Fast Marina Magazine

Hi All,

What is the usual Marina ground clearance? The reason I ask is that myself and my wife prefer classic road rallies to shows, and on Sunday we went on a local one 'Border club classic rally' (for classics).

We decided to take the Marina on this one but with my car being lower than normal by upto 1 1/4" and my 2" exhaust being that bit lower plus an all up weight of 41+stone from 3 adults we grounded heavily and frequently.

The roads used are the white ones on maps, assuming they are on maps at all. Empty I have minimum ground clearance of 3 1/2". On Sunday we were luck to have 2 1/2" of clearance, there is no damage, but I'll have to give a bit more clearance for the next one in a months time, at least we will be 15+stone less on the next one. No I'm not going to put standard springs on it (may have to diet a bit).

Ps I think the local farmers will be happy with us as I'm sure we cleared a lot of grass and muck from the centre of the road!!!

Brian

Dunno what the standard ground clearance is but I always had problems even in my 1.3's with them grounding out on navagation rallies. I ended up winding the front bars back up to gain extra clearance but I had 4 leaf rear springs in the back which were almost solid even with 1.5 inch lowering blocks so only had the odd exhaust problem at the back..

The 1.8 was all but undriveable on the rougher roads in Ireland at speed without making road/sump interface noises. Did'nt stop me from trying though. Have you thought of larger diameter torsion bars off an estate or van to increase the 'spring' rate at the front?

Hi Brian,

For the 1.8, the Haynes manual reckons 25 3/8" (+/- 1/4"), measuring a verticle line from the ground, through the centre of the front wheel hub to the underside of the wheel arch.

There are a series of parameters to this which would otherwise alter this distance.

1. Measurement on level ground
2. Empty boot except the spare wheel
3. 2 gallons of petrol in the tank
4. Correct tyre pressures
5. No-one in the car

I now have an image of you with an enormous spirit level, looking for a piece of level ground and then a plum bob and a set square - 1970s technology huh?



Have fun.

Hi All,

Thanks for the suggestions, as I have another rally (these are slow classic rallies but some use farm track type roads) on the 14th june, I've been messing about, 2 days underneath and I'm a lot knackered, but the exhaust is tucked up nice and close to the body (I can just get my fingers between body and exhaust and the joining flanges moved to open areas).

Now I have two problems, the back end of the gearbox is the nearest bit to the ground, and SURPRISE..... i've found some rust to play with.

Do I have to go back to standard height? I tried the estate rear springs many years ago, brand new from BL and only on for a few months before the present standard but lowered ones went on with a rear anti-roll bar.

Brian

PS the other part of the solution was a decision to go down to only one passenger, my featherweight wife!!!! as navigator.

I think dumping the extra passenger is probably going to be a major help (if not overly sociable.. ).

Hi All,

Martec is back on the road and the exhaust is well clear, shame about the gearbox, 4 1/4" empty and 4" with me in it (that cake diet worked).

Off to Messingham show tomorrow, approx 100 cars Wagons and bikes expected.

The rust revealed two areas to cut out and replaced, just a bit of bent 20gauge steel will do the trick at a later date then Dinitrol injection again.

Brian

My wife has made a cock of an other cake so I get it, don't you feel sorry for me!!!!