Gaz suspension ?.

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: 944 man
Pete, if you cut a 65mm hole in the leading edge of the rear wheelarch (in line with the torsion bar), then re-indexing will only take about 15 minutes...

We would have done this, but the plan at the time was to keep it as an everyday car so I didn't want another place were rust may start, but hindsight is a brilliant thing [8|]

Re the rust on the shocks, I really don't think this is as much as a problem as is made out, I had my Leda on the car for at least a couple of years, drove it every day, through rain, salt and snow. Yes they had light surface rust, but when I returned them for a revalve (not due to problems, just because I went for much stiffer springs, and done in record time) they came back looking almost as good as new (height adjuster threads were fine etc). We've now coated them in a waxoyl type goo but that was just a belt and braces idea and not strictly necessary IMO.

As I see it KW have two selling points, the stainless steel housings (nice but not completely critical - as above) and the bypass valving for curbs/potholes (probably more useful if you're using the car for dual purpose track road, but with care with the setup even the Leda can still be comfortable).

 

[333pg333]

Interesting info in this thread. Did Lali mean that the Gaz race kit was significantly better than V3s or...?
Where are people mounting the canisters?
Simon, do you have any pics of the 65mm hole for T-B adj? I've heard of people doing this. Sounds like a good idea if one is going to be playing around with springs and don't want to take out their T-Bs

Peter, I still think the bypass valving is very important on the track too. They're not all billiard table smooth and when hitting kerbs I believe the valving works very efficiently too.

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: jackregan

ORIGINAL: pauly

Gaz have come back to me and the kit is around £800, I don't know if many people have tried it for road use so maybe it's up to you what spring rates and damping you specify, changing the subject slightly AMD will apparently fit the KW's and do the geo all in for the list price of the KW kit, personally I'd rather have money off, fit the kit myself and get someone like centre gravity to do the geo.

are they re indexing for that as well? that sounds too good to be true!

Not re-indexing which made me a bit wary of the deal.

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: Big Dave UK

ORIGINAL: pauly

Gaz have come back to me and the kit is around £800, I don't know if many people have tried it for road use so maybe it's up to you what spring rates and damping you specify, changing the subject slightly AMD will apparently fit the KW's and do the geo all in for the list price of the KW kit, personally I'd rather have money off, fit the kit myself and get someone like centre gravity to do the geo.

Pauly.
Firstly ,, I VERY much dought that they will reindex the rear for that price, as its a good days work...
Secondly the price GAZ quoted you, is that for the remote reservoir / cannister kit.??

Don't think it was the remote Gaz kit, got the part no. if you want it, and as I said I would rather do it all myself so I could replace anything else that may need doing

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: 333pg333
Peter, I still think the bypass valving is very important on the track too. They're not all billiard table smooth and when hitting kerbs I believe the valving works very efficiently too.

Hi Patrick, I did mention that I thought it was one of the benefits of the KW, so I do agree, in an ideal world I'd love to back to back compare them in my car but I don't think it's an area I plan to invest further in at the moment.

I admit that I don't use curbs very heavily, but that's more down to wanting extra safety margin for when things get a little more exciting than planned (and I'm not that aggressive a driver), but in practice the only curbs I intentionally stay off are the ones designed to discourage their use (the sawtooth type), I have no problem using others but then my car is generally very stable (apart from whatever was causing my problems at Oulton).

So I suppose I wonder just how much lap time or extra safety margin this feature would bring? If we're talking a decent percentage then I guess it has to be bought up the upgrade list. Not trying to start a heated debate, I genuinely am curious. I wonder do Porsche use something similar in their current top racers (RSR's etc), anyone have an idea if they do?

 

[333pg333]

Yes good point Peter. I think you would need two identical cars or go to the trouble of testing one car and swapping over to the other brand's setup at some stage and give subjective and objective analysis. I can hear my shocks releasing pressure when I go over certain speed humps, but that's at slow speed on the road without a helmet so I've always presumed that they're doing similar things on the track. I am guilty of riding gators and actually we go right over them so they're under the centre of the car so we have to come back over from the inside (if you get my meaning). That's really not a great idea in practice as it can damage the inside of the tyre on the way back over. It's a matter of finding the right part to do this manoeuvre. It's pretty rough on the car so I'm hoping the bypass valve softens the blow.

