Front Shock Absorbers

[Mike Smith]

I thought I had psoted this once but it hasn`t appered so I acocked up I guess

I disappeared off the Road in my 57 - 1200 (White House Corner) on the Beverley Hull Road.
I did not realise that I had a rear puncture until I was trying to keep it on the road. Drove it back to London the next day with a bent Rear 1/2 Shaft, a Threepenny Bit Steering Wheel, No glass in the Right Hand Side and the Flock behind the Head line`ing turned us into one of those Snow Storm Balls that appear at Christmas (Battery Inside the car in that era, had eaten the lining material).
VW at Plaistow stripped it back to a bare shell, repaired it and High Baked it. It was a better car than it was when it was new.

My other experience was spinning a 1500 Beetle, this time I kept it straight but had enough time to think `here we go again`
The cure was exactly as I laid out in my previous diatribe - Empi Front Roll Bar, Koni`s all-round and I also went for wider Rear wheels. I never spun another car until I got to my 911 Turbo.

OK, now to business - the only person at PRS at the moment is Paul. The last time I was there we did have a Skirmants Bar in stock it is a single leaf bar and is the one you want for a road car. Have we still got it - I do not know.
Paul, being on his own, does not have time to take phone calls but an email or text will work with him and he lists all the numbers on the Tel Message, on the phone
01277 630 099

[simon james]

Mike, interesting about the Skirmants camber compensator working differently to a factory S90 one.
Could you elaborate how?

When I bought my car it was dragging its ar*e like one of those naughty dogs with a problematic derrière.
If you remember you sold me an original compensator which sorted the rear out!
The original one has three positions for the castellated nut and I kept mine on the lowest.
I’m very pleased with how my car sits now.

[Winston Teague]

I replaced my unknown front shocks with a pair of blue Konis bought s/h from Andy Lightweight_911 on here.they were left over from his 'C' build. The car was reputed to have done little since a bit of work in the US so i thought them worth a gamble. The rubbers were perished so i sent them to the great Andy Storer at Leda suspension (also a formula vee, 356, vw and Austin 7 hero). He re bushed them and dyno tested them. they are now on the front of my T5B with a PRS thick arb, as described by Mike and i'm very please with the much improved handling. The thicker ARB enables the car to 'ride' potholes much better. Remember the Konis, whilst being adjustable only have 4 settings. I've settled on 3 hard. Tyres are AVON CR6ZZ 185/70 15 on 5 1/2" rims with stock ride ht. I love the way the Avons behave, though they can be harsh and noisy on some surfaces. This has been moderated by v low pressures (21psi all round), with no loss of precision or stability. When these are worn out, i will go and talk to Dougal about Cinturatos.......
My experience of after market VW goodies is that the quality is shite.
I'd ring Andy Storer, and see if he can still fettle s/h Konis and if so take Mycars offer and get them to Andy soonest.
I also wondered about camber compensators, examining the Skirmants unit and the original (Mine is a mere Super so didn't have one), and there was an interesting thread on here all about them and VW Z bars. Some strong opinion for and against, the strongest for was a racer with a few 356s who swore by the Skirmants one, seeing it as a must fit item, however it turned out that his driver/race engineer had done away with them a couple of seasons before if i recall correctly!
W

[Winston Teague]

PS. I think Andy Storer has a Bilstein rebuild jig too......W

[mycar]

Here is my selection of preloved Konis. Nomenclature from left to right :-

80 1044 SP20 9011

506 86 - 1308 9103

80 1191 SP20 9001

[Mike Smith]

Mike, interesting about the Skirmants camber compensator working differently to a factory S90 one.
Could you elaborate how?

It is not a 5-min job, so will get around to it this evening

[neilbardsley]

I replaced my unknown front shocks with a pair of blue Konis bought s/h from Andy Lightweight_911 on here.they were left over from his 'C' build. The car was reputed to have done little since a bit of work in the US so i thought them worth a gamble. The rubbers were perished so i sent them to the great Andy Storer at Leda suspension (also a formula vee, 356, vw and Austin 7 hero). He re bushed them and dyno tested them. they are now on the front of my T5B with a PRS thick arb, as described by Mike and i'm very please with the much improved handling. The thicker ARB enables the car to 'ride' potholes much better. Remember the Konis, whilst being adjustable only have 4 settings. I've settled on 3 hard. Tyres are AVON CR6ZZ 185/70 15 on 5 1/2" rims with stock ride ht. I love the way the Avons behave, though they can be harsh and noisy on some surfaces. This has been moderated by v low pressures (21psi all round), with no loss of precision or stability. When these are worn out, i will go and talk to Dougal about Cinturatos.......
My experience of after market VW goodies is that the quality is shite.
I'd ring Andy Storer, and see if he can still fettle s/h Konis and if so take Mycars offer and get them to Andy soonest.
I also wondered about camber compensators, examining the Skirmants unit and the original (Mine is a mere Super so didn't have one), and there was an interesting thread on here all about them and VW Z bars. Some strong opinion for and against, the strongest for was a racer with a few 356s who swore by the Skirmants one, seeing it as a must fit item, however it turned out that his driver/race engineer had done away with them a couple of seasons before if i recall correctly!
W

You have 21 psi on the back? I don't think I've gone below 26

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[simon james]

Ahh but Winston is an accomplished Mud Plugger!

To take things to the other extreme, I have to run our early cars with beaded edged tyres at 70 psi, otherwise the beads come loose and the tyre spins as you put the power down ripping out the valve stem from the inner tube!
Combine this with no shock absorbers and rear wheel only brakes!

Early cars do feel delightful with a negligible un-sprung weight, but any attempt at emergency braking from say 50 or 60 mph results in a massive skidmark (you make up your mind where you think it may occur, but it’s usually the wheel nearest the rod braking mechanism).

Then there’s the massive understeer in the wet caused by the skinny tyres contact patch. Just google 880x120 beaded edge tyres to get some idea...

[Winston Teague]

Indeed, our GN is on 26 x 3 Beaded Edge tyres, when you brake hard on a wet road, locks the wheels instantly and doesnt slow down at all! Skid marks on a dry road can be measured by laying £10 notes end to end to cover the mark, the total in £ is equivalent to the ammount of wear on the tyre in £.......

The Avons on the 356 are ex Healey 3000 race tyres, found behind the shed at a very well known race prep shop! W

[neilbardsley]

This has suddenly become a pertinent post. 356 was in the garage getting some work done and I had a call to say the bushes are worn on my front shock absorbers!

Somewhere in a garage someone is ringing PRS to ask for a price

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[Winston Teague]

Neil, beware of my low pressures, i settled on these after much testing, on the very rough roads around here. The carcasses of the Avon CR6ZZ are very stiff, these are a racing tyre, i'd not expect to run that low on a road tyre. W

[Lightweight_911]

.

By comparison, after a fair bit of trial & error, I settled on 23psi (F) & 26psi (R) for the 175/70 Avon CR6ZZ's on my car (356C) ...
.

[neilbardsley]

.

By comparison, after a fair bit of trial & error, I settled on 23psi (F) & 26psi (R) for the 175/70 Avon CR6ZZ's on my car (356C) ...
.

Which I will try. Lastly time put 24f 28/29r in and the ride was too harsh

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[neilbardsley]

Got my 356 back after new front koni shocks. New bushes at front and some tightening up.

It's a pleasure to drive. Driven twice. Feels better planted but hard to test properly on the small roads here. My appetite for meeting a tractor on a sharp corner while testing the limits of my tyre traction is very low.

Dropped the pressures to 23/25. Well Greatworth did

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