Settings for Gaz Golds
Discussion
Mine are Nickel GAZ, I've no idea if that makes any difference !
Default settings from Derek (GAZMAN)
From soft - 12 clicks Front : 18 clicks Rear
Initial settings for the springs measured under the lock ring to the last thread
Front: 25mm Rear: 35mm
I found the following from the default settings: The front end was up a bit and the rear down. So I had to adjust these.
Measuring the ride height from the front-most chassis wishbone mount and rear-most I set the car to 145mm front and 160mm rear - I think.
I'll check that for you but the search function is down at the mo.
Moving the spring rings you can raise about 1mm at a time by backing off the lock ring and aligning the notches in the rings, by moving one notch at a time you will gain or lose about 1mm.
I've since backed off the rear dampers 2 clicks, but apart from that I'm still running on these settings until I can get to having the geo checked.
I've noticed a considerable improvement in cornering, with the car rolling a lot, lot less.
HTH
IanB
Default settings from Derek (GAZMAN)
From soft - 12 clicks Front : 18 clicks Rear
Initial settings for the springs measured under the lock ring to the last thread
Front: 25mm Rear: 35mm
I found the following from the default settings: The front end was up a bit and the rear down. So I had to adjust these.
Measuring the ride height from the front-most chassis wishbone mount and rear-most I set the car to 145mm front and 160mm rear - I think.
I'll check that for you but the search function is down at the mo.
Moving the spring rings you can raise about 1mm at a time by backing off the lock ring and aligning the notches in the rings, by moving one notch at a time you will gain or lose about 1mm.
I've since backed off the rear dampers 2 clicks, but apart from that I'm still running on these settings until I can get to having the geo checked.
I've noticed a considerable improvement in cornering, with the car rolling a lot, lot less.
HTH
IanB
Edited by barreti on Sunday 29th April 20:47
Just fitted the nickel ones.
My front ride height to chassis rail (at fwd wishbone anchor point) was 129mm pre fitting new shocks etc. and with the std 30/40 adjustments on the new shocks the car felt wrong, the front was much higher than before.
Now I have 140mm front ride height giving a shocker dimension of 20mm and the rear is adjusted to a shocker measurement of 35mm.
This feels better though I’m not totally happy with her as she seams to roll a bit more than I’d like so I think it could be dropped a bit more. Camber and toe in are all OK and I haven’t started playing with the damping yet.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to play with these settings as the manifold gasket went then I started having temp problems and the grass, along with everything else, has started growing….
Anyway I’m taking her in to Offords on Friday for a service so I’ll get those guy’s to set her up to Derek’s magic numbers.
Cheers,
Simon
My front ride height to chassis rail (at fwd wishbone anchor point) was 129mm pre fitting new shocks etc. and with the std 30/40 adjustments on the new shocks the car felt wrong, the front was much higher than before.
Now I have 140mm front ride height giving a shocker dimension of 20mm and the rear is adjusted to a shocker measurement of 35mm.
This feels better though I’m not totally happy with her as she seams to roll a bit more than I’d like so I think it could be dropped a bit more. Camber and toe in are all OK and I haven’t started playing with the damping yet.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to play with these settings as the manifold gasket went then I started having temp problems and the grass, along with everything else, has started growing….
Anyway I’m taking her in to Offords on Friday for a service so I’ll get those guy’s to set her up to Derek’s magic numbers.
Cheers,
Simon
bluebottle said:
Mine are Nickel GAZ too, but the 12/18 setting for mine were way off...after discussion with Derik (GAZman) there are some shocks (mine one of them) that have more clicks soft to hard and i had to set mine at 30f & 25r.
Yes, there does seem to be quite a lot of variance.
A fellow Corrado owner was the first to have Gaz Gold on his. He has around 8 clicks adjustment on the front and 20-odd on the rear.
I'm the second Corrado owner to have Gaz Gold, and despite having an allegedly "identical" kit on mine, I have 20 clicks on the front and 36 on the rear. Well, I say 20 clicks on the front, but in actual fact one side has 18 and the other 20 - I must talk to Gazman about that sometime.
Ok, so these are for the Corrado and we're talking about the Griff here, but my point was that there does indeed seem to be some variance between dampers on supposedly identical suspension kits.
OT: As an interesting sideline about setting front ride height if you ever have the car on a 4 wheel rig:
Try adjusting the ride height to get the maximum toe (outish) measurement, this means that the track rod is at its fullest extent. Then any deflections of suspension will create a slight toe in - which is the way the car is supposed to behave IMHO. I believe this to be an exact way of setting the ride height (the rack may allow a little adjustment on its mounts - but not much). You can also bounce on wings to see how geo settings change on a 4 wheel alignment machine
Probably of more general interest is the point that ride height affects many of the angles of the rest of your geometry. Just setting an arbitrary ride height to base all the other settings on can be a very unsatisfactory thing.
