Astra MK2 - Rallye parts

[BenH]

Re: Astra MK2 - Rallye parts

Steel cable, it's all in my build thread somwhere lol.

I was thinking of getting a dead koni to have a strip down look at, I have had plenty of x'er dampers and forks apart, but then they are made to be worked on as such. My biggest concern is recharging the gas in a twin tube damper, easy enough when you have a seperate gas bladder lol.

Would love to see some pics if you do strip one down, have been thinking about ways of making a homemade damper dyno of some type but that would be a very long term project..

[KEV]

Re: Astra MK2 - Rallye parts

Yeah I race motocross and I've got a nice little sideline in fork seal changes and re-valving for other people! Gas charging isn't such a big deal for me because I have all the gear at work. I did an Ohlins shock for someone the other day, first time I've touched one and the gas chamber was charged by inserting a needle through a rubber plug! Then you blank it with an o-ring sealed bleed screw.

Homemade damper dyno's are a bit of a waste of time really, unless your uber clever your not going to be able to make one with enough ability and software to get any usefull info from it. And it needs to be hydraulic really with a calibrated load cell, not a wheelchair motor and a strain gauge! Our dyno equipment would be in the £millions - 90% of suspension tuning companies won't even have stuff this good. What a tool they are, fantastic. It confirmed a feeling I had about my RMZ shock when I found out the rebound adjuster adjusted the compression more than the compression adjuster did! Basically the world is your oyster for tuning things, especially clicker settings like that because you can put up the graph and see what its doing live. Its all a bit of an art though and I'm still learning, there's only so much you can do with the travel you have. When we dyno'd the GAZ kit they were cavitating at 25-30mm/s frequency, which is far too low for a road car. When you see some of the stuff Bilstein/Penske/Ohlins put out it just looks cheap and nasty.

[BlackBox]

Re: Astra MK2 - Rallye parts

oh ... and I was going for a set of Gaz for the fronts ... have Bilstein b8's and tbh I'm not very impressed with how they perform, preferred my Konis if I'm honest ... though they also have their limitations ...

Glad you posted on the Gaz ... not sure what to do now ....

[ant]

Re: Astra MK2 - Rallye parts

honestly i didnt even think the shot of the rear suspension was a mk2 astra! it looks like calibra IRS arms, and ive never seen a cam/spawl operated hand brake ! are they ford calipers ?

Calipers from a Holden Astra TS here in AUS there are 5stud re drilled to 4.



The Rear beam is from Holden Camira (Cavalier) because in the wisdom of Daewoo they welded the rear stub axle into the beam.

In the shot it may look strange because you are looking at the lower shock point which has been gusseted and the hand brake cable goes through the suspension arm not under it to stop having anything hanging down to be caught in a rally.. goes in at the pivot point and out where you can see it. If anyone is interested in the hand brake setup I could take a few pics I don't think I covered it in my build.

On the shock I made a stop that fit the end of the shock at the bottom eye. welded it to the bottom part of the shock were the eye welds on... so as you see it... the 2 nuts are at it lowest adjustment and inside the spacer above the nuts and below the spring seat is the threaded part... so the length of the spacer is the distance I can raise the car. I guess if more raising is needed the spacer can be replaced with a longer one.