Avos and springs for a pre cat

[laz11]

I have Avos on my 4.3 and the garage recommended pairing them to the later 500 springs. I have now been driving around with that set up and although better than before is still not ideal. I have been recommended by another garage that I should have stuck to the original springs so am considering changing them back! Just wondered if anyone has any experience with the Avo set up on a pre cat? and could shed some light on this?
Cheers

[bugsy]

laz11 said:

I have Avos on my 4.3 and the garage recommended pairing them to the later 500 springs. I have now been driving around with that set up and although better than before is still not ideal. I have been recommended by another garage that I should have stuck to the original springs so am considering changing them back! Just wondered if anyone has any experience with the Avo set up on a pre cat? and could shed some light on this? Cheers

If you hang on, Steve Guglielmi is doing some spring testing on a 4.3 precat 1st August.
I will post results

[redboy]

Hi Laz11, just been over to see Steve Guglielmi about setting my 4.3 Griff up, he has suggested I wait a couple of weeks until he has had time to fully test the spring and shock setup that Bugsy mentions. Unless you are in a hurry I think it would be worth the wait...

[Bugsy]

redboy said:

Hi Laz11, just been over to see Steve Guglielmi about setting my 4.3 Griff up, he has suggested I wait a couple of weeks until he has had time to fully test the spring and shock setup that Bugsy mentions. Unless you are in a hurry I think it would be worth the wait...

It makes sense to wait because it will save costs on the messing about.
Hang on a minute, its me paying for the testing

[griffter]

laz11 said:

I have Avos on my 4.3 and the garage recommended pairing them to the later 500 springs. I have now been driving around with that set up and although better than before is still not ideal. I have been recommended by another garage that I should have stuck to the original springs so am considering changing them back! Just wondered if anyone has any experience with the Avo set up on a pre cat? and could shed some light on this? Cheers

I have 500 shocks and springs and they work well. Still a bit 'exciting' on bumps occasionally but not as hairy as reports of the original set up suggest.

[shpub]

Griff 500 suspension was designed with ARB front and back. The ARB work with the shocks and springs to define the suspension characteristics. The 4.3 didn't have the rear ARB so fitting the 500 spec stuff will not make the car handle like the 500 because the suspension is not the same. 500's especially the later ones have progressive springs and there is a lot of variation out there including stiffer sports packages with stronger ARBs and different spring and shock combinations.

[Marco]

Probably worth waiting for the test noted above but I've been reliably informed that AVOs work far better with a linear spring rather that the dual rate type fitted as standard to TVRs (i.e. with closer coils near the top to increase the poundage as they compress).

I bought a set of specially selected springs from Joolz and they were a great improvement.


Marco

[bugsy]

shpub said:

Griff 500 suspension was designed with ARB front and back. The ARB work with the shocks and springs to define the suspension characteristics. The 4.3 didn't have the rear ARB so fitting the 500 spec stuff will not make the car handle like the 500 because the suspension is not the same. 500's especially the later ones have progressive springs and there is a lot of variation out there including stiffer sports packages with stronger ARBs and different spring and shock combinations.

Good point Steve, there is no way we are going to come up with a one stop solution on springs and settings because setting aside arbs, power oversteer is also a factor when you could have a variance of 200bhp.
Our experements are simply a starting point to get a baseline and I expect to have a look at a 5L with rear arb next.

[laz11]

Thanks for the advice and replieed chaps. It will be interesting to hear on the findings of Guglielmi, so if Bugsy or Redboy can put a posting up as that progresses, much appreciated.
Laz

[bugsy]

laz11 said:

Thanks for the advice and replieed chaps. It will be interesting to hear on the findings of Guglielmi, so if Bugsy or Redboy can put a posting up as that progresses, much appreciated. Laz

It's handy we are looking at a 4.3 precat first but this data collecting will be ongoing, so if anybody is looking for budget shocks and is willing to participate its probably worth giving me a call.
I should say that Warren at Topcats and Paul at Austec are also involved for us soft southerners.