Suspension Upgrade Options
Discussion
Looking at upgrading the suspension on the Chim to some adjustable AVOs plus springs sometime very soon. I've spoken to a couple of specialists who've come up with a couple of different prices. I'm after fast-road use with the occasional track day. I do NOT want to bugger up road handling as the car will be spending most of it's time on the road, not the track.
1) A racing specialist who do a fully fitted, aligned and corner weighted service for approximately £850 plus VAT (£1007). The corner weighting is probably a little excessive for what I want.
2) An independant specialist who can do 4 dampers at £109 each, 4 springs at £40 each and 3 hours labour (@£45/hour), reaching £731 plus VAT (£859). He insists that the standard TVR springs are fine with the AVOs which contradicts some stuff I've read from Joolz.
The alternative is to buy from somewhere (Peninsula/Joospeed etc) and fit myself. My uncle is a bit of a wiz with the spanners and I'm fairly mechanically minded but with zero experience with suspension. I don't want to stuff it up as failing suspension is no joke. I'm sure I've seen mention of AVO spring-and-damper kits for the region of £550 and then it's my own time.
I'm not after the cheapest price, just the best combination of kit and service.
Suggestions?
Rob
1) A racing specialist who do a fully fitted, aligned and corner weighted service for approximately £850 plus VAT (£1007). The corner weighting is probably a little excessive for what I want.
2) An independant specialist who can do 4 dampers at £109 each, 4 springs at £40 each and 3 hours labour (@£45/hour), reaching £731 plus VAT (£859). He insists that the standard TVR springs are fine with the AVOs which contradicts some stuff I've read from Joolz.
The alternative is to buy from somewhere (Peninsula/Joospeed etc) and fit myself. My uncle is a bit of a wiz with the spanners and I'm fairly mechanically minded but with zero experience with suspension. I don't want to stuff it up as failing suspension is no joke. I'm sure I've seen mention of AVO spring-and-damper kits for the region of £550 and then it's my own time.
I'm not after the cheapest price, just the best combination of kit and service.
Suggestions?
Rob
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=8&h=&t=98883
Read this, if I can help anymore give me a shout.
Read this, if I can help anymore give me a shout.
Steve, but is it worth it for a car that I will primarily be using on the road? I can appreciate it for a car that you are sprinting but I'm not convinced it's worth an extra few hundred quid at the moment.
Corin, I've seen both of those during my research. The upshot of which seems to be "buy Joolz's kits as they work". I'm more than happy to send cash in the direction of a respected and no doubt talented TVR specialist. Only problem comes to fitting as I'm down south.
Rob
Corin, I've seen both of those during my research. The upshot of which seems to be "buy Joolz's kits as they work". I'm more than happy to send cash in the direction of a respected and no doubt talented TVR specialist. Only problem comes to fitting as I'm down south.
Rob
Rob,
Speak with Joolz, he even sent me easy to understand instructions (if you can read the handwriting of a 4 year old
)
I did the rears on mine in under 2.5 hours including getting the ride height correct and damper settings sorted. It's only 2 bolts each side, you can't go wrong.
Yet to do the fronts but it'll happen soon.
Speak with Joolz, he even sent me easy to understand instructions (if you can read the handwriting of a 4 year old
) I did the rears on mine in under 2.5 hours including getting the ride height correct and damper settings sorted. It's only 2 bolts each side, you can't go wrong.
Yet to do the fronts but it'll happen soon.
chimhunter said:
Steve, but is it worth it for a car that I will primarily be using on the road? I can appreciate it for a car that you are sprinting but I'm not convinced it's worth an extra few hundred quid at the moment.
Well I've come to the conclusion that if you changing to an adjustable suspension, it is the only way to set it up. Currently rebuilding the Cerbera with 520 spec suspension and that will be cornerweighted even though it will only be a runabout/shopping trolley. I would not have believed the difference to be honest.
I'd set up the 520 using ride heights and all that good stuff but found that the weights on the rear wheels were over 80KG out and that effectively I was only using the drivers side! This was explaining the twitchiness under power. As for an extra few hundred quid... it should take no more than a couple of hours if that depending on how much adjustment is needed. You are looking at around £50, maybe £100 at worst case.
shpub said:
Well I've come to the conclusion that if you changing to an adjustable suspension, it is the only way to set it up. Currently rebuilding the Cerbera with 520 spec suspension and that will be cornerweighted even though it will only be a runabout/shopping trolley. I would not have believed the difference to be honest.
I'd set up the 520 using ride heights and all that good stuff but found that the weights on the rear wheels were over 80KG out and that effectively I was only using the drivers side! This was explaining the twitchiness under power. As for an extra few hundred quid... it should take no more than a couple of hours if that depending on how much adjustment is needed. You are looking at around £50, maybe £100 at worst case.
