1965 Griffith 200 SPAX Coilover

[sunbeamtiger65]

I am currently restoring a 1965 Griffith 200. I am looking for the part numbers for a new set of Classic SPAX Coilover Shocks (if SPAX makes a "classic" coilover profile) for my Griffith 200. Has anyone ever used SPAX Coilover shocks on their 1960s Griffith 200? If so, please let me know your experience with the shocks. Some photos of the shocks fitted to the Griffith 200 would be appreciated as well along with the part numbers. All of the sites that I have gone to use "general" illustrations of SPAX shocks to illustrate ALL of the shocks for sale. I'd like to see what the shocks actually look like to see if they have the traditional classic coilover look to them OR they look like the more modern coilovers. Any suggestions on spring rates would be appreciated as well. My vehicle will be used for spirited street driving and perhaps an occasional SCCA autocross.

Thank you.

PS - some photos of my project...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/111739756@N06/

[phillpot]

sunbeamtiger65 said:

I am looking for the part numbers for a new set of Classic SPAX Coilover Shocks (if SPAX makes a "classic" coilover profile)

Might be a bit obvious but have you contacted Spax?

[Adrian@]

Spax, were never fitted as OE and assume that NONE of ANY Spax own top and bottom collets and end plates work with OE springs ..they WILL tell they do, I am still modifying any and every set of Spax that appear here.
Adrian@

[GTRene]

good project, love the Griff 200.

[sunbeamtiger65]

I have contacted SPAX. The individual I contacted indicated the supplied shocks but not coilovers and they had know idea where to get springs or what type I may need. I have seen coilover SPAX shocks on another Griffiths in the past, but the current owner did not install them and had no idea what the part numbers were so that I could locate a set. I thought someone in community may have installed coilover SPAX on Griffith in the past and could direct me down the correct path.

[SportsCarShop]

I have spent many hours toiling over a Griffith 200, still remains the most insane combination of power and potential for sudden catastrophic failure at two and a half times the motorway speed limit, loved it to bits but terrifying!
Hard to believe it had spax from new. Tell me, are you restoring to near standard spec, as few do that now, engines tend to be at least 125 bhp over standard. Will check shock absorber spec tomorrow

[Adrian@]

OE on the car would of been Armstrong ...from you pictures four of these are OE Armstrong, the additional units (minus springs) are not OE.
IF I am honest, you need to speak to someone like Nigel Ruebens racing...

BUT, from what you are saying (correct me if I'm wrong) Spax can supply the shock (damper), BUT THEY, have no idea on the spring (coilover) poundage, I.D.or free length (I can see your springs have bent and are rubbing the bodies) ..so cannot give you a Spax part number to match something that they cannot 'just' look up off their 'list'...what I find, is that REGARDLESS of what Spax (as long as it is not a fixed seat version) supply you with, you will need to ignore their top and bottom collets and use a combination of TVR OE parts (from the Armstrongs you have) and modify the Spax to suit...
Are you are using Spax because you have 'seen' other people use them? Are you only looking to use a Spax setup as it 'looks' OE?

IMHO if it is OE 'look' then I would advise Koni Classics for the Griffith.

I HAVE to buy some Spax for a customer this week as I already know that shock fitted is modified.
Adrian@

[GTRene]

at this site you can press on the i and see the product, they have more sorts of Spax for the Griffith 200/400
with different springs I guess? I'm not that good in English.

edith...hm, most look the same.

http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?c=SPXADJSHOKTVR&...

edit, here they have the classic program? but I guess its the same?

http://www.spaxperformance.com/downloads/SPAX-Clas...

