirc for the 1*2's, but they run fully independent rear coilovers, so I would think they would be a bit cheaper. Well priced kit though imo, I dont think they can be bettered for the money personally. I've had the opportunity to drive a lot of different kits my mates company has tried over the years and the AST's were my 2nd choice by some way.

GAZ might be better these days as they are Leda's basically I'm told... not sure I'd bother though, AST's are only slightly more expensive and imo considerably better than the Ledas I've tried in the past. Horses for courses, get to a few meets and get people to take you out... if their kind like me they will just give you the keys and let you go for a play.

[Ant-Williams]

Thanks for the replies helping alot, will look into the prices for the AST's and see if they are affordable. Can get GAZ's for a little over £400 brand new and there is a set of H+R coilovers for sale s/h on another forum for £250.

In no rush to get them as dont have the funds just yet just want to find out everything i can and make up my mind on what i want. Going to make a list and rough prices of everything i want to get and then start sorting everything. Just need to find out whats best for my needs.

Cheers Ant

[Ant-Williams]

Dont think polybushes are going to be that much more expensive than std from what i have seen. And from experience with other cars have alway provided an improvement and tighter feel with only a slightly harsher ride so think i will take that route bush wise.

Cheers Ant

[drsmith1979]

Do some searching on the polybushes, from what i recall a number of members complained of high noise squeaks and not much difference in performance, there was also some posts about them not fitting properly.

I know it can be a little 'boring' to come new to a forum and be told by the old guard to 'stay standard' but in reality with the Williams this is invariably the way to go. If for one had a very nice willy 3 on standard suspension but with some lowering springs on the front and lowered rear beam. it handled like a dream, but could be a little too harsh on long journeys and speed bumps were not too enjoyable!...

You can go with Clio 172 springs if you like, but i would try and find an uprated 'original' style set up and maybe get some uprated springs to lower it slightly and stiffen up the ride..... The polybush dogmount may be a good one to look at though... again this should be in the members section.

For calipers, if they are old and you have higher mileage you can get refurbed ones on an exchange basis from GSF for a great price, so maybe budget in for doing the whole suspension and then renew the front calipers and brakes all around..... will definitely help... there is also a guide on how to do the steering column too!

[talkingfish]

Cannot begin to describe what difference changing your track-rod ends will do..... change these before ANYTHING ELSE!!!

[MAXIBOY]

as said horses for courses really the ledas are great on the mk1 in my opinion..

but the standard setup is good..but you can reduce body roll increases feeling and confidence etc over the standard set up but you will need to buy a decent kit and spending time fine tuning it..

[white16valver]

I'd stay standard but refreshed - the point of the set up is that it's firm but very pliant. This means that you can carry lots of speed in corners because the tyres stay on the road longer and don't 'bounce' off the road on bumps, and the flexibility at the handling limit (especially on the original size 185/55/15 tyres) ;) means it gives you loads of confidence to just chuck it around as you know it's not snappy and won't bite you if you mess up, just get a little bit out of shape, from which you can recover :)

Definitely get a drive in a refreshed standard set up with the track rods replaced and the steering column welded/replaced, as then you'll feel how communicative it is and how it encourages you to be a hooligan :P :D

[2 live]

depends how you want the car to handle tbh.


i hate bodyroll with a passion, so the std susp just had to go. stuck some AVO s on and never looked back.

ride can be altered quite a bit with these, from as soft as std, to hard as fuk, all at the turn of a knob with the added bonus that the front end can be dropped to desired height.

out of my 2, 1 on std, 1 on coils.......the coiled willy instills so much more confidence, and can cover ground quicker than the std susp'd one

and theres no scraping the mirrors on the tarmac with the coils under enthusiastic cornering. ;)


all imo of course

[J o n]

it's all about twin tube dampers tbh... I hear thats what real men have ;)

[richy]

it's all about twin tube dampers tbh... I hear thats what real men have ;)

real men dont drive clios! :lol:

[Evogone]

it's all about twin tube dampers tbh... I hear thats what real men have ;)

For real men its mono tube only world........ :wink:

[J o n]

mono's stink! lol