27 replies to this topic

[Carvell]

I had my old kit car suspension set up some time ago. The guy worked wonders, he said the rears should always be at least 4 clicks stiffer than the front as its actually the pressure on the outside rear wheel that effectively makes the turn? Not sure if its 100% true but the car did four laps of a mini roundabout at 70mph after the set-up whereas before it was a real ditch diver. 

[Rickyjm]

 

 

 

I recently fitted Gaz adjustable shockers with hi-lo's and road coils and with the car lowered I'm getting a lot of clunking noise from the rear. This becomes less apparent if I raise the height to around standard. Its a 1999 cooper. I'm assuming Its because there is metal on metal from the knuckle to the coil/cone support bracket and they simply just are not as quiet as the rubber cones? Hopefully someone else has encountered the same problem and found a solution.

[Jordie]

are you loosing lowered type shockers? Could be the shock not having the correct amount of travel.

 

What springs are they? Minitastic?

 

Minitastic springs must be used with the correct hi los. (comes as a complete kit)

[Rickyjm]

Hi Jordie, I bought the Gaz shockers almost a year ago and I cant remember 100% but I think I did buy the lowered set. But I will check to see if there is no travel left in them and if not, obviously I'm wrong about which ones I actually bought and will replace them.

I have a photo of them before I put them on the car, but I have no idea how to put the photo on here.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

[Jordie]

think you can take the shocker off and measure the open and closed lenegths to work out if its a lowered type or not.

[firstforward]

You cannot run coils lowered, it is dangerous as the spring is not under tension when the radius arm drops down. That will cause the spring to dislodge and possibly break. Conversely running too high allows the spring to potentially bottom out they should be installed as per the instructions. There is a workaround but it is too much for me to explain on an iPhone.

[Fast Ivan]

as jordie said - you can take them off then measure, standard front gaz shocks are 235mm closed and 335mm open, rears are 260mm closed and 394mm open.

 

To work out what you need remove the shock, make sure the car is on level ground then measure between the hole centres on the front and from pin to underside of arch on the rear. the distance you measure, in an ideal world, should be close to the midway point of the shocks travel.

 

Now you need to look at the open and closed lengths of the shocks available, they are different between manufacturers, so you may not need lowered from say KYB but if you want GAZ you may need their lowered version.

 

I've just been through all this with mine, I was running standard GAZ and getting a banging, done some measuring, went down to euro car parts and measured some sachs standard, they fell within what I was looking at so being cheap as chips I bought them to prove my theory and he presto no more banging.

 

I've just ordered some KYB gas-a-just to replace them now that I know what I'm looking for.

 

I've put all the info on shock lengths that I have gathered (and in some cases measured) on a spread sheet, if you want a copy send me a pm.

[miniman24]

Update on these coming soon, the Clubmans been off the road since late December for engine upgrades and re-undersealing etc and she will be finished next week and driven hard to make up for lost time I also plan on lowering her a bit, 5mm or so all round from the current settings so I will report back on that too.

[ibby4585]

Any updates??

[Carlos W]

Any updates??

5% off with TMF+

[miniman24]

I still think they are excellent and would recommend them to anyone :) However, as some of you may have seen via my project thread, my mini is currently being rebuilt to mint condition (running gear mainly) and as part of the rebuild, I am removing any non-period or non - original parts as the Mini is no longer my only car and will be a fine weather only toy. As such, these will be for sale soon as Im going to cones purely as they are original - my DSN bits will be going too. I suppose now I can do a full comparison between these and new cones!

Edited by miniman24, 19 September 2014 - 08:57 PM.

[exuptoy]

im interested, pm me the price you have in mind if selling.

lyn

[TMW.Racing]

I still think they are excellent and would recommend them to anyone :) However, as some of you may have seen via my project thread, my mini is currently being rebuilt to mint condition (running gear mainly) and as part of the rebuild, I am removing any non-period or non - original parts as the Mini is no longer my only car and will be a fine weather only toy. As such, these will be for sale soon as Im going to cones purely as they are original - my DSN bits will be going too. I suppose now I can do a full comparison between these and new cones!

Did the springs get sold in the end or do you still have them? If you still have them, I will be interested!!