Monday 14 May 2007

DHC Suspension upgrades (part 2)

Started on the rear suspension upgrade today. Really rather straight forward. As the car has (by the looks off it) never seen some serious rain or dirt, all the bolts came out without a problem. The only parts that had really suffered were the bump-stops. On the left the remains of one of the original ones and on the right the new polybush one (Superpro);


While working on the rear suspension I always prefer the car to be on the ground. This way you can use a trolley jack under the axle to adjust and manoeuvre it, making it easier to put the bolts back in;



As you can see in the picture the car was fitted with Spax dampers, and they were indeed past their prime. If you pushed the rear off the car down it would take several seconds for the back to rise again despite it being almost on it's lowest setting and having rather strong rear springs. Luckily I had a set off brand new (very old stock) Koni's lying around (got them for free from the owner off an old Leyland garage);


They look like Koni Classic's but they are not. They are in fact "Special D" dampers, which means that both in and outgoing strokes are adjustable. As they are rather old I am curious how long they will last ... Also the springs were changed from something very firm for 200 lbs ones as supplied by Neil Revington;


Next job is to adjust the valve clearances, some machining on the top cones off the front suspension and replacing the front suspension.

2 comments:

happy minardi said...

Hallo
Mijn tr7 1976 heeft de gaz dempers met het verenset van Rimmer Bros (rode 200 lb Zogezegde 1'verlaagd) maar...
hij staat geen mm lager dan origineel zelfs redelijk hoog vergeleken met veel TR7 's ,( carrosserie zakt niet op strakkere veren)

daarom mijn vraag ; zijn met de Achterste blauwe veren een verlaging bereikt ?( enkele cm ?) en zijn de veren RTR3164 ? ( van Revington) tips welkom

Groetjes Yannick

Beans said...

Hi Yannick,

Rear springs are 200 lbs/inch from Revington, RTR3195 (yellow code stripes)
This post (http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2008/04/186-days.html) gives a good impression of its stance, as does this post (http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2013/11/enjoying-dhc-and-finishing-touches.html).
Do bear in mind that weight distribution is slightly different between a FHC and a DHC.

Gr. Theo