homemade shocks

[Talonmotorsport]

I don't think £360-440 for a set of springs and coilovers is too much to ask. I know people will say it's not 'locost' and it's alot of money to pay, but last time I looked a half reasonable set of wheels and rubber was £300+, full set of fibre glass body work was £600-700+, IVA £450. The book is called 'build a car on a budget' not 'build a car for free'. I know some grasstrack racers that would'nt even use the base coilovers from the factory without the manufacturer having the cars corner weights first. You pay your money you make your choices it's up to you, but if at least you buy the right thing for the job in the first place you won't have to spend more money to correct it.

[mr henderson]

Also it's worth bearing in mind that you can actually calculate the correct spring poundage and length if you take the trouble to weigh each corner of the car. It's possible to do this with reasonable accuracy with bathroom scales.

You might need 2 sets depending on the maximum reading of the scales. Just put the car on a reasonably flat surface, raise one wheel and rest it on a board that goes across both sets of scales, then raise the other 3 corners and rest them one blocks of wood or whatever the same height as the scales, and you can weigh that corner, then just a question of repeating it on the other 3 corners. Tedious but cheap and effective

[Bonzo]

Some good debate here

Usually when someone asks if home made is possible, all you hear is " Don't do it, you'll die " !!??

Not saying for one moment any of us would actually make home made coil overs to save a few quid but it is good to have a debate of this nature

Personally, I still think coil overs are expensive for what they are but as Phil said, in the grand scheme of things not the end of the world.

Thank's for some interesting reading folks

[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.