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Suspension and steering.
Posted By : Aidan Cunnane, 29-Dec-2005, 08:54pm
Hi,
Do all the main Triumph parts suppliers supply the same standard shock absorbers (the ones for around £20 each)? I got a set of standard rear
shocks for my non-rotoflex GT6 a while ago - they were unbranded, black in colour and were much worse than the worn Girlings that are (still) on the car. I
don't really want to spend the money on a set of Spax/Konis/AVOs if its not really necessary. Can anyone point me in the direction of a decent quality set
of shocks for the car that won't add to my post-Christmas credit card woes?
Same goes for springs... Are the standard (white tab?) black powder coated ones all the same also?
Thanks,
Aidan
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Posted By : Colin Wake, 29-Dec-2005,
09:20pm
I bougght some Unipart branded ones from TRGB a year or so ago, they seemed to have lots of them
About £10 each. Seem OK to me.
They may still have some left.
Colin
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Posted By : William Davies, 29-Dec-2005,
11:32pm
What did you find to be wrong with the new ones? Must be bad if you consider SPAX to be an improvement.......
Cheers,
Bill.
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Posted By : Aidan Cunnane, 29-Dec-2005,
11:44pm
Hi Bill,
They were softer than the old ones on the car - it didn't take much effort to extend and compress them. They also had less 'travel' than the
originals so that the suspension would have a smaller range of movement than previously. The car felt terrible with them fitted and seemed to
bottom out even on small bumps. Even in appearance, they are short and stubby in comparison with the longer, narrow originals. I bought them from
one of the leading parts suppliers and the box was labelled as a Spitfire rear shock.
Other people have said that the standard shocks are fine so that's why I was wondering if there was some way that I could get a standard shock that
was some improvement on the old ones that I'm replacing. Have you noticed differences similar to those with rotor arms etc?
Aidan
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Posted By : Colin Wake,
30-Dec-2005, 11:07am
With your replacements, did you test them orientated as they would have been fitted to the car??
They may also require a few dozens compressions to get upto spec if they have been stored on their sides etc.
Colin
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Posted By : Aidan Cunnane,
30-Dec-2005, 12:01pm
I drove about 10 miles on them before removing them so they had plenty of compressions before I removed them but they still felt soft at
that point. I'm not sure if I tested them as they'd be aligned on the car and they've been lying on their sides since. They do seem shorter
than the originals and I remember having to jack up the suspension a bit on each side before they would reach their mountings (I had
supported it on a jack to remove the old units but but it wasn't a straight swap in terms of reach). I'm not sure if the Girlings on the
car are original but they've been there for a long time by the look of it and there's nothing in the paperwork to indicate replacement but
it is possible that I'm not comparing like with like.
I do feel that the replacement shocks that I got made the car feel horrible so I can't believe that the car would originally have felt like
that. Maybe I was biased against them because they were unbranded and look cheaply made....
Aidan