What is appropriate droop for front of RM7?

[Healeyracer]

Hi, another newby question, this car came to me with the original owner having spent a massive amount of time working on bump steer, and I was not sure if he did anything else to the front end.  The person that did that work was 2 or 3 owners ago, and I believe passed away, so not available for inquiries.  It also did not have any coil overs fitted.  I pulled the front left off, confirmed all joints free, and re assembled, and was surprised at what seemed to be fairly limited droop.  The ball joints go into a bind at the bottom of droop.  Once I put a straight edge across, it appears droop is about 1.5 inches, just checking to make sure that is sufficient.  No issues with upward movement.

[MV8]

Looks like a PO used a tapered sleeve to eliminate the taper in the spindle and use a high strength bolt with spacers to set a rod end as an outer tie rod. Very important that the bolt be very tight so it can't spin when turning, as this loses the benefit of a tapered seat to keep the wear point within the tie rod instead of the bolt rotating in the spindle with each turn. Bump steer from ride height to a couple inches of bump is the important area to minimize bump steer. Depending on the car design, a car can have positive and negative bump through the arc of travel.

 

The upper balljoint (actually a repurposed tie rod) is running out of travel. It could be improved by balancing the range of motion needed between full bump with the coil over installed, the "donut" bump stop added to coilover shaft, no spring (to make life easier when checking) and full droop. In general, at ride height, the upper tie rod attachment is perpendicular to its taper pin inserted into the spindle. In other words, the joint can be set so it almost runs out of rotation at full bump so it can have more droop without running out of rotation.

 

I'd remake the upper arm to have the threaded rod of the tie rod point below the upper control arm pivot axis instead of directly at it, then add a rubber bump stop to the lower chassis rail to contact the lower control arm near the pivot. Another option is to add droop limit straps. If you do not address this now, if you are not jumping rail road tracks, monitor regularly and replace whenever any vertical play is found in the upper tie rod.

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by MV8

[MV8]

I found some pics of the front end geometry. I would remove the upper control arm pivot brackets from the chassis and lower them an inch or so. This improves camber gain, affects bump steer, and provides more droop travel before bind. It also allows more adjustment for static camber and the ride height will not be changed.

[Dave W]

Another option would be to add an extension to the top of the knuckle. Your upper control arm is pointing downward, as it travels into jounce it moves the top BJ outboard Vs inboard, which cause positive camber, NOT negative camber. Typically the upper arm points up at an angle between 10 to 25°  for the correct camber gain. Plus we are not even going to talk about roll center???

[MV8]

Fwiw, these use Mk3 and newer Ford Cortina / Taunus spindles and axle with the kit coming from South Africa. Not sure what the application is for the tie rods acting as upper and lower balljoints. Any replacement parts info in the documentation that came with the car?

 

EDIT: Reportedly a Ford Transit Van tie rod but not 2010-2013 (female) or 2014-2019 (bent and same as a focus). Appears to be Mk3 1986-1991, right side for right-hand thread, 880X3270SA.

Edited December 11, 2025 by MV8

[Healeyracer]

MV8,

The kit dates from the mid 1990's, so i would assume the parts used would have  been from before that. It appears to have been purchased as a mostly complete kit, but aside from a hand written notebook and a bunch of emails, I don't have much original info.

Thanks

Mike