Shellby - 83 gti ABF on carbs

mk1 Jamie said

OO Nice haven't checked on this for a while …Love the underside colour coded makes me wish id done mine

Jamie

Thanks Jamie

The underside colour will only last till the cars first trip, and the guy who painted her kept asking why I wanted the bottom blue, but after seeing other cars done this way, and how good it looks for resto photos, I'm so glad I did.

Matt

Thread revival - again!!

Happy new year to all you mk1 people  

Went down to the old barn, see if my car is still there  



She's still there, but been shoved into a corner! Out the way!!

Hopefully I will progress much more this year, need to pull all the parts out and remind myself of what's to be done. Fingers crossed.

Matt

Ah good to hear from your Matt!!

Looking forward to updates

Thanks Andy, it's nice to be back with something to talk about 👍🏼

Went down to see her again and got very little done  

Moved all my junk around so I can actually work on the car



A very small space, but can now crack on with the engine bay components.

Got myself a steering rack boot from eBay. And also ordered some fixings so I can begin the suspension. Hopefully some decent progress this week. Hopefully.

I wonder if anyone can answer a question (or two).



On the lower track rod, right hand end, there's a rubber bush/washer. What does it do? I only seem to have one. If one is needed on each track rod, can they be bought as I can't seem to find them anywhere.

Thanks
Matt

thats just for the boot to seal to. some need that as the outside hole in the boot is big, some dont need it as the boot hole is small.

can see from your pic you have one of each

rubjonny said

thats just for the boot to seal to. some need that as the outside hole in the boot is big, some dont need it as the boot hole is small.

can see from your pic you have one of each

Cheers John, the font of all knowledge as usual 👍🏼

Hopefully that means I aren't missing one.

Glad to see it moving along again Matt.  

Love the colour and the colour coding to the underside is sweet  

Question for you, in the picture, just above the tap, you have a square plate. Is this something you installed? Is it a jacking point or something else?

http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/pazwaa/media/Shellby/5777DC85-8A5A-4258-ACBA-5BFB71F42B5D.jpg.html

Cheers, Ian

Cheers Ian, it so nice to be moving forward again 👍

Keeping the colours simple, either blue or black.

The plate is a jacking point I fabricated myself. I once had Porsche alloys, so I bought a Porsche jack too, the oval slot locates on the jack. Don't have the wheels anymore, but liked the jack so kept it  

Matt

Went down and got a bit done last night.

Ordered some black fixings to bolt the strut brace and adjustable top mounts on









Then dug the avo coilovers I bought many years ago out



Fitted the modified hubs to the wishbones



And front suspension mocked up



Ordered some black bolts for the hubs and need to fit the springs to the struts.

Is there a way to compress the springs and fit them without spring compressors?

Thanks for reading 👍🏼
Matt

aftermarket lowering springs and coilover usually dont need spring compressors the springs are not under so much tension. plus you can just set the lower ring to the lowest setting, the spring will definitely be flopping about then

Cheers john. They definitely seem to need compressing though. Maybe I've got the back springs on the front? Are front springs shorter than rears?

may want to double check that then if not sure?

could try cable ties to compress them, but it depends how stiff they are

Nice to see you getting going with this, even when it's pretty cold

As rubjonny said, should'nt need to compress the springs on coilovers, (well I never have had to)

Looks like the piston needs extending out from the shock body. Pull down on it as its mounted now and it should reveal more of piston.

5 stud hey? I'll have to read back through the tread

Thanks Pete.

Didn't know you could extend the piston, rookie error, that should solve my problem, cheers 👍🏼

Yep, 5 studs on 114 pcd, bit of a nightmare   that's what happens when you impulse buy shiny wheels without checking if you can actually fit them  

Matt

With a little advice from rubjonny and redpetemk1 i got the springs on the coilovers, thanks boys  



And got the hubs fitted





New track rod ends



New steering rack boots





Refurbished steering rack



And loosely put in position



Got a bit of fiddling to get the bushes in the clamps and the clamps on the mounts, but the engine bay is beginning to fill out nicely



The suspension is top adjustable. Can someone explain how they lower the car? Do you turn the knob at the top and this reduces the length of the strut, thus lowering the car? Is the collar under the springs to tension the spring only?

Thanks
Matt

Hi bud are they AVO GTZ coilovers?

Isn't the damping rate adjustable from the top and then height adjustable using the C spanner on collar ring?

Found this on the AVO site:

ADJUSTMENT Top adjustable struts and inserts have approximately 10 settings. On top adjustable units there are no positive clicks to the feel of the adjustment, therefore half turns are equal to one setting. Base adjustable units have approximately 16 adjustments which can be felt by a positive click when the adjuster is turned with the use of a 4mm allen key tool On front and rear units clockwise adjustment is to stiffen the damping rate and anti-clockwise will soften the damping rate.

On units with adjustable spring seats an appropriate tool should be used to wind the platform up or down the threaded body of the damper. This will increase or decrease the ride height of your vehicle. It is very important to maintain the thread of the damper by regular cleaning and re-greasing in order to keep the smooth operation of the spring seat adjustment. Also the adjustment controls for the damping rates should NEVER be forced past the minimum and maximum stop settings.

http://www.avouk.com/Downloads/Guidelines.pdf
 

Thanks for the info Rich.

I bought these off eBay many moons ago and they didn't come with any information. They look like the GTZ version.

I'm probably getting this wrong, but I guessed that to raise and lower the car, the length of the strut needs to increase or decrease? I thought with the car weight on the top of the spring that winding the collar under the spring would just compress it? But that doesn't seem right. Confused!!!

pazwaa said

Thanks for the info Rich.

I bought these off eBay many moons ago and they didn't come with any information. They look like the GTZ version.

I'm probably getting this wrong, but I guessed that to raise and lower the car, the length of the strut needs to increase or decrease? I thought with the car weight on the top of the spring that winding the collar under the spring would just compress it? But that doesn't seem right. Confused!!!

Wind them down for lower, wind the up to go higher

or to put it another way, the more you squish the spring, the higher the car will sit