Spax adjustable shock aborbers

[Rogues]

New to the club having recently added a Vitesse MK2 to the family. The suspension is set really low resulting in the front tyres rubbing the body work on tight lock. The suspension is far too stiff. A friend suggested I simply new to adjusted the damper on the screw near the bottom of the unit. Well, it's pretty close to the surrounding steering and brake assembly making it difficult to get the smallest of screwdrivers to it and I only managed to turn it one rotation. Is there a knack to these things? Do I really need adjustable dampers? I will only use the car for normal driving conditions. Any help, comments would be appreciated. Regards Roger

[Pete Lewis]

well they cost  fortune and you normally have them set to the minimum ,there is a variety of adjusting screws ,but i found you are always twiddlng the darn things as to hard too soft 

with no clues about bump and rebound loads can be one of my must haves you dont need 

often the adjuster is seized up with road dirt   so for me they are not worth the hassle 

some of the cheap repro originals  are not liked but ,  you seem to have the spring platform adjustable's  to get a low ride height   again a must have nightmare 

going back to cheap and simple has its benefits for normal driving it does what Triumph designed ...it works  well for normal needs 

whats on the rears ???

Pete

 

[Nick Jones]

By all means try turning the dampers down. Having Spax dampers where the adjusters still move is a bonus.....

I would suggest turning them all the way down to begin with and see where that gets you. IIRC the adjuster only acts on the rebound setting and Spax have fairly strong bump settings built in, making it possible to achieve “harsh yet floaty”. What you say about low suggests you may also have uprated and lowered springs. The common ones used on Vitesse are 330lb 10.5” which are really intended for the slightly lighter GT6 and benefit from spacers.

Dont blame the harsh ride on the uprated springs though - it’s the dampers that do that. Konis are the ones for ride quality - insofar as is possible with small chassis Triumphs!

Nick

[Rogues]

Spax are fitted at the front and rear. Roger

 

[Pimp my Vit]

I have spax but fitted them so long ago I can't remember how to adjust them, is it anti clockwise for softer and clockwise for harder? How do you do it is it by one complete turn at a time?

[chrishawley]

You're correct. Clockwise to stiffen. One click at a time. I can't remember exactly but it's about 12 clicks from full-soft to full-hard which is about half a rotation. Full soft (full anti clockwise) is very roughly the same as a standard shock so the upper end of the range might seem very hard for ordinary road use (opinions vary!!!)

 

C

[Pete Lewis]

the trouble with old and crusty is the clicks get vague

its certainly anti clock for soft and most suggest the full anticlock is  about right   

its another you spend lots of £££S and then use the weediest setting ,  I  cant see the justification 

std shocker  around £20   adjustables from £ 180 pair ( club shop )      theres a big heap of differing value /miles covered   between the options 

the suns gone in so its todays must have you dont need    unless you want something special 

pete

 

[dougbgt6]

28 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

the trouble with old and crusty is the clicks get vague

That's why I bought the massage chair.

Doug

[Iain T]

Hi Roger,

The PO of my car had the front set far to low (plus the AVO's were kernackered) and the tyre would rub on the wheel arch flange when going over a matchstick!

 I fitted the 330lbs springs and GAZ adjustable ride and height. They seem ok but you have to set ride on minimum or it's too harsh and the height so that the suspension is at the correct angle and the tyres don't rub. If you have anything over 175 tyres it's always going to be a problem.

Iain

[daverclasper]

10 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

its another you spend lots of £££S and then use the weediest setting ,  I  cant see the justification 

std shocker  around £20   adjustables from £ 180 pair ( club shop )      theres a big heap of differing value /miles covered   between the options 

Yes Pete. I've got that way of thinking. My car is standard and great fun to me, though if one enjoys the upgrading/bling stuff then why not., as long as you don't believe all the hype and think you need stuff.   

[Rogues]

So to summerize, if I fit standard springs on the front with either type of damper, adjustable or standard then this improves the height and the damper controls the firmness?? How do I get the rear to the same height, just new dampers??? Roger

[Clive]

OK, lets start from the basics. Do you know what springs are fitted? If not, you can measure their fitted length (shock spring plate to the top plate) when the car is on the ground and settled. It is possible the springs are shorter than standard and indeed firmer. 

Secondly, are the shocks adjustable spring height, if so the body of the shock will be threaded and it should be possible to adjust ride height.

Have you managed to adjust the existing Spax shocks? Recently played with a friends Gaz shocks, he had set them, not unreasonably, at halfway, but they were solid, zero movement possible. When we removed the spring, we discovered that the adjustment was essentially 5 clicks, after that they were solid. So set on  3 clicks which is compliant but not wafty.

There are/were problems with the new "standard" cheap shocks. Firstly the quality is poor. As usual somebody has bought up an old quality name and used it on these shocks, (just like Borg and Beck has been bought and used on the boxes of cheap clutches/brakes stuff etc). They also had the spring pan set too high, making the fronts of cars with std springs sit comedically high. 

If you can adjust the Spax, it may help enough/ If they are not adjustable height, you can purchase spring spacers to increase the height, anything from 10mm to about an inch.

The shocks control how fast a spring can compress and return its length, so yes, will affect firmness. Bt spring strength plays a part too. I have strong springs, with Koni dampers, the dampers allow a controlled but compliant ride, far better than the springs would suggest.

 

At the rear the shocks do not affect ride height. That is all down to the spring. It is also possible somebody has used a lowering block between the diff and the spring itself.  It is a lump of metal, so a torch and rolling around under the car is required.  If a block is fitted, removing it will increase the ride height. If no block, a new spring is required, though new ones are variable so worth getting opinions fro people who have fitted them. My recent experience was poor, a new spring failed in a weekend trip (1000 miles, sagged significantly and bushes disintegrated)

Lastly, once the suspension heights are sorted, and the car has settled, you will need to adjust the wheel alignment. Often forgotten or ignored, but essential for a car to feel correct on the road. Can be done at home with a tape measure and 2 bits of wood. 

[Rogues]

Clive many thanks for your comments, may know some of your questions but I'll have a go. I don't know the type of springs fitted but the fitted length is between 7 1/2" to 7 3 /4" . I can't turn the screw on the dampers one way or the other (pretty rusty). Now been able to speak to Spax, they've asked me for a number off the damper but haven't found it yet. They were surprised that they are fitted to Vitesse mk2, they haven't recommended them for the rears. Interesting, they said any adjustment to these dampers will not adjust the body height?? Reckon they are over 10 years old. Regards Roger

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Rogues said:

They were surprised that they are fitted to Vitesse mk2, they haven't recommended them for the rears.

That's because the Mk2 originally had lever arms and not struts - hence no listing via SPAX.

A number of years ago I purchased some NOS SPAX rear shocks for another classic, one of them was slightly weak due to not being stored upright. Contacted SPAX and said they would overhaul both whilst I waited even though I had not purchased them new. The overhaul included their up-to-date internals which superseded the NOS internals. Cost was FOC, as the company tries to honour their lifetime guarantee where possible & within reason.

Regards.

Richard. 

[Clive]

Ah, the adjusting screws are problematical. Soak in wd40 or you oil of choice. Tap the ends with a light hammer, not too hard though. Don't get brutal or the screwheads break (T shirt on that) 

Front springs are definitely lowered a little, should be 8.2 inches as standard. So you are about 1/2" lower, not a lot. You could fit spring spacers, but first I would try freeing off the shock adjusters.

[JohnD]

Clive, Roger,

If you will remove the rear seat, you will find a cover plate for the diff, without which you could not undo, do up, the nuts that hold the spring to the diff.     Take the cover off and you will see if there is a spacer, without grovelling underneath, holding a torch in one hand and a mirror in the other.

 

Chacun a son suspension settings.   I have 600lb springs and Mattius has 1000lbers on his GT6.      I'm amazed how smooth it runs - he let me have a drive at Boness a coupe of years ago.

[Nigel Clark]

I've just had the front suspension of my TR6 apart, so checked the adjustment action of a new pair of Gaz dampers.

Adjustment on Gaz operates on both bump and rebound settings, I could tell simply by compressing and extending them before fitting to the car. The suggestion earlier that Spax only adjust on rebound doesn't apply to Gaz.

It should in theory be possible to adjust the Gaz for most situations. I've started with the adjusters 3 turns in from minimum. On the front of the TR6, this feels a bit hard so will back it off.

Nigel