Discussion
I'm still experimenting with the ride height to prevent my exhaust being ripped off on country B roads. After fitting the new Gaz shocks it came back with about 17cm all round measuring outriggger ens to the ground. This was clearly too low so I 've altered it to 20cm at the back and 18.5 at the front. this seems to have cured the problem . What do people think about these measurements? It gives me a minimun distance form exhaust to ground of 10cm at the back.
jake
jake
I have gaz shocks fitted and I am not too happy with the ride, my exhaust now scrapes which it never did and the car is floaty on undulating road. Any advice? Not sure how to adjust and measure the height and also adjusting the shock I assume moving the dial towards the positive makes the ride firmer? Lots of help would be appreciated I have a V8S.
aquaregia said:
I have gaz shocks fitted and I am not too happy with the ride, my exhaust now scrapes which it never did and the car is floaty on undulating road. Any advice? Not sure how to adjust and measure the height and also adjusting the shock I assume moving the dial towards the positive makes the ride firmer? Lots of help would be appreciated I have a V8S.
Hi
I would start at 15 clicks from soft on the front and 25 clicks from soft on the back, if you are running the 375/300 springs, you may need to increase by 4 clicks all round for spirited driving.
I would start at 175/180mm ride height on the front, this should be measured from the main chassis members to the ground,roughly where the front lower wishbone bolts to the main chassis member.
The rear should be 10/15mm higher than the front and I would cheat and measure the rear of the outrigger to the ground once I had set the front height and have it 10mm higher than the front of the outrigger.
I hope that makes sense but if not PM or phone me.
BTW, we have .5mm toe in front and rear for standard road cars and 3/4 of a degree of negative camber front and rear. for sprinting or sports use this would need to be changed, so anybody looking for further data, pm or ring me and I will speak to Steve or Dave about specialist needs.
the gazman said:
aquaregia said:
Thanks but which way do I turn for soft more positive or negative direction on the dial?
Anti Clockwise is heading for full soft, clockwise to harden.
D
Slightly OT, looking at replacements for the cerb you see
, are the Gaz valved so that adjustment is always measured/counted from the fully hard postion and not the fully soft position 
HarryW said:
the gazman said:
aquaregia said:
Thanks but which way do I turn for soft more positive or negative direction on the dial?
Anti Clockwise is heading for full soft, clockwise to harden.
D
Slightly OT, looking at replacements for the cerb you see
, are the Gaz valved so that adjustment is always measured/counted from the fully hard postion and not the fully soft position Actually, this is a good point because some experts do wind the shocks to full hard and then work back, on the basis that there will always be differences on such massive adjustments (like 40) and working back from full hard keeps even damping in their opinion.
the gazman said:
HarryW said:
the gazman said:
aquaregia said:
Thanks but which way do I turn for soft more positive or negative direction on the dial?
Anti Clockwise is heading for full soft, clockwise to harden.
D
Slightly OT, looking at replacements for the cerb you see
, are the Gaz valved so that adjustment is always measured/counted from the fully hard postion and not the fully soft position Actually, this is a good point because some experts do wind the shocks to full hard and then work back, on the basis that there will always be differences on such massive adjustments (like 40) and working back from full hard keeps even damping in their opinion.
Pretty much how I understood it too.
It's to do with the fact that at fully hard the valve is at its closed (or near) position and consistant across all defect free shocks.
However where there may be say 40 clicks from hard to soft some might just be out so you might get say 39 or 41 clicks. Therefore if you work from the fully soft then it won't necessarily be consistant as far as the shock valve is concerned.
Bottom line then is always count your clicks from fully hard
. I have had Gaz shocks fitted last year, and just recently a Guglielmi exhaust.
All was great for a while but a month on i am having big problems with my gorgeous exhaust scraping. Especially with two on board, b roads and v hard acceleration.
Have gone through previous treads about ride height and damper adjustment so i am just about to check all that, but my question is this, how do you raise the ride height? is it as simple as turning the collar on the bottom of the shocks? Surely this just compresses the springs more? do i need longer springs or heavier rated to push it up higher? Also how far will the dampers extend? again surely its not good running about at full extension (fnar!!)
Sorry but geometry and hard sums are really not my thing
Gaz man, Derek, over to you please...
i have about 130 mm at the front and 160 ish at the back, so clearly not enough...? THe damping settings were about right.
So how do i increase the ride height? where can i get a shock adjuster from?
All was great for a while but a month on i am having big problems with my gorgeous exhaust scraping. Especially with two on board, b roads and v hard acceleration.
Have gone through previous treads about ride height and damper adjustment so i am just about to check all that, but my question is this, how do you raise the ride height? is it as simple as turning the collar on the bottom of the shocks? Surely this just compresses the springs more? do i need longer springs or heavier rated to push it up higher? Also how far will the dampers extend? again surely its not good running about at full extension (fnar!!)
Sorry but geometry and hard sums are really not my thing
Gaz man, Derek, over to you please...
Edited by stourbridges2tvr on Saturday 6th October 13:12
i have about 130 mm at the front and 160 ish at the back, so clearly not enough...? THe damping settings were about right.
So how do i increase the ride height? where can i get a shock adjuster from?
Edited by stourbridges2tvr on Saturday 6th October 14:20
The spring length doesn't change when you move the spring seats up and down. If you screw the spring seat up, it picks the car up. If you screw it down, the car lowers.
It's very very important that the spring seats on the two sides end up level, make sure you don't get muddled and screw one side up and one side down. To make sure, carefully compare the position of the spring seat afterwards. If the spring seat screws onto a thread on the outside of the damper body, you can do this by counting the threads.
In principle, adjusting the spring seats is very easy. Simply jack up the car to take the weight off the suspension, take the wheel off, and grab the spring and spring seat firmly with both hands and turn the whole thing. With the standard springs there'll be quite a bit of preload on the spring so even with the weight off the suspension it'll be hard to turn, but if the thread is in good condition you should manage it. The bad news is that this thread is exposed to all sorts of corrosion and routinely seizes up, and freeing it can take lots of penetrating oil, the right spanner for the spring seat, and a certain amount of brute force.
It's very very important that the spring seats on the two sides end up level, make sure you don't get muddled and screw one side up and one side down. To make sure, carefully compare the position of the spring seat afterwards. If the spring seat screws onto a thread on the outside of the damper body, you can do this by counting the threads.
In principle, adjusting the spring seats is very easy. Simply jack up the car to take the weight off the suspension, take the wheel off, and grab the spring and spring seat firmly with both hands and turn the whole thing. With the standard springs there'll be quite a bit of preload on the spring so even with the weight off the suspension it'll be hard to turn, but if the thread is in good condition you should manage it. The bad news is that this thread is exposed to all sorts of corrosion and routinely seizes up, and freeing it can take lots of penetrating oil, the right spanner for the spring seat, and a certain amount of brute force.
and buy the proper tool!Ray S said:
Can't move my adjusters seized solid tried everything 
Need new but would like to fit higher?.Anyone suggest replacements S1..Ray
Take a damper off, unload the spring, this will remove the load from the spring seat and make it easier to shift. Then treat it like any stuck bolt in terms of easing oil etc and carefully get the seat moving again. Need new but would like to fit higher?.Anyone suggest replacements S1..Ray If you want to replace them then my advice is to replace all four as a set, because new dampers will have quite different characteristics to old ones. Get the best you can afford.
When you refit the dampers (old or new) lightly grease the threads so the adjusters don't seize again. A smear of grease around the base of the damping adjuster helps avoid this seizing too.
They are beyond salvage threads are too corroded looks like fitting new is only option.RayGassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff