Topic

David, I bought my car from Weston, but judging by the paper work it spent most of it's life in South Wales .I imagine that explains the generous amount of rust on the suspension. Fortunately the body is in pretty good shape, other than a horrendous number of stone chips on the front bumper. (Which I am hoping to take care of this summer)
Maybe we can make a deal to get those out of your shed, but I'm not sure if we should get Mark to put them in his luggage.
The X-Ray machine at the airport may get him into hot water!
I will PM you to talk about price.
I think the top stud of the shock is shaped that way because they have always been that way. I agree, a hex would be a very smart evolution.
I have a special wrench that works very well on the shock studs, (Much better than a standard 7mm wrench) although of course if someone has used mole grips on them previously you are in trouble. Unfortunately my daughter has my good camera at school today, and daughter #2 let the battery run out on the backup camera so it will be a couple of hours till I can get a pic of the wrench for this thread.
OK, camera chartged...Here's what I have found is the best wrench for the top of the shock. It is a Snap-On B1351A 3/16-1/4" brake wrench. The jaws are very thick and get a good grip on the shock stud. The wrench is also much longer than a standard 7mm, at over 20cm, giving very good leverage. Along with a ratcheting box end wrench it makes short work of removing the upper end of the shock.

After a few hundred miles, the suspension has settled by 5mm all round , so is now 345mm front, 340 mm rear.

Apart from that the car has handled OK, but much softer, so better at handling speed humps and potholes. There is, however, an annoying clonk on speed humps and rough roads, which seems to be getting worse.

The overall ride is comparable with the hydragas but different...if that makes sense?
The best comparison I can come up with is that the ride is more like I'm running on 15" wheels with bigger sidewalls on the tyres, even though I'm actually on 16"s.



What does the team think on the subject of tyre pressures? I am tempted to nudge them up nearer TF levels; this may stiffen the ride a bit.

Interestingly, the Suplex document makes no mention of altering tyre pressures.

David that sounds really interesting

One thing I havent seen mentioned anywhere is does fitting this kit have any effect on the tracking settings and if so where would you find the new settings?

The system shouldn't affect the actual tracking settings, but worth having it checked for alignment after changing.

Now I've had a chance to examine the removed hydragas units, and I've found that 3 out of 4 have liquid in the top chamber.

2 were full of liquid and one had just gone, judging by the small amount of fluid in it.

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

After a few hundred miles, the suspension has settled by 5mm all round , so is now 345mm front, 340 mm rear.
Apart from that the car has handled beautifully, as sporty as ever but much better at handling speed humps and potholes.

The overall ride is comparable with the hydragas but different...if that makes sense?
The best comparison I can come up with is that the ride is more like I'm running on 15" wheels with bigger sidewalls on the tyres, even though I'm actually on 16"s.

What does the team think on the subject of tyre pressures? I am tempted to nudge them up nearer TF levels; this may stiffen the ride a bit.

Interestingly, the Suplex document makes no mention of altering tyre pressures.

David, you could contact Suplex direct and ask what they think (they are running an F with their units on) or contact Roger Parker at MGOC he has got a set on his F and ask him too.

As the ride height affects the caster angle, i think it would be worth having the four wheel tracking checked after you are happy that the units have fully bedded in and adjusted to the correct dimensions.

It is good to hear about your results and that you are pleased with the system.

I thought it necessary to temper my initial findings with the knowledge gained after 3 months...
I have, therefore, added a link to my unhappy experiences, posted elsewhere on this forum.

Just to add to this thread. I have also had an unhappy experience with the suplex kit that was fitted to the car when I bought it. What happened to my car is detailed here

My advice, if you're going to fit the kit, think carefully about it, and DO NOT fit the dampers supplied. Add in the cost of GAZ adjustables and set 10 clicks rear and 7 clicks front as a baseline. Hopefully that will give you a good handling car without suffering the damage that David and I have.

And if you hear a ticking sound when you go over bumps, investigate immediately.