Spax shock absobers adjustment
Discussion
I want to drive my M for the rest of the summer and plan to put serious new bits and bobs to all four corners during the winter.
To tide me over, how can I adjust the height on my adjustable spax shockers to give me a little more ride height.
This is mainly due to the Crich meet getting a bit closer and fears of the wife wanting to put in "just one more suitcase", it's o.k. for normal driving at the moment albeit slightly low at the back.
To tide me over, how can I adjust the height on my adjustable spax shockers to give me a little more ride height.
This is mainly due to the Crich meet getting a bit closer and fears of the wife wanting to put in "just one more suitcase", it's o.k. for normal driving at the moment albeit slightly low at the back.
alan
There are two basic type of adjustable spax's one with adjustable sprint seats (ride height) and the other without! If you have the latter you cannot adjust the ride height but you can adjust the shock-absorbers stiffness by rotating the little screw at the bottom of the sock abosorber. Turn them fully anticlockwise and then count the clicks as you go clockwise. They should be capable of going up to 13/14 clicks. The clicks are not linear and there are bigger rotations required between some of the clicks. On normal road use with relatively recent shocks and good springs, I would expect to run 3/4 on the front and 5/6 on the back. Older or circuit use and you meight want to wind this figures up. Make it too hard and the car becomes difficult to drive (especially in the wet) and you are getting the shock absorber to to the job of the spring.
If the shocks are put on so the screw points inwards at the front and outwards at the back (assuming you have wolfraces), then the adjustments can be made on the car.
If you have adjustable seats then you can with the aid of a C-spanner alter the ride height as well. This effectively moves a large nut on a thread oat the base of the body of the shock absorber. If you have no thread here your shocks are not ride height adjustable.
Personally I don't rate Spaxes on the car and preferred Koni's on a road car and Leda's for fast road/circuit work, though these days other options are available.
(Of course you could courier the bag to the hotel the day in advance if you're really worried!)
davidy
There are two basic type of adjustable spax's one with adjustable sprint seats (ride height) and the other without! If you have the latter you cannot adjust the ride height but you can adjust the shock-absorbers stiffness by rotating the little screw at the bottom of the sock abosorber. Turn them fully anticlockwise and then count the clicks as you go clockwise. They should be capable of going up to 13/14 clicks. The clicks are not linear and there are bigger rotations required between some of the clicks. On normal road use with relatively recent shocks and good springs, I would expect to run 3/4 on the front and 5/6 on the back. Older or circuit use and you meight want to wind this figures up. Make it too hard and the car becomes difficult to drive (especially in the wet) and you are getting the shock absorber to to the job of the spring.
If the shocks are put on so the screw points inwards at the front and outwards at the back (assuming you have wolfraces), then the adjustments can be made on the car.
If you have adjustable seats then you can with the aid of a C-spanner alter the ride height as well. This effectively moves a large nut on a thread oat the base of the body of the shock absorber. If you have no thread here your shocks are not ride height adjustable.
Personally I don't rate Spaxes on the car and preferred Koni's on a road car and Leda's for fast road/circuit work, though these days other options are available.
(Of course you could courier the bag to the hotel the day in advance if you're really worried!)
davidy
Please make shure that your tracking is still within the measurements required. You have to know that you change the geometry of your suspension if you alter the ride hight. I would go and have the whole system measured after you've found a ride hight you're happy with. Otherwise you might risk uneven wear on your tires or dangerous uncontrollable reactions from your suspension. It's definitvly no fun playing around with these things if you don't know what you're doing. Setting up a racecar is a very tricky and serious task!!! Please take care! Stephan
Surely changing the ride height (0.5in) at the rear will only alter the rear camber by a very small amount. No changes have been made to the front (tracking).
I accept your point, but if the owner thinks that the car now handles well then it probably does.
M series cars can take a fair bit of camber adjustment on the rear and still be predictable (IMO and after 12 years of owning/modifying, including 4 suspension rebuilds!)
davidy
I accept your point, but if the owner thinks that the car now handles well then it probably does.
M series cars can take a fair bit of camber adjustment on the rear and still be predictable (IMO and after 12 years of owning/modifying, including 4 suspension rebuilds!)
davidy
David, as a racer of Sportscars and Formula 5000s for many years, I just wanted to warn Alan that it's not children play to change the geometry of his car - that's all. I know that you have lot's of experience so you know what you're doing, but if someone else does that for the first time it's better to show the results to someone with knowledge. Cheers, Stephan
Stephan,
You are absolutely right with your words of warning and as they are now on here, your contribution will no doubt make other readers of this thread exercise the necessary caution when approaching this kind of job.
I have all the drawings and set up figures for the M suspension, I have also had spaxes on the last performance car I built (although not the same type). I find that a question put on the forum often saves a lot of experimenting and wasted time. So David's advice did exactly that.
It's great to be able to find someone who has done it before to offer advice. What did we all do before forums?
Many thanks to you both
Alan
You are absolutely right with your words of warning and as they are now on here, your contribution will no doubt make other readers of this thread exercise the necessary caution when approaching this kind of job.
I have all the drawings and set up figures for the M suspension, I have also had spaxes on the last performance car I built (although not the same type). I find that a question put on the forum often saves a lot of experimenting and wasted time. So David's advice did exactly that.
It's great to be able to find someone who has done it before to offer advice. What did we all do before forums?
Many thanks to you both
Alan
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