Andy B's Fast Road/Track build

[DavebGsi]

Raise your front ride height 20mm and see how it feels, from your pics it looks very low, lower than mine infact, so you probably dont have alot of travel in the shocks like Dave says, If thats no better then try 350lbs springs.

Yea exactly this tom, Ive had to raise my ride height cause even with the shorter damper length, cause im on 15 inch wheels its really low. I remember speaking to KW and their philosophy is to use the softest spring you can get away with, and control the car using damping.

I'll have a look at what mine are

 

[TomF]

Yea exactly this tom, Ive had to raise my ride height cause even with the shorter damper length, cause im on 15 inch wheels its really low. I remember speaking to KW and their philosophy is to use the softest spring you can get away with, and control the car using damping.

I'll have a look at what mine are

Yep lower aint always best! I remember we actually raised mine up when we did the corner weights, did feel alot better !

 

[DavebGsi]

Yea deffo, tbh, lower is Purley for looks

 

[AndyB-Redtop]

Thanks guys… I’ll try a few things out over the next few days. I don’t really want to rise the ride height because I like how it looks.

I might try going back to standard top mounts. Can standard top mounts fit straight on with the GAZ coilover? Does it need anything additional for fitting?

 

[AndyB-Redtop]

before you get too involved, you should measure the distance from your driveshaft thread to your arch at your choosen ride height. then take the wheel off, and jack up the lower arm up to the same ride height then have a look how much travel you have. I figured out the harshness I was gettin from mine was the fact that I only had about 15mm of travel!

I sold the gaz stuff to andy cotton only because he said he won't use the compbrake mounts.
The Kw stuff I had custom made, the damper is alot shorter. giving more travel

Ok DavebGsi i measured as you advised and it measured 300mm exactly from centre of the driveshaft when at rest. When I jacked the lower arm up with the wheel off to 300mm, here’s how compressed the springs are……







My springs are 5”x400ibs. So they’ve compressed a full inch when at rest. I’m thinking would going for a 6”x300ibs resolve this crashing and harshness ? I’m also considering going standard top mounts too.

 

[Todd100]

Looking at the pictures it's 100% bottoming out, pretty sure that's what my issue was too, I would wind it up 20-30mm and see how it feels

 

[AndyB-Redtop]

Looking at the pictures it's 100% bottoming out, pretty sure that's what my issue was too, I would wind it up 20-30mm and see how it feels

I’m thinking of buying 6”x300 springs because believe me that when I say the ride is harsh…. It’s bloody hard to the point of being uncomfortable now and I’m starting to get annoyed by it. And the top mounts keep coming loose all the time. I’ve got some thread lock for that actually. Will standard top mounts fit straight onto the coilover mate? I went OTT with modifying this car with hard stuff, but my intention at the time was to track it. Now it’s my daily . Never mind….

I dont really want to raise the ride height to be honest , because I like how it sits now. I’m hoping for more travel with a 6” spring and they’ll compress enough being 300 for me to keep the ride height low. It’s just my preference. I was naive not ever having any experience with setting up the suspension properly…

 

[TomF]

Andy raise the ride height 20mm before you buy springs, theres hardly any travel with the ride height you have it set at so Im not suprised the ride is crashy!

Longer softer springs wont help as they will just compress more and be near coil bound if you keep ride height the same

 

[Todd100]

Before buying anything I would definitely wind them up a bit, if there is no change at least you know it's not the lack of shock travel. I didn't even need to take the wheel off with my GHA's to wind them up a bit so it's a 15 min job

 

[DavebGsi]

yea ur issue the gap between the rubber bump stop on the damper shaft and the top mount. wind them up and oe top mounts will fix both issues

 

[DavebGsi]

Found a picture of mine, the ride was ok untill there was any sort of undulation in the road, which is alot in the uk, normal flatish roads were fine, but anything more you would have a hard and very bouncey ride.

same as explained before, i measured my ride height, jacked the car up, jacked the lower arm to the same ride height, and this was my suspension travel! i guessed it at around 10 or 15mm before the bump stop made contact with the top mount, no wonder it was such a bumpy ride!

i cut my bump rubber down from a 3 ring to a 2 ring, you could even go to 1 ring on a road car tbh as there wont be any massive impacts like a kerb lol, changing the top mounts to an OE top mount will gain travel too, but ultimatly, you need to raise the ride height, or shorten the damper.

which is why i bought new coilovers lol

 

[zletsgo]

Just clocked M301ACC mentioned on the first page which was my brother's old car bought new or ex demo from Slaters, used to see it in Llandudno after he traded it up until a few years back.
I had L59 BRY which was also white Gsi, you might have seen this in Llanberis as I've worked here for 28yrs or so and between 97-2003 it would have been commuting from Amlwch daily