820
South East
Posts: 790
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I am converting the rear suspension from a separate shock and spring to coilover. The shock top mount fixes to a tall cone fitted to the rear turret, I assume this allowed for a longer shock. Problem to solve here is the cone or tube diameter is not wide enough for a spring, initial plan was and still might be to simply cut the cone into 3 parts, the bottom flange with studs, the tube section (to be discarded) and the top bush. then weld it back together with a wider tube. I am know wondering if I could build something more elaborate by extending the turret with a box section, this would allow the addition of a slotted top mount for camber adjustment. This is where I need inspiration and ideas, there is a lot of fabrication and one-off builds here wondered if anyone has done anything like this or got some input. Apologies for using the words flange, bush and bottom in the same sentence. Standard shock fitting  Shock removed  Top mount cone  |
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option 3 weld a larger cone over the mount to allow for a spring and keep the increased travel.
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Nissan Laurel SOLD  BMW E34 Diesel SOLD  Toyota Soarer 4.0 V8 SOLD Audi A4 1995 TDI SOLD Peugeot 205 1.9 TD SOLD Lexus IS300 SC |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,713
Club RR Member Number: 34
Member is Online
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find the build thread for my lada, i did more or less what youre describing.
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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Standard Range Rover / Disco / Defender front shock towers are like this -  You can get various aftermarket types such as these -     Any of these ideas of use ? Yes this is exactly what I am looking for, I am off to the internet to find out more. Stonyray, that was my original plan and probably the easiest. Dez, I will find your Lada thread for a read. Thanks for the tips, I will report back |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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This is where the top mount will pretty much be (pic below) so those Land Rover kits look ideal, found and bookmarked several types for now just need to get dimensions, the other point is I am moving the spring loads from under the floor to the shock turret so they need to be strong which I am sure they are being designed for heavy off road shock absorber use.  Edited - the spring shown in the picture is a spare front spring, it is much shorter than the spring I would have to use, the correct spring would continue up to the spring seat at the shock top mount. |
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Last Edit: Dec 7, 2015 19:46:07 GMT by 820
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,249 
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Rear suspension ideas and inspirationRich
@foxmcintyre
Club Retro Rides Member 160
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The landrover shock towers probably aren't much more use if you were hoping to have a spring and shock fit up inside them. They are pretty narrow at the top as they only have a shock fitted in them as per what your car already has...
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,410
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Rally Design sell preformed strut towers for use in GP 4 Escorts. They may be useful.
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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Rich, some of those aftermarket towers look wide enough for the spring as well, they might be to tall though, which ever way it goes I am prepared for a bit of modification.
Qwerty, thanks, I took a look at Rallydesign, the strut items I found looked a bit to specific to the Escort, but I am getting more ideas with each link.
I am now considering designing something with all the above ideas and work out the cost and time to go that way, (I still have to look at Dez's Lada thread) will do that later.
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those LR towers are for the damper only not the spring.
what does the lower damper mounting look like? I would look at moving that down rather than changing the top mounting.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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My Escort RS Turbo has a similar turret design to yours. I am running a set of specially made top hats which Gaz supply and possibly a few others (I bought them as I obtained a spare set of Gaz rears should I need to service the Ledas again). The towers look like this:  But the top hats/spring retainers are as follows: The hats are like the ones on top of the red springs in this shot:  Dampers on the right:   When I bought the car it had a generic spring top hat available for most rally stores but then with spacer in the form of a cut tube. |
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Last Edit: Dec 7, 2015 18:44:29 GMT by ChasR
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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Welshpug, I know but I am banking on the fact they are for heavy use and with a bit of modification in the right places they will be strong enough. I cant move it downwards it sits in the hub. I cant find any dimensions of these aftermarket shock towers, it is the internal diameter of the circular base that I need more than anything and the height of the standard tower from the chassis. If the base is large enough then it might work, any Land Rover owners here that might be able to get those dimension for me?  |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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My Escort RS Turbo has a similar turret design to yours. I am running a set of specially made top hats which Gaz supply and possibly a few others (I bought them as I obtained a spare set of Gaz rears should I need to service the Ledas again). The towers look like this: But the top hats/spring retainers are as follows: The hats are like the ones on top of the red springs in this shot: Dampers on the right: When I bought the car it had a generic spring top hat available for most rally stores but then with spacer in the form of a cut tube. They look nice, thats thrown a spanner in the works, are those spacers steel or turned from ally, now wonder if I should email Gaz a picture of my standard steel tower to see if they have made anything like this before, or just fit a spring seat to the base of the tower with the coil spring running lower down on the shock body, although I originaly discarded that idea in case the top spring seat would bind or catch against the shock body as top of the shock body would have to pass through the top spring seat but now don't see why that would happen with the top and bottom seats properly aligned, I need to take some more measurements. |
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Last Edit: Dec 7, 2015 19:31:44 GMT by 820
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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I cannot remember but they seem to be made from turned ally.
Indeed, the spring should not bind with the coilover body if the right caps have been used.
While I cannot recommend it the rear Ledas did run a generic top hat and spacer tube (read some cut steel tube) for years from what I can tell.
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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I cannot remember but they seem to be made from turned ally. Indeed, the spring should not bind with the coilover body if the right caps have been used. While I cannot recommend it the rear Ledas did run a generic top hat and spacer tube (read some cut steel tube) for years from what I can tell. I have edited my previous post as I didnt explain very well that as the top cone/turret/tower is so tall the shock actually operates up into it so the top spring seat either has to be at the top a widened tower/land Rover type or a spring seat fixed at the bottom of the tower but wide enough for the shock to safely operate through the top seat without catching, hope that explains it, easy with all the parts in front of me but difficult to picture from my explanation. |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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I managed to get under a Defender today and measure the shock tower, it is wide enough for the spring to pass through, a bit to tall but that should be fairly easy to fix. I am now back on this idea, a pair of these, strengthened sides with 4 more bolt holes around the base, what do you think? would they be safe?  |
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These design would be easy to self fabricate -  - get engineering company to guillotine / fold. BFUBOCiZJE)BQ~~_12.JPG) - get parts laser / water cut. |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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These design would be easy to self fabricate - - get engineering company to guillotine / fold. Good point, by the time I have bought a pair, chopped them about and added strength probably not much in it cost and work wise. Something simple like those above could also be attached to the body at the top very easily to add horizontal stability. I should draw something up and get a price, Thanks composimmonite |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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Dec 11, 2015 15:16:17 GMT
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find the build thread for my lada, i did more or less what youre describing. Found it, nice work.    |
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820
South East
Posts: 790
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Thanks for all the suggestions and inspiration, decided the most suitable way is to build something similar to Dez's Lada turret above.
Without access to old fire extinguishers 4.5