12 replies to this topic

[Tornado99]

Just took off my OEM shocks my 1988 car came with when I acquired it 3 months ago. Car was not settling immediately when coming to a stop, a bit of bounce was happening. Once off, original fronts could be easily compressed by hand and would not rebound back, just stayed were I left them each time. Is this "normal" for this design?

New shocks, KYB Gas-a-just, took a lot more force to compress and would rebound back to full extension. 

Got a few more odd jobs to do on car before road testing....will report back with how it goes soon...

 

 

[nicklouse]

Some open back up many don’t. It all depends on the design. Or if the seals have gone and there were meant to.

[Tornado99]

Ok happy to report new KYB Gas-a-just shocks front and rear are a good improvement. Though there is still a bit of settling, bounce as car comes to a stop, overall ride is much better. No more harsh bangs going over dips or bumps in road. Ride height seem to have increased at all corners despite not touching the cones yet. Not sure how that works as shocks should not affect height, thats what cones or springs do.

[kit352]

My rear went up like 50mm when i put the kyb shocks in. It settled a little but not much. Im putting in hi lo's today to level it out again. The front seems fine after settling so thats stay stock for now.

[Ell.s]

The shocks should not alter ride hight, if your fitting Hilos I suggest you fit new cones at the same time, they are supposed to be changed every 6 years. Mine were like pancakes on the front and the rears around 1" shorter than the shoukd be.

Drives so much better.

[Bobbins]

My rear went up like 50mm when i put the kyb shocks in. It settled a little but not much. Im putting in hi lo's today to level it out again. The front seems fine after settling so thats stay stock for now.

There is something else here that needs looking at, changing shocks should not raise the ride height by 50mm.

[GraemeC]

Gas-adjusts can increase the ride height slightly as they use pressurised gas to do the damping so naturally want to extend and, when new, do have a reasonable amount of force.  This will help the springs a little, especially if they themselves are tired. 

50mm does sound a lot though - something else there is wrong or tired

 

 

Standard oil filled shocks don't do this as they work purely on restriction of the oil through a small orifice - they'll stay where you leave them.

[sonscar]

This may seem like teaching people to suck eggs but do not tighten suspension bolts/nuts until the car is on the ground,this may be difficult but is important to avoid"set" in the bushes.Steve..

[BingoBongo]

OP, where did you but the gas a justs from and when?

They seem to be out of stock everywhere that I’ve looked.

Edited by BingoBongo, 24 September 2020 - 10:06 PM.

[Tornado99]

OP, where did you but the gas a justs from and when?

They seem to be out of stock everywhere that I’ve looked.

Ordered from MiniSpares not more than 5 weeks ago. 

Very happy with them. Car no longer harsh over road bumps...firm and compliant. Getting Red Spot (or is that Red Dot?) front cones and HiLo's installed today...to see how much further the ride changes. 

[IronmanG]

OP, where did you but the gas a justs from and when?

They seem to be out of stock everywhere that I’ve looked.

Ordered from MiniSpares not more than 5 weeks ago.
Very happy with them. Car no longer harsh over road bumps...firm and compliant. Getting Red Spot (or is that Red Dot?) front cones and HiLo's installed today...to see how much further the ride changes.

Have you put the red dots on yet. How does it handle. I have choice of red dot or standard for the fronts

[Tornado99]

Just got car back from shop yesterday with front Red Dots and front HiLo's. They said initially it is setup with fairly high ride height until the cones settle in. Should a couple of weeks. Then I can drop front down to more reasonable level. He also said good to get alignment done at that time. So any handling changes at this point are subject to new variables over next weeks.
I will say the new shocks made a significant ride feel difference. Was actually reconsidering if it was worth doing the cones afterwards. The cones that came off look to be not too squashed so maybe at their half life point? No idea how old but didnt seem weathered badly.

The shop owner told me red dots are a different compound and different shape, giving a more linear compression profile compared to stock.

[cp2708]

+1 for the Gas-A-Justs. Amazing improvement in ride over the GAZ adjustable's fitted before, and they were wound right down. I didn't have any increase in ride height though. No more crashing and banging over bumps.