AVO Shocks... three questions.

[M@H]

Hi Chaps.

Having lowered the car yesterday we discovered something a little odd.. when I bought the car I was happy to note that it had AVO's on it, purchsed about two years ago, however to get the rear of the car down to a "reasonable" height, we had to set the Spring seat right at the bottom of its travel at the end of the threads (the fronts to about 8-10 mm off bottom)

So.. this leads to question 1: is a 10" Spring length usual for the S.. the receipt for the shocks says S3 on it and of course I have an S1, however I wasn't aware of any major changes that would mean a different spring length would be required between the models. An 8" Spring would be much more suitable looking at the travel available.

Number 2..The front springs are marked with a Green Stripe, the rear ones with a Yellow stripe (the fronts also have 33009 written on them).. any ideas what this denomenates..?

And finally 3.. Currently all the dampers are set on Click 7 which seems fine to me for a pliant, non filling removing, ride... what sort of settings are the rest of you running with.

Cheers
Matt.

>>> Edited by M@H on Monday 21st June 10:10

[WildfireS3]

I'm running 9 on the front of mine. But then I only have the front fitted.

[greenv8s]

This is the danger of changing shocks and keeping the same springs - even if the spring diameter is the same the spring seats are likely to be in different places so you need different length springs. Unfortunately to replace the springs you need to know what rates you've got currently, which can be tricky since they (a) all different and (b) dual rate.

[M@H]

Hi Pete,

I would have assumed (ho ho) that the springs were supplied all as one unit with the AVO shocks.? ..certainly they are all of a similar age/condition and at £400 for the set two years ago, again I would have thought they all came together.

If someone can de-code my question 2, then I might be able to work out what springs they actually are.

If I'm going to change to 8" ones (which would seem sensible) what sort of poundage etc should I be looking at for "sporty" Road & mild track use ?

Cheers,
Matt

[Pies]

www.avouk.com/

Should be able to help

[M@H]

Pies said:

www.avouk.com/ Should be able to help

..only if they ever answered their phones

Cheers
Matt

[greenv8s]

I tried AVO shocks briefly - very briefly - on the V8S. There were several reasons I decided they were totally unsuitable, one of the minor ones was that the dampers were the wrong length and so were the springs. Maybe the company I bought them from has got their act together by now, maybe yours came from a different company who know what they're doing, and maybe this is all just a coincidence. In any case, it would be a good idea to check the open and closed length and range of spring seat lengths to make sure they are suitable, and don't forget to fit the right length bump stops (nobody ever seems to pay any attention to this but IMO it is crucial when you have so little ground clearance).

[M@H]

Interesting comment Pete. To be honest the damper setup isn't brilliant.. I suppose I've got about 40-45mm damper travel available at the front and a bit less at the back.

Methinks I might be in the same boat as you were however as I'm not pushing the car very hard (yet) I've not run into the bump-stops.. it might be OK though as of course 45mm travel on the damper is going to be more like 65mm at the wheel.. doubtless I'll find out on Wednesday at North Weald.

I think the previous owner, or whoever fitted them should really have realised that they aren't quite right.

Aaah well.


>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 22 June 14:01

[shpub]

When lowering the ride height by dropping the platform then you need to be careful that on droop the spring does not come unloaded and equally on bump that it is not hitting the bump stop. As the spring is dropped down, the shock will compress and the amount of bump movement reduced. This is normally compensated by a stiffer spring so that the movement is controlled and the bump stop not hit because the spring needs more force to compress the same distance.

Get this wrong and the car will be fine until pushed hard where at extremes it will be very strange. WHen the car hits the bump stop it will continue to roll and this will result in wheels lifting off the ground and this can screw the diff big time as one wheel spins up and the other doesn't. Makes handling difficult as well.

Adjustable platforms are really useful but just because the platform can be dropped several inches to get the required height, it doesn't mean that the rest of the suspension is OK.

[M@H]

Indeed I would concurr with all that Steve.. fortunately the dimensions I listed were after settling so the 45mm is the true damper travel before the bump stop.. I'll have to see how it all works at North Weald Tomorrow.. hopefully it will be sufficient.

It seems that AVO got the specification wrong for the S Series when these were ordered (or supplied the wrong parts) and whoever fitted them didn't have the nounce to see something wasn't quite right... oh well.

Cheers,
Matt.

