Lifting ERA Suspension...a lot!
 

I recently retired and have moved down to a small seaside community in Baja Mexico halfway between La Paz and Cabo. My dilemma is what do I do with my ERA 289 Cobra. I recently saw a video of a Cobra that was modified for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and was thinking about doing doing something similar to mine…lifting the suspension enough to get some nice sized all terrain tires on it. Nothing too big but enough to give me more ground clearance and traction for the dirt roads between my house and the highway. I guess it would end up more like a rally car than anything else. Has anybody seen or done this done with an ERA? I think it would be a cool looking conversion. My question is how much possible lift can I expect to get out of the ERA suspension? I have coil overs with enough shock travel, the car has a Jaguar rear end with inboard brakes. Do you think I can lift it a couple inches with just the coil overs and have enough rebound travel? I don’t plan on driving it hard, but would love to keep the Cobra and use it for the occasional fun ride up or down the coast. Thanks for your input.

I would spin up the coilovers, maybe get an inch, get aligned then add tall narrow Avons or Powercusoins, another inch, and give it a try.

May need to keep gassed up as the bandidos will likely try to carjack you.
Happened to two friends of mine, for real, over a Toyota PU.

Or, sell it and live large in your new land.

Thanks, 1985...I'm selling my GT40 so I'll live large off of that. Banditos? No problemo where I live, the cartel keeps things nice and tranquilo so the tourists are safe spending their money at their Pharmacies...We had some break-ins last fall and the perps were photographed running out of town naked and with their hands zip tied behind their backs.

Best of luck to you and your retirement.
Those perps may have been hazing of newly appointed guards. :LOL:

Assume hazing there is not illegal. :cool:

Should be an interesting project and it's definitely a good way to keep enjoying your Cobra with the rougher terrain. I've had to negotiate some real dodgy "roads" in St. Lucia in my Unique over the years, but I could never bring myself to significantly alter the ride height and stance that I loved. Adjusting the coilovers could yield a pretty significant and noticeable difference in the tire clearance and ride height from my experience. My biggest obstacle was the ridiculously high, steep speed bumps they'd put on the main roads as a knee jerk reaction wherever there was a serious car accident.

On a side note - I've talked to people about the cartel/bandito situation in the resort areas in Mexico. Relying on violent criminals to police other violent criminals is a tenuous insurance at best, but it is what it is, lol!

Good luck and keep us posted with the suspension mods.

Yes, you're right about that but I've heard it more than once from people that were born and raised in the Chicago area that the town was much safer when Capone ran it than now. :)

It all works until you accidentally bump into one that is having a particularly bad day...

Wow, a dune buggy Cobra.

About the only thing the Cobra has going it is its low center of gravity. Raise it up and it'll be like a Reliant Robin.

Maybe...maybe not....:LOL: The roads here don't allow for anything hi speed ...sensible driving will be key.

Isn't the Reliant Robin the one with 3 wheels? Mr. Bean's car before he graduated to a Mini?

Cheers!
Glen

And the one that Clarkson flipped on demand.

I have 255/60 series tires on the back of my ERA and initially had light contact with the inner wheel wells on the panel behind the seats. I had to slightly lengthen the lower radius arms for a hair clearance. So forget about tall truck tires - they won’t go on it.

What wheels are you using? Sounds more like a wheel backspace issue. I have 295 Avons on the back now with no issues. The all terrain tires will be taller but narrower. I have a buddy that owns a tire shop and Ill bring the car in after I lift it and test fit a number of sizes.

Standard Vintage 9-1/2 x 15 KO wheels from Bob with ERA set backspace. That’s a 27” tire versus a 295/50 which is 26.6”. From memory ERA doesn’t recommend anything larger than a 295/50 tire so I knew it was pushing it. Wanta try to fit a 28 or 29” or 30” tire under there - be my guest.

Be your guest? You seem to have missed the point where I'll be lifting the suspension at least 1", hopefully more. The biggest size I'd try to fit on the rear would be a 235 75 15 Which has a 28" diameter and an inch less tread width than your tire. The question I posed wasn't about tire fitment it was about how much I can raise the suspension and still have usable travel. I don't need to be your guest to fit a tire, I'll get what I need under there. You don't want me as a guest anyway...I'm the kind of guest that drinks all your booze and takes a crap in your bathroom waste basket.

Sure, you can easily crank the suspension up an inch or more with the coil overs. But when you do that the trailing arms will rotate the entire, rear Jag suspension assembly forward on its pivot and the tires towards the front and the point of minimum tire clearance which are the fiberglass blister closures in the wheel wells behind the seats. I’m assuming the 289 is no different than the 427 underneath. So you’ll then need to unbolt and crank those trailing arms out to move the Jag assembly further back in the wheel well. No telling what that will do to the alignment geometry which on the Jag suspension is a fair amount of work to change.

I see your point..good info, thanks DanEC! I have a second set of wheels(Torque Thrust 5 bolt) that might have a smaller back spacing. I can keep the Avons on the FIA wheels and use the others for the off-road tires...fingers crossed.

I'm down in Mexico and the car is in LA. I could answer a lot of these questions if I could spend an hour with the car on a floor jack. But the decision hasn't been completely made as to whether to bring the car to Mexico or not. And there are a lot of factors I have to consider about transpor, insurance and importation. So I'm trying to do as much research before I head to LA the first of November. Thanks for all your replies! I'll post with updates on my progress.

It does seem that FIA models often have a higher stance than other 289 and 427 cars. I’m not sure if ERA mimics that or not on their FIA model that might give you a clue of how it would work on a 289 street. At least on my 427 that panel in the front of the wheel well that is bowed into the wheel well for seat back clearance was my tight spot. I actually extended the length of my trailing arms slightly to get a little clearance. I was getting some light contact on suspension compression. I went out to look at my car and refresh my memory of where I was making contact at the front and it was a couple of inches above the mid-height of my tire. So, it could be that if the underbody of your car is the same, raising the chassis 1” to 1-1/2” might get a 28” tire in there and down below that area enough that it could miss it OK.

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But another thing, I also remember that since I ran a 70 series radial (27” OD again) up front (instead of usual 60 series) I also had a tight area at the bottom rear of the wheel lip when the wheels were turned. I had to shave one side a little. But a 289 body would be so different in the outer body panel there that this may not mean anything.

A 27” tire was basically what a 7.75-15 was close to back in the 60s. An 8.25-15 was 28.5” but generally only full size cars would run something that large in diameter. Some of the Cobra replica manufactures after the 70s actually shrank the wheel well opening on their body bucks/molds so lower profile 25.5” to 26” tires would look correct without a lot of air showing at the top. So I think it may be difficult getting a 28” tire in there. A 215/75-15 is 27.7” diameter and that might be about it with a little luck.