GAZ shocks settings help

[trackerjack]

Hi again, well its not just the rough roads to worry about its the geometry that is upset if too low.
As Steve says "if it looks right it is right".

My front springs were 250 Lbs and the rears were 180 Lbs and in this set up the roads were fine and the rear shocks need to be enough to control springs and no more.
The Sprint is in my opinion very sensitive to tyre pressures and I used them to alter the feel of the car until it all feels good.
I also had soild rack mount and poly bushed on some joints.
Experimenting is all part of the fun and I still play with the cars I have now (2 Quantum 2+2 a Special 7 type and the one I leave alone is the Porsche 944 because frankly it is damn good already.
Oh well this is what it looked like.

[Pippin]

That certainly looks right. In fact it looks gorgeous!

[tony g]

Does look right that Jon cheers

Tony

[trackerjack]

Thanks lads.
It was taken at Curborough for a group test for Ford Mexico rivals by Practical Classics mag.
The editor had a ball driving it round the track and during the shoot the poor Mexico could not keep up so we had to go slooow
The car now lives in Ohio and no doubt will out live me .

[Matt Cotton]

Sorry to revive such an old thread!

I've acquired a set of front height adjustable GAZ shocks for my Sprint. They still have the Rimmers labels on them so haven't seen much use.

Looking at the units on my bench, there is a tiny grub screw at the base of the adjustable spring seat. Does anyone know if this is all that prevents the seat from moving when fitted? I removed one of them and it is very short and certainly wouldn't screw into the body of the damper. I can adjust them regardless of whether the grub screw is in tight or loose.
Looking at the Rimmers catalogue it doesn't appear that they come with a second 'securing' ring.. Again this seems odd but perhaps not required?

Any thoughts folks from those who have fitted these before?
Kind regards Matt.

[oily66]

I have adjustable Gaz dampers on mine.
They have two rings on them to lock in the ride height
Cannot see how else you can get your height locked off at without some other method, if the grub screw doesn’t do anything.
Is there just the one in each too?

[Matt Cotton]

Hi Trevor. Yes, just one small grub screw on each.
There is a fair amount of force required to adjust them, but even so you would expect a belt and braces backup.

[Carledo]

Hi Trevor. Yes, just one small grub screw on each.
There is a fair amount of force required to adjust them, but even so you would expect a belt and braces backup.

All of mine have had the double ring fitted from supplier, (3 different suppliers) even when the locking ring is backed off, the adjusting ring is hard to move and gets more resistant the higher you get. Even with a grubscrew that worked i'd be inclined to prefer the second ring, I certainly wouldn't trust just one ring unsupported!

Steve

[oily66]

Could you have stripped threads in the collar?
Or why not run a tap through and put a bigger grub in??

[Matt Cotton]

Thanks for your thoughts gents.
I emailed GAZ over the weekend and was impressed to receive a reply first thing this morning.

It appears these are quite old units - 15+ years and no longer produced. They were not fitted with the second lock ring, but underneath the grub screw is a nylon plug and it is this that grips the thread when tightened without damaging it. I can confirm that there is indeed a nylon plug on both units.

A second ring does seem a more sensible option, and the modern design incorporates this.

MC

[Mad Mart]

That is similar to the AVO shocks I put on PKN. They were held in place by a nylon grub screw but I replaced them with a nylon bolt as the hex would tend to round off fairly easily.