V8S Suspension

[v8s4me]

phillpot said:

By 'eck Joe you don't like rushing a job do you?

What are you talking about? That was a quick job! Remember those wheels? Well, I only got around to taking them to be powder coated on Tuesday.

phillpot said:

.....I'd hope they're no more than perhaps a millimetre out!

So you want me to put the ride heights in then?

[v8s4me]

OK..so what's going on here then? These are my old rear shock units. Notice what appears to be a spacer on the bottom of the lower one.





Any suggestions?

[phillpot]

One broke and fell out years ago?

A TVR improvisation to level up un-even ride height?

Car used to belong to a fat ba###rd and packing piece to compensate for driver weight?

Someone in the factory was having a bad day and grabbed an un-matched pair of shocks (or that's all they had left on a Friday afternoon)?

[v8s4me]

All plausible. Here's one of the new ones insitu ......



Top Tip 1.Get yourself a new set of nuts and bolts BEFORE starting this job

Top Tip 2. Those upper nuts are a BASRD to get back on and tighten up! Refer to Top Tip 1.

Top Tip 3. Read the WIKI BEFORE starting the job.

And another odd thing. Looking at the WIKI (yes I know I should have looked there first!) the suspension bolts are listed as ½” UNF. I had to use a 19mm spanner on mine because none of my UNF tools would fit. Have I got M12 bolts then? And will ordinary M12 nylocks from the local ironmongers do the job?

Edited by v8s4me on Tuesday 29th April 23:11

[glenrobbo]

A 19 mm spanner is exactly the same as a 3/4" AF Joe.

I had no problems at all fitting my rear suspender top nuts & bolts, it was all very straightforward

And 1/2" UNF thread is NOT compatible with M12.

Edited by glenrobbo on Wednesday 30th April 00:36

[v8s4me]

glenrobbo said:

A 19 mm spanner is exactly the same as a 3/4" AF Joe.

I thought some smart-arse helpful contributor would point this out but the first spanner & socket I tried was 3/4" and it was a tad too small to grip the bolt/nut.

glenrobbo said:

..I had no problems at all fitting my rear suspender top nuts & bolts, it was all very straightforward

- like I said, smart-arse Are the V8S trailing arms/top mounts different to the V6 cars?

glenrobbo said:

... 1/2" UNF thread is NOT compatible with M12.

I learnt that a very long time ago, when I was in the scrap nut & bolt business

[zombeh]

3/4" is 19.05mm so a 3/4 socket/spanner should be if anything very slightly bigger than a 19

[v8s4me]

zombeh said:

3/4" is 19.05mm so a 3/4 socket/spanner should be if anything very slightly bigger than a 19

It's a fair cop. Which ever way round it was, the AF wouldn't turn the bloody thing. At the time of my statment officer ie 10.30pm, I wasn't going back out to the garage to check my story.

[glenrobbo]

Joe,
I hope you're not rushing this job.

Take a break mate, we can't go burning the candle at both ends at our age.

Not like some young Terrys .......

Yours sincerely,
G.T. Smartarse.

P.S. What you need is a nice mug of Ovomaltine

Edited by glenrobbo on Wednesday 30th April 20:33

[tel595]

I'll drink a mug to that...

[v8s4me]

tel595 said:

I'll drink a mug to that...

You've never tried it have you?!

[themee]

Joe, Where did you get the refurb on dampers done? Thinking of doing mine, only about 8 years old but want to take them off and "stiffen up" would like shorter stiffer springs too, am sure mine sits too high. any sugestions where to get new springs for the Koni dampers? And do you fully contract and turn clockwise to stiffen? remember reading something on this a while ago.

[Deeman]

themee said:

Joe, Where did you get the refurb on dampers done? Thinking of doing mine, only about 8 years old but want to take them off and "stiffen up" would like shorter stiffer springs too, am sure mine sits too high. any sugestions where to get new springs for the Koni dampers? And do you fully contract and turn clockwise to stiffen? remember reading something on this a while ago.

Don't compare with mine Chris. It was sitting way too low

[Barry S1]

Do you think that's why your car keeps driving round in circles Chris

[v8s4me]

themee said:

Joe, Where did you get the refurb on dampers done? Thinking of doing mine, only about 8 years old but want to take them off and "stiffen up" would like shorter stiffer springs too, am sure mine sits too high. any sugestions where to get new springs for the Koni dampers? And do you fully contract and turn clockwise to stiffen? remember reading something on this a while ago.

I used this guy, listed by Koni as one of their refurbishment workshops.

Shaun Pickering SP Suspension 07811 108123

He did mine earlier in the year and I was quite happy with his service. Might be worth a call and he may know where to get new springs. I wouldn't shorten them if I were you because at best you'll lose ground clearance and at worst may not be able to open your bonnet very far.

To adjust the Koni damper (copied from the Koni website - have a look there for more info):-

1. Fully compress the left and right struts, at the same time turning the dust cap or piston rod slowly to the left (anti-clockwise), until it is felt that the cams of the adjusting nut engage in the recesses of the foot valve assembly.

NOTE:
Some shock absorbers include a bump rubber concealed under the dust cover and this must be removed prior to adjusting. Don’t forget to re-install.

2. Keeping the struts absorber (the what? ) compressed make 1 full turn (360°) to the right (clockwise). The total range is about 5 half turns.

3. Extend the shock absorber(*) vertically for at least 1 cm without turning in order to disengage the adjusting mechanism. The dust cap or piston rod may now be turned freely.

(*) Interestingly they describe the unit as a "shock absorber". Technically the spring is the shock absorber and the oil filled telescopic thing is the damper. But what do I know Koni probably got someone from its marketing department to translate (from Dutch) a technical bulletin.

[themee]

Cheers Joe, will give him a ring and ask him to adjust for me! Do you recommend "fully hard" then? I think mine definately needs to be shorter by about 10mm, sits higher than most in pics but never had trouble with clearance or getting it fully up, so maybe I should just leave it alone!

v8s4me said:

I wouldn't shorten them if I were you because at best you'll lose ground clearance and at worst may not be able to open your bonnet very far.

[v8s4me]

themee said:

... Do you recommend "fully hard" then? ....

Don't know about "fully hard" but I set mine to the give the most rebound resistance. On mine the compression resistance seemed to be unaffected by the rebound setting so changing the rebound will not make the ride stiffer. It may just appear stiffer because it's not "bouncing" so much. Hope that makes sense.

themee said:

... so maybe I should just leave it alone!...

If it aint broke don't fix it

[Top Gear TVR]

Joe - are you happy with this set up? i'm considering swapping back to OE rising rate springs and koni dampers at th error as i recall a better ride, a bit more roll but less bouncing :-)

how expensive was the damper refurb?

[v8s4me]

Top Gear TVR said:

Joe - are you happy with this set up? ....

Definately!

Top Gear TVR said:

....... as i recall a better ride, a bit more roll but less bouncing :-)

Set the rebound to maximum resistance and there is no roll. You'll also get better ground clearance and you won't wear out the knees of your jeans from constantly having to adjust them.

Top Gear TVR said:

....how expensive was the damper refurb?

Note this was to two dampers. I had two new OE ones as well.

[Top Gear TVR]

I'm very tempted as on the whole I am sick of adjusting what used to just work with the OE set up.