Edited by GTRene on Monday 12th January 23:27

[sunbeamtiger65]

"SportsCarShop" - I have done my best to restore the car to near original as possible. The car had been garaged for around 30 years in a small town near Rochester, New York. I've been able to track down four previous owners of the car. An owner who bought the car from a used car dealer in New York took photos of the car the day he brought it home in 1972 (he paid $800 for it at the time). His poloraid photos are posted in the FLICKR site. Compare them to the recent photos of the Griffith in my garage and you can see that virtually nothing had changed on the car since 1972. The HIPO 289 is original to the car...along with the Toploader trans. I had the engine bored .30 over to cleans up the cylinders and kept the rest "stockish" with new pistons, cam and four barrel carb. A new aluminum intake was added and I kept the original HIPO heads in factory state. The engine has been balanced and blueprinted. Factory HP was around 274 with the HIPO and my guess is that it is running anywhere from 300 to 320 at best....plenty I think. Here is a video of the engine running on a stand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_INV9oRRO8

Here is a walk-around of my car just prior to disassembly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0d2s3sHgdI

The TVR rear end was replaced in the 1970s with an XKE differential. It appears from the damage that the original rear scattered back in the day. (It was used as a drag car). It warped part of the transmission housing when it went up...I had to get some machine work done on the housing to bring it back to spec. I have returned the Griffith back to its original color (white...using my artistic license with the black racing strip and hand painted red pin striping to give it that 60's look) and am doing my best to use as much of the original car as possible. The interior is going to be redone in the original "cherry red". The major change that I did make was to make the chassis removable from the body. Given the opportunity, I thought it best to ensure that the body & frame were more serviceable in the future. I have the original frame (complete with accident damage and rust thru sections)...hanging from the wall in my garage (garage art to me) and have a new chrome moly heliarc chassis under the restored fiberglass body. I have kept every nut and bolt that I have replace outside of a few period tuning mods that were added to the car back in the day (I sold these off to fund the restoration).

"Adrian" - I dropped an email to Nigel Ruebens this evening soliciting a recommendation for proper coilovers for my car. Thank you for the info.

"All" - With everyone's input in this forum it is apparent that SPAX don't really make a proper damper for my Griffith...and that the ones I had seen previous must have been "created" using some original SPAX to form them into coilovers. Does anyone know if my OE Armstrong dampers can be rebuilt/restored? If so, is their a company that specializes in restoring these type of dampers? If so, please provide their contact information. If not, can anyone suggest a proper set of coilovers for my Griffith? I have not heard good things about GAZ...AVO have been mentioned a few times in good light...Aldan have been mentioned as well as they are used in Cobra kit cars. If anyone has any personal experience with these or any other brands in use on their Griffith 200/400...please let me know your opinion. I appreciate all of the information everyone has provided.

[Dollyman1850]

I would think that Nigel will come back and tell you to use Koni which whilst not original, are a period shock that was used on many Griff racers in the day they were raced.
If you are not too anal about originality You could look at Protech over here in the UK who I find to be very helpful and will accommodate any deviations from standard.
With respect to choosing your shocks, The key on the rear of the griff is to measure the required travel on full compression and droop and ensure that the shock open length does not allow any binding of the yokes on the driveshafts you are proposing to use

I use Protech rear and alloy body koni's on the front of mine, but nothing on the car is out of the box so I am unable to help with OE.

http://www.protechshocks.co.uk

I have never ever been a fan of Spax.

N.

Edited by Dollyman1850 on Tuesday 13th January 05:10

[GTRene]

I wanted to mention Koni too, sadly they had a fire last week or so, but don't know how much is damaged over-there, could not be that much.

http://inspiremari.nl/fire-at-koni-itt-oud-beijerl...

ow, its a office that was on fire, so lucky not that bad>>

http://www.koni.de/offroad/news/single-news/?tx_tt...

here they talk about the Koni for Griffith 200 & 400 etc>

http://classicgarage.com/tvrgr18vituv.html

[GTRene]

here on a russian site? the have the koni classic numbers too, all those menstioned tvr seem to use the same?

http://www.shop-tuning.ru/attach/koni.pdf

I saw old type Triumph shocks etc very cheap, TVR used a lot parts from existing cars, Triumph and Austin and Ford etc, maybe if you know were they used the TVR 200/400 shocks/springs from, it could be a lot easier to find...

[Adrian@]

GTRene said:

I saw old type Triumph shocks etc very cheap, TVR used a lot parts from existing cars, Triumph and Austin and Ford etc, maybe if you know were they used the TVR 200/400 shocks/springs from, it could be a lot easier to find...

The reality is that this is not the case.
Adrian@

[Sonus]

David Gerald fitted Spax to my V8 Vixen. No clue about spring weight, but they do have a colour coded dot on them if that helps?