Really odd coilover issue
Discussion
I have a set of gaz mono coilovers on a tvr tuscan, great shocks but i didn't drive the car for 3 years and when i started to get it back on the road it was clear all the gas has escaped.
So i had them rebuilt at gaz.
Put them back on the car and its clear they are sitting really high. i reckon the height of the car is about 30mm higher (its only the rear where theres an issue).
i literally have no thread left to lower them, maybe 10mm in this picture, i quickly knocked them back about 5mm and its made about 2mm difference. maybe if i maxed out id get another 5mm perhaps.
previously looking at what i had before the rebuild the platform was maxed out and the spring was slightly loose on full droop. The springs are 9" and it looks like theres very little chance of them being mixed up as they are meant to be 9"
Any ideas? the only thing gaz suggest is using a shorter spring. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not? i suppose an 8" spring might be ok as tbh will you ever use alll that travel?
but still, either way i don't understand what's happened.
this is the shock when it came off the car prior to rebuild, heights were perfect
This is now on the car, you can see there’s about 10mm of thread left. I like I say I have now split the difference and it’s made a very marginal difference
So i had them rebuilt at gaz.
Put them back on the car and its clear they are sitting really high. i reckon the height of the car is about 30mm higher (its only the rear where theres an issue).
i literally have no thread left to lower them, maybe 10mm in this picture, i quickly knocked them back about 5mm and its made about 2mm difference. maybe if i maxed out id get another 5mm perhaps.
previously looking at what i had before the rebuild the platform was maxed out and the spring was slightly loose on full droop. The springs are 9" and it looks like theres very little chance of them being mixed up as they are meant to be 9"
Any ideas? the only thing gaz suggest is using a shorter spring. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not? i suppose an 8" spring might be ok as tbh will you ever use alll that travel?
but still, either way i don't understand what's happened.
this is the shock when it came off the car prior to rebuild, heights were perfect
This is now on the car, you can see there’s about 10mm of thread left. I like I say I have now split the difference and it’s made a very marginal difference
Well the shocks are definitely on the right ends of the car, confirmed by pictures i took when i dismantled the car. short ones up front long on the rear.
The front springs are definitely correct, confirmed by a sticker on them showing the rating and also having a picture of this too.
The rears have no noticeable marking and no stickers though.
Gaz have said its basically impossible for the rear spring to be wrong as the guy who rebuild them does 1 set at a time.
The front springs are definitely correct, confirmed by a sticker on them showing the rating and also having a picture of this too.
The rears have no noticeable marking and no stickers though.
Gaz have said its basically impossible for the rear spring to be wrong as the guy who rebuild them does 1 set at a time.
Are you sure the 'before' and 'after' pictures are the same damper? One has a spring retainer fitted, and the other doesn't. Check whether these may have found their way to the wrong end of the car during reassembly.
The installed picture shows plenty of thread left on the adjuster. Due to the angle of the damper, 10mm on the spring seat should give you more than 10mm change in the ride height, unless the dampers were previously bottomed out - which would be very obvious. Bear in mind that you will need to roll the car a few feet to let the suspension settle fully before you can see the real ride height.
The installed picture shows plenty of thread left on the adjuster. Due to the angle of the damper, 10mm on the spring seat should give you more than 10mm change in the ride height, unless the dampers were previously bottomed out - which would be very obvious. Bear in mind that you will need to roll the car a few feet to let the suspension settle fully before you can see the real ride height.
Thankyou, i will try to lower that last few mm and then drive it up the road and see what i get 
I am pretty sure it is right, as the rear shock is longer than the front. The fronts also have the same old 450lb sticker to identify them.
Heres the only sort of half decent pic i have of the fronts, they are a fair amount shorter.
I am not sure which part the spring retainer is? Do you mean the helper spring at the bottom? cheers
I am pretty sure it is right, as the rear shock is longer than the front. The fronts also have the same old 450lb sticker to identify them.
Heres the only sort of half decent pic i have of the fronts, they are a fair amount shorter.
I am not sure which part the spring retainer is? Do you mean the helper spring at the bottom? cheers
Edited by m3jappa on Wednesday 22 July 07:24
m3jappa said:
I am not sure which part the spring retainer is? Do you mean the helper spring at the bottom? cheers
Yes. It looks like either a tender spring or a retainer - and in this applications I'd have thought it would be a retainer. Either way, it spaces the main spring up which raises the ride height. Are they fitted in the same place as before? Do you actually need them? They'd only be necessary if the main spring came loose in droop. If that's a problem, check whether you've got a sensible range of travel on the damper around the normal ride height. It may be a sign that somebody has used stiff springs and standard length dampers on a lowered car, or otherwise mucked up the dimensions.Umm it does look like 9 coils as opposed to 8.
And i was looking through very old posts i made years ago when i first got these and i has said even then that i felt the suspension sat a bit high, it was ok but i think as can be seen in the first pic the adjustment was maxed out.
The springs were definitely slightly loose on full droop as well as i remember questioning it.
Maybe the helper spring has to go.
Either way i have a long wait until mid september as I've now booked the car into centre gravity to get it properly sorted, they have eibach around the corner and can put new springs on if necessary.
Its never easy is it
In the mean time i will play around with it slightly but not too much as i will still use the car and dont want to knock the geometry out a million miles.
And i was looking through very old posts i made years ago when i first got these and i has said even then that i felt the suspension sat a bit high, it was ok but i think as can be seen in the first pic the adjustment was maxed out.
The springs were definitely slightly loose on full droop as well as i remember questioning it.
Maybe the helper spring has to go.
Either way i have a long wait until mid september as I've now booked the car into centre gravity to get it properly sorted, they have eibach around the corner and can put new springs on if necessary.
Its never easy is it
In the mean time i will play around with it slightly but not too much as i will still use the car and dont want to knock the geometry out a million miles.
Pre rebuild it looks like a short main spring with helper spring. Post rebuild there appears to be no help spring and a longer main spring which also appears to have thicker steel used . So both of those items if correct are going to raise the ride height, as a help spring will collapse under the weight of the car and thicker coil wire will/should mean a stronger spring rate which will compress less for a given weight. Double wammy there. The solution would be to go back to the original spring size/rate with helper spring.
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