Suspension butchers

[jmvv]

A very nice car came into the shop the other day, for me to attend to some rattles and get the steering wheel aligned properly in the straight ahead position.

I was also asked to attend to some clunking noises in the front suspension.

Loafing around under the car, doing my best impression of a ceiling inspector, I noticed that, apart from some missing mounting bolts on the front shocks, one of the front shock absorber's rods was not connected.

Further investigation revealed that the "Quantum Physicist" who originally installed the suspension had some innovative ideas.

The original springs and shocks were replaced by an American brand of adjustable coil overs.

The problem was that these were the wrong items for this car. Where it needed a spring/coil assembly that allowed the rod of the shock top mount to the standard mounting hole, they used a shock/coils assembly where the top mount is the round stud mount type.

Needless to say, there was no way to connect the shock mount to the chassis, so they opened the area around hole for the shock absorber rod at the top spring seat with a grinder of sorts, so that the eye of the coil over can fit in there.

The coil overs were adjusted as low a unrealistically possible, severely limiting the turning circle due to tyre interference on the inner fender and the weight of the car kept the whole concoction in place.

The problem was that with no top attachment to the body, every time the car went over a bump, the full weight of the car would hammer down on the top coil over mount. So much so, that the top mounting hole has now been hammered almost closed.

Over some time, the shock rod just unscrewed from the top retaining cup, starting to create all kinds of nice handling issues.

To solve all this mess, a recognised and respected suspension specialist is busy building a properly engineered new coil over setup.

With the front suspension sorted, we'll have to tackle the rear, where again the coil springs were discarded and adjustable coil overs fitted. The problem is that with the full weight of the car resting on the rear shocks, the mountings are being overloaded, so much so that the shock absorber bushes are collapsing.

I am in contact with the overseas manufacturers of the, very highly regarded, rear suspension system, in order to obtain the correct rear springs, so we can at least get the car safe to drive.

[marnus]

Sound like we need some pics of the hack job