Dave
Try adjusting the ride height to get the maximum toe (outish) measurement, this means that the track rod is at its fullest extent. Then any deflections of suspension will create a slight toe in - which is the way the car is supposed to behave IMHO. I believe this to be an exact way of setting the ride height (the rack may allow a little adjustment on its mounts - but not much). You can also bounce on wings to see how geo settings change on a 4 wheel alignment machine
Probably of more general interest is the point that ride height affects many of the angles of the rest of your geometry. Just setting an arbitrary ride height to base all the other settings on can be a very unsatisfactory thing.
Dave
well, went out to test them this morning, oh my god! bounced up the road like a clown car, 12 click gave virtualy no damper at all. Set the front to 22 is now pretty good. The rear at 35mm on the shock is too low though, but the damping seems ok at 18 clicks. My Gaz nickles are fine on the chim at 12 on the fron so I suspect Golds have a greater adjustment range.
spend said:
Try adjusting the ride height to get the maximum toe (outish) measurement, this means that the track rod is at its fullest extent. Then any deflections of suspension will create a slight toe in - which is the way the car is supposed to behave IMHO.
Dave
Absolutely spot on (also IMHO). The problem being that it is difficult to achieve this, and there seems to be no adjustment (in the right direction) on a Griff.
simon.b said:
Just fitted the nickel ones.
My front ride height to chassis rail (at fwd wishbone anchor point) was 129mm pre fitting new shocks etc. and with the std 30/40 adjustments on the new shocks the car felt wrong, the front was much higher than before.
Now I have 140mm front ride height giving a shocker dimension of 20mm and the rear is adjusted to a shocker measurement of 35mm.
Simon
My front ride height to chassis rail (at fwd wishbone anchor point) was 129mm pre fitting new shocks etc. and with the std 30/40 adjustments on the new shocks the car felt wrong, the front was much higher than before.
Now I have 140mm front ride height giving a shocker dimension of 20mm and the rear is adjusted to a shocker measurement of 35mm.
Simon
Why did you choose to set your shocks like this Simon? It seems odd to my simple mind set one end to chassis height and the other on the shock threads.
Aren't the shock measurements just initial guestimate settings to get the car on its wheels. Then raise/lower the shocks to gain the correct ride height from chassis to floor.
If I'm talking out of my back end please be kind to me - I'm at the very bottom of a steep learning curve here.
As an insight, using the initial shock/spring settings I gave above vs chassis measurements, my car was 20mm high at the front and 5mm low at the back. Both sides on the same end were about the same.
I set my car to 145 front and 160 rear based on measurements at the front end/front wishbone joint and rear end/rear wishbone joint.
groomvroom said:
well, went out to test them this morning, oh my god! bounced up the road like a clown car
Laughed my arse off imagining this
Glad to hear you've got it a bit better and driveable now.
Edited by barreti on Monday 30th April 22:49
barreti said:
groomvroom said:
well, went out to test them this morning, oh my god! bounced up the road like a clown car
Laughed my arse off imagining this
Glad to hear you've got it a bit better and driveable now.
I installed my shocks and bushes myself, set up as per what i was told and drove it around the block and it seemed alright (at least the wheels didn't fall off and nothing squeaked or rattled). So, booked it in for a full geo setup etc. and set off down the M5....The whole car pitched back and forth like an an old fashion leaf spring pram over the undulations in the road. By the time i got to Dulfords of was possitively green and scared sh1tless.
Edited by bluebottle on Tuesday 1st May 08:31
dnb said:
spend said:
Try adjusting the ride height to get the maximum toe (outish) measurement, this means that the track rod is at its fullest extent. Then any deflections of suspension will create a slight toe in - which is the way the car is supposed to behave IMHO.
Dave
Absolutely spot on (also IMHO). The problem being that it is difficult to achieve this, and there seems to be no adjustment (in the right direction) on a Griff.
This is the problem, it's only on later Tvr's that the rack was moved and older ones do tend to bump steer, putting the car on alignment kit that gives live information and bouncing the front will give you a clue as to how much you will need to compensate, probably about 1.5mm toe in overall would cover most situations though.
On ride height, this is probably the subject of most phone calls and I take the uncomplicated route.
If the front lower wishbones and steering rods are level then everything is working at its optimum and that equates to the front corner of the outrigger to ground measurement being 150mm, if the rear corner of the ourigger is 160mm, the nose down attitude is maintained.
I know that some prefer a lower, more aggressive look but rarely drop more than 10mm from those measurements. This on standard tyres.
BTW, with 42 adjustment for bump/rebound there will be differences in click settings and working back from full hard will overcome this.
