homemade shocks

[mr henderson]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

I still think coil overs are expensive for what they are

I agree, and it's entirely in keeping with this type of project that one should look for less expensive ways of achieving good results, after all, that's a lot of what building your own car is all about.

In general, for a road car, it's usual to have the shocks on their lowest stiffness setting, so shocks designed for a road car would be a perfectly satisfactory starting point (can always uprate later). So, if one used the Triumph shock absorbers shown above, all that one then needs is springs the correct length and poundage. That can be calculated once the weight and a few other factors are known, so that it isn't necessary to have adjustable seats (as said, this is a starting off position). For the build, the shocks/springs could be replaced with lengths of 1X1 drilled for suspension bolts, until the weights are known.

I have a spreadsheet written by suspension guru Mike Capon which I would be happy to upload, but looking at the 'upload' window there doesn't seem to be a way of uploading this excel (I think) file. If anyone else knows how to do it, let me know and I will pass it on, or pm me an email address and I'll send it direct.

[locostkiwi]

thanks for all the input, coilover shocks here in New Zealand are SO overpriced
im looking at NZ$600 per wheel, im not looking at racing it but the triumph option looks good and maybe update later?
now to price a set of triumph dampers???

[ozzy1]

You can get the Gaz shocks for around the $1200 for a set here incl springs.If you get stuck i can find out for you.I know a guy at my car club supplies Gaz shocks to most of the members although not sure what length they are.

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by locostkiwi

thanks for all the input, coilover shocks here in New Zealand are SO overpriced
im looking at NZ$600 per wheel, im not looking at racing it but the triumph option looks good and maybe update later?
now to price a set of triumph dampers???

Holey moley LK, they are expensive in NZ that's for sure

I have been an avid fan of Triumph's over the years & this is why the front suspension sprang to mind.

The front suspension of the Triumph was quite revolutionary in it's day .... One of the first UK production cars to make use of a double wishbone suspension design.
It has to be said, the front suspension of the Vitesse, GT6, Spitfire ect, worked really well.
That is more than can be said about the rear set up with it's dreadfull, single transverse leafspring !!
Front of the car would handle well but the rear wheels had a tendency to fall over.

Here's a diagram of the Triumph front suspension for anyone interested.



It can be seen that the front shock is in effect, a coil over concept.
Also mounted at quite an accute angle ( Not unlike the Roadster ) .... One can only assume that it has been designed to withstand some latteral load !!??

Here are some UK resources for you LK. Rimmer Bros

Disclaimer time again

I have provided this information soley for the purposes of healthy debate.
Please do plenty of research into this subject.

Wish I still had some Triumph front shocks here, some accurate measurements may have been usefull.

As Mr H has said, Finding the correct springs to use will be the trick.

[AshG]

Originally Posted by 3GE Components

H Vern,

They are "apparently" by Darren George, GTS's Darren George maybe?, he's always said he was an F1 suspension designer, wether these are his work or not who knows There are people on this forum who could make these, and if you don't cost your time & have the material already could probably make a reasonable effort. But as you say, the tuning would not be perfect.

Agreed, quality suspension makes or breaks a car, and is something that you should buy the best you can afford, the nicest ones i've seen of late are these guys, http://www.blackartdesigns.com/ who have a good pedigree behind them.

Kind regards

John

The last thing that i used designed by Darren George, catastrophically failed during normal use, it could have been any number of factors that caused it but thought i would share. Those drawings look ok but i would still get them stress modelled in a good cad package before feeling comfortable about using them in a road application.

[davidimurray]

Don't do it

A couple of years ago I was involved with building a set of prototype MR dampers for our race car. Wow what a job that was - you need to be extremely accurate with the machining and work to very fine fits/tolerances. All the seals need to be correctly specced (we had problems with the MR fluid eating seals) and you need to get the correctly ground piston rods. Add to that the fun of machining a very fine thread on the outside/inside of the shock/spring seat combined with getting all the tolerances right for hard anodising. We must have been a good week of 12 hour days, jigging, machining, programming etc. When you realise how much work goes into a set of dampers then £85 each is a bargain.

It's the dampers that keep the car firmly planted on the road so they are a worthwhile investment.

[Big Vern]

I'm with you on this one Ash, the only thing he was good at was talking, unless he owed you somethin', then he couldn't manage that
David, your right of course, it's not just a case of poppin' into the garage with a basic lathe and knocking out some dampers and considering whats involved then coil overs arn't that bad - unless you live in NZ
LocostKiwi, have you thought about using second hand coil overs from the monoshock rears of motorbikes? Might be a bit better damping than those of the triumph spit


HTH BV.

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by Big Vern

LocostKiwi, have you thought about using second hand coil overs from the monoshock rears of motorbikes? Might be a bit better damping than those of the triumph spit


HTH BV.

Now there's a thought Big Vern

I know a few folk on LB have used motorcycle shocks on inboard suspension set ups.

Just for the record, I only toyed with the idea of making my own coil over's

Very fortuantely for me, the parts from my abandoned Triumph Vitesse projects sold unbelievably well .... So much so, those sales have financed the majority of my build.

Buying the Gaz coilovers was heck of a lot easier not having to raid the bank for them

[chrisunwin]

Hi

Found these GAZ coilovers for £70.00 a corner ... http://www.corbymotorsport.com/1-34-...es-p-4298.html

Anyone considered using Citroens hydropneumatic units?? Or am I the only completely mad one on here!!!

Regards

Chris

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by chrisunwin

Hi

Anyone considered using Citroens hydropneumatic units?? Or am I the only completely mad one on here!!!

Regards

Chris

Less of the swearing please

That could actually be quite a cool project if you could get it all to work .... I guess Mr IVA man would have something to say about type approval for the system though

My old Citroen BX estate was one of the best all round cars that I have ever owned ..... Hated working on it with a passion though