Having taken the time and effort to do the same on a car that rarely gets "spanked" I would still recommend the time and effort. We all know that TVRs have some strange tollerances on the build and changing the suspension to more precise / tuneable / controllable / tighter tollerances will only make any slight differences even more noticeable. For example, say yours is ever so slightly out left to right on the body - like it is ever so slightly twisted. Over the years things have settled and the suspension has settled too. Swapping to AVO's or Nitrons will only accentuate the differences and make it seem sooooo much more than it actually is.
Had mine weighted and balanced and it makes a difference. Not as twitchy (though still havent got the right setting on the suspension yet) and I currently suffer from an incredible turn-in!!! Understeer? My car has never heard of it at the moment! Its just another one of those things that you can have changed to improve the car.
However, this leads onto the next question you should be asking - ride height..... and the jury is still out on that one!!!
chimhunter said:
Mark,
Did you have a spring compressor to hand? That's the only thing that I'm really worried about. Don't want to spend £50 on a tool that I'll use once when I can send the car to a garage for only £85 more. Mind you, I've no idea how much it costs.
Rob
I bought the AVO's and new springs from Joolz, I spoke to hime very nicely and they turned up already fitted.
hi mr hunter
in my personal opinion, it is worth changing the dual rate rear springs for single rate ones, as i believe they are part of the std chimera's handling problems.
if you want a garage to fit AVOs, speak to austec in crawley 01293 531080... unless you already have, of course!
Good luck, Dean
>> Edited by deeen on Wednesday 19th May 16:35
in my personal opinion, it is worth changing the dual rate rear springs for single rate ones, as i believe they are part of the std chimera's handling problems.
if you want a garage to fit AVOs, speak to austec in crawley 01293 531080... unless you already have, of course!
Good luck, Dean
>> Edited by deeen on Wednesday 19th May 16:35
Fitted my new AVO's and springs tonight, took 45 mins for rears and 2.5 hours for fronts, somebody had fitted the last ones and put the front bottom bolt in wrong way round and it took me half an hour to remove it,anyway i've left them on the softest setting for now (runnig in period???) but dont know if i can drive it like that for long, felt seasick after half a mile,
Ive gone for 300lb front springs and 250lb rears on recomendation from Paul at Austec, Im not sure about ride heights yet,i've got the springs one turn from the bottom, the front is the same height as before but the rear has dropped 40mm. Has anybody else got any ideas on ride height. ie how many turns up on platforms etc. Just to get the four wheel angle of the dangle set now and it should be sorted, Can anybody recommend somewhere thats got the four wheel alignment gear in or around the Leeds area???
>> Edited by TT Paul on Thursday 20th May 22:22
Ive gone for 300lb front springs and 250lb rears on recomendation from Paul at Austec, Im not sure about ride heights yet,i've got the springs one turn from the bottom, the front is the same height as before but the rear has dropped 40mm. Has anybody else got any ideas on ride height. ie how many turns up on platforms etc. Just to get the four wheel angle of the dangle set now and it should be sorted, Can anybody recommend somewhere thats got the four wheel alignment gear in or around the Leeds area???
>> Edited by TT Paul on Thursday 20th May 22:22
TT Paul said:
the front is the same height as before but the rear has dropped 40mm
you must be using the anti-roll bar as a bump stop TT!? Chimhunter
You don't need a spring compressor to take off the old units unless you want to remove the spring. The static length is within the movement of the wishbones. If you buy pre-assembled springs/shocks you won't need a compressor. If you do need to buy one, make sure it's the thin forged type for racing springs as the cheap common one's (especially cast Aluminium) are too thick to hook between the coils.
You've got to love this forum! So many useful answers.
Gemini, where did you get your set-up from? Where the springs already fitted to the dampers? Got a contact name?
Hadn't taken into account having to do the full alignment into account. Definitely not something I could do myself. That starts to make the DIY option look less attractive as the Indy service all include alignment.
Anyone else got any comments on the corner weighting thing? I guess you can only really comment if you've had it done.
As for ride-heights, where are you measuring the ride height too? I've heard that the wheel to wheel-arch measurement is notoriously unreliable, especially on fibre-glass bodied cars.
Rob
Gemini, where did you get your set-up from? Where the springs already fitted to the dampers? Got a contact name?
Hadn't taken into account having to do the full alignment into account. Definitely not something I could do myself. That starts to make the DIY option look less attractive as the Indy service all include alignment.
Anyone else got any comments on the corner weighting thing? I guess you can only really comment if you've had it done.
As for ride-heights, where are you measuring the ride height too? I've heard that the wheel to wheel-arch measurement is notoriously unreliable, especially on fibre-glass bodied cars.
Rob
gemini said:
proven products were the cheapest for my chimaera
Joolz - bless him couldnt get near but was most helpful
It's because i spend so much time on the *bleepedout* fone helping people out that my prices are more expensive .. it's a business after all
maybe i shouldn't be as helpful and bring my prices down ? ..
had avos fitted 3 weeks ago on my griff, kept the standard springs and it transformed the car. i used a company in stotfold herts who got them for appx £75 per corner and charge appx £45 per hour labour. have used them for three years now and thet specialise in tvrs and morgans so no probs with knowing the cars.
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