[bridgdav]

M@H said:

whoever fitted them didn't have the nounce to see something wasn't quite right...

Neil Armstrong

MOON BUGGY...

[joospeed]

M@H said:

Indeed I would concurr with all that Steve.. fortunately the dimensions I listed were after settling so the 45mm is the true damper travel before the bump stop.. I'll have to see how it all works at North Weald Tomorrow.. hopefully it will be sufficient. It seems that AVO got the specification wrong for the S Series when these were ordered (or supplied the wrong parts) and whoever fitted them didn't have the nounce to see something wasn't quite right... oh well. Cheers, Matt.

45mm is enough bump travel on the damper .. and I regularly fit long springs to prevent people winding the ride heights too low .. all sounds OK to me ..

If you can get the ride height with the bump and rebound travel you require I can't see the problem ..

[M@H]

Hi Joolz..

thanks for the positive note.. the only "problem" left is that the arse end of the car is still about 1/2"-1" higher than I would have liked it, but the spring seat is already all the way down at the bottom of the thread. Really they should have come with shorter springs IMO.

Cheers,
Matt.


@ Brigdav: ..no longer a 4x4 now..

>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 22 June 12:12

[joospeed]

is that the ride height *you* require or what actually works though? .. how low are you wanting to go?

if it's still too high to get the balance you need then yeah the springs are too long .. however someone might have already done their research and put springs on just long enough to stop you making a mistake ..

only way to find out would be to replace with shorter springs and try it .. not expensive and not difficult either ..

[andyf007]

Matt, just to add some weight to Joolz theory(not that it needed any).

I bought the TowerView Gaz setup for mine and the results are the same. I have the rear platforms set as low as they will go and this just gives the correct ride height (IIRC according to measurements that Pete gave), the fronts have another 20mm of travel left in the platform to give the same height. The rear dampers have about 25-30mm of travel before they hit the stops. I have my ride set quite hard and must say that I have never yet grounded anything, even on humps, nor have I noticeably hit the bump stops either.

Ground clearance is 6" to the chassis and 4" to the exhaust.

I think any lower would be unadvisable.

Andy

[M@H]

joospeed said:

is that the ride height *you* require or what actually works though? .. how low are you wanting to go?

Joolz did you miss the photos of my new S when I posted them a while ago.. ..more like 4x4 or Moon Buggy than Sportscar.. I've just been trying to get it down to the ride height that they normally sit at, no low-rider mods or anything, just trying to make it "normal". The limiting factor proved to be the rears as the Spring Seat hit the bottom of the threads before it was as low as most S's tend to sit. All in all its about right really, a little high at the rear, but as you say I can get some 8" springs for what £16-18 each ? and mess around further in future if needs be.

Tomorrow will be the first "test" of the setup.

Cheers,
Matt


>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 22 June 13:55

[M@H]

andyf007 said:

Matt, just to add some weight to Joolz theory(not that it needed any). .... Ground clearance is 6" to the chassis and 4" to the exhaust. I think any lower would be unadvisable. Andy

Hmmmm thanks for all that.. I'll compare those heights with mine.

Cheers
Matt

[M@H]

just had a chat with Peninsula who supplied the AVO's in 2002.

Apparently the dampers would have been supplied without springs and owners would either use the existing springs on the car, or buy other springs to go with it.

The springs on the car look as new as the Dampers however it seems didn't come from Peninsula.. they are SUPLEX springs: 33009 on the front and 33010 on the rear.

Now all I need to do is find out what those numbers mean, at least they were familiar to Peninsula too

Cheers,
Matt.

[woody]

You could try looking at the Suplex website Theres a german and english version. Noy sure if it has stockist etc but seems to list various tpyes/kits for road/race springs etc.

Just found these M R Holland suppliers of SUPLEX springs.

Hope this helps

Chris

editted to add ling to M R Holland

>> Edited by woody on Tuesday 22 June 15:12

[greenv8s]

M@H said:

just had a chat with Peninsula who supplied the AVO's in 2002. Apparently the dampers would have been supplied without springs and owners would either use the existing springs on the car, or buy other springs to go with it. The springs on the car look as new as the Dampers however it seems didn't come from Peninsula.. they are SUPLEX springs: 33009 on the front and 33010 on the rear. Now all I need to do is find out what those numbers mean, at least they were familiar to Peninsula too Cheers, Matt.

Could it be as simple as 330 lb/in and 9" front 10" rear?