 

[996dom]

The rear top mounts need to be offset I believe so they will squeeze in! I not 100% sure because my workshop manager dealt directly with Gaz on my behalf. If I was you I'll check with David at Gaz before you try and fit them. As to having the TB's reindexed, it is not an easy job, you have to remove the rear axle assembly which means you'll probably need to get new mounts which alone add up to over £250. The other issue is fuel lines which run behind the rear axle, so whilst it's off it does make sense to change them if like mine they are knackered, again the fuel lines cost over £250.

With out reindexing the TB's the rear was sitting a good 30/40mm to high with the Gaz on there lowest setting, it cost me a good £1000 to have the TB's reindexed, all the new mounts and a full Geometry set up.

I paid £620+VAT for the shocks, added all up it is a lot of money, lets hope when I get it on track it's been worth it!

Dom

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: 333pg333
Simon, do you have any pics of the 65mm hole for T-B adj? I've heard of people doing this. Sounds like a good idea if one is going to be playing around with springs and don't want to take out their T-Bs

Doesn't the 968 have this hole as standard (for this purpose), with some plastic trims to cover it?

Cutting it wouldn't necessarily be a problem on a 944. If the edges of the hole (exposed steel) were treated and coated correctly then rust wouldn't be an issue, and you could fairly easily find a plastic cap (or similar) to fill the hole.

Just my (objective) thoughts. (Objective, 'cos I've got the Koni adjustables on my S2, which aren't supposed to be a patch on the KW's/Gaz's ... )


Oli.

 

[hotblack944]

ORIGINAL: 333pg333
do you have any pics of the 65mm hole for T-B adj?

There's an article on it with pics starting on page 25 here:

http://9magazine.com/files/Issue_30.pdf

 

[Neil Haughey]

Guys I just had a look at my rears, they have offset rose joints top and bottom. The bottom one pushes the shock away from the banana arm and the top one is the other way round.

Mounting canisters:
Front - every car I have seen mounts them on the inner wing just in front of the wishbone, seems the natural location.
Rear - Loads of options, many race cars mount them in the rear seat location with a big hole cut in the seat bin to poke them through and then a blanking plate to cover the hole. The advantages are its mega easy to adjust them and the canister isn't exposed to dirt and debris etc. One of the race 968's has the canisters mounted on the end of the torsion bars, its out of the way but the hose sits in a scissor position between the spring plate and suspension carrier. There are a couple of other possiblities under the car, BigDave has come up with one but I won't steal his thunder here.

I will start another thread soon to post lots of pictures, a couple of ppl have asked me now what the kit looks like and its best to show it first as is before mounting on the car then look at the stuff fitted.

 

[lali]

I was making a comparison between the GAZ gold and the remote resevoir set up. BUT now that I think about it I would say that the GAZ remote kit is still significantly better on track than the V3 kit. Of course KW now do a more track focused "clubsport" kit as well but since their marketing machine like the GT3 more than the 944/68 I can imagine that its priced to suit the pocket of a GT3 owner too!!
and of course I cant drive across B roads as quickly but I dont care... I'm still waiting to meet something on the road that my A2 cant keep up with.

If you're a hard kerb hitter or spend a HUGE amount of time at the ring then yes the KW is probably going to suit you better but I have a different trackslag for the ring that will ride the kerbs all day long ( to be honest I think I ony actually hit 3 kerbs at the ring and two of them have been smoothed in the last couple of years)

I'm planning to do some time at the ring in the 68 this year so I'll soften up the rebound and let you know it goes... but at Silverstone it just works excellently and at SPA... it was brilliant.

As for the holes in the sills... I had them on my S2. You can just make them out in this picture

The 968 sill is shaped to allow access to the TB and is covered by the wheel arch moulding thing..

 

[944 man]

As long as you dont hit the inside kerb at Aremberg.....[]