Waits for incomming bombs
Edited by the gazman on Tuesday 1st May 08:42
Cant talk for all Derek, but in my early car, the full extent of the wishbones (min camber) was not at the same height as the full extent of the steering rack (min toe in). My original point was to set the ride height to the geo require based on these 2 measurements. If you look at the 'bouncing' data it reinforces the fact that if the ride height is set too far away from these neutral points you are going to be losing camber & toe at critical times. It was really just a note of my personal preference to set the height to achieve the best possible toe figure & run more camber (to over compensate for the reduction in some small deflections). In my case these methods result in a ride height higher than any advised in the pages - even allowing for differing measuring techniques. I'm not so sure if the cars are all 'std' enough that an actual ride height can specced, which is why I went back to these simple principles to derive it. With the easy access to 4 wheel alignment these days it is easy enough to take the time to set the height first on the rig. If the height is too far out any subsequent geo settings will just be compromised IMHO.
I also suspect that this is why a lot run their damper settings too stiff - to limit quick/small deflections where the geo is going loose!
PS. I didnt understand Daves comment that it could'nt be adjusted?
Dave
I also suspect that this is why a lot run their damper settings too stiff - to limit quick/small deflections where the geo is going loose!
PS. I didnt understand Daves comment that it could'nt be adjusted?
Dave
I have all of this to come. Waiting for my rear shock/springs to arrive from Derek so that I can remove the kangaroo that lives in my rear suspension. Previous owner had lowered the rear by around an inch and fronts by something a bit less, and the rear Avo's have given up the fight so I have basically stiff undamped springs. my journey is a bit 
is there an OSTEOPATH in the house!!
The problem is that of the two roads in my village, one has had copies of the Himalayas installed (cunningly disguised as speed humps) and the other will have them put in soon, so I could wake up and find I can't take the Chim anywhere.
is there an OSTEOPATH in the house!! The problem is that of the two roads in my village, one has had copies of the Himalayas installed (cunningly disguised as speed humps) and the other will have them put in soon, so I could wake up and find I can't take the Chim anywhere.
This is all new to me also, though I must admit I quite like being able to try things for myself and the best way to learn is get it wrong first.
I found it very difficult to relate the suggested ride height dimensions to the way my car was set up with originally and since I was quite happy with the way she handled before (I changed shocks because one failed) my thinking was to get back towards these settings.
When I put the standard spring heights on, the backend felt lower than the front and didn’t feel right to drive. So I dropped the front end to my original ride height, but this left a big deferential between the front and rear spring seat settings. As a compromise I lifted the front by 10mm and set the rear to maintain a 15mm differential at the spring seats.
I accept this may not be the correct way to do things, I suspect the backend is still to high and I seam to working towards the bottom limit of the spring seat adjustment. I’m quite happy tinkering about like this and I’m confident eventually I’d get it right, but I’ve run out of time since she’s booked in to Offords on Friday.
I’ll have a look at the outrigger corners tonight to see where I am in relation to these numbers.
Cheers,
Simon.
I found it very difficult to relate the suggested ride height dimensions to the way my car was set up with originally and since I was quite happy with the way she handled before (I changed shocks because one failed) my thinking was to get back towards these settings.
When I put the standard spring heights on, the backend felt lower than the front and didn’t feel right to drive. So I dropped the front end to my original ride height, but this left a big deferential between the front and rear spring seat settings. As a compromise I lifted the front by 10mm and set the rear to maintain a 15mm differential at the spring seats.
I accept this may not be the correct way to do things, I suspect the backend is still to high and I seam to working towards the bottom limit of the spring seat adjustment. I’m quite happy tinkering about like this and I’m confident eventually I’d get it right, but I’ve run out of time since she’s booked in to Offords on Friday.
I’ll have a look at the outrigger corners tonight to see where I am in relation to these numbers.
Cheers,
Simon.
the gazman said:
dnb said:
spend said:
Try adjusting the ride height to get the maximum toe (outish) measurement, this means that the track rod is at its fullest extent. Then any deflections of suspension will create a slight toe in - which is the way the car is supposed to behave IMHO.
Dave
Absolutely spot on (also IMHO). The problem being that it is difficult to achieve this, and there seems to be no adjustment (in the right direction) on a Griff.
This is the problem, it's only on later Tvr's that the rack was moved and older ones do tend to bump steer, putting the car on alignment kit that gives live information and bouncing the front will give you a clue as to how much you will need to compensate, probably about 1.5mm toe in overall would cover most situations though.
On ride height, this is probably the subject of most phone calls and I take the uncomplicated route.
If the front lower wishbones and steering rods are level then everything is working at its optimum and that equates to the front corner of the outrigger to ground measurement being 150mm, if the rear corner of the ourigger is 160mm, the nose down attitude is maintained.
I know that some prefer a lower, more aggressive look but rarely drop more than 10mm from those measurements. This on standard tyres.
BTW, with 42 adjustment for bump/rebound there will be differences in click settings and working back from full hard will overcome this.
Waits for incomming bombs
Edited by the gazman on Tuesday 1st May 08:42
Derek, where do I want tp be in the clicks department as a starting point then? 12/18 I asume is for the nickles not Gold?
Edited by groomvroom on Tuesday 1st May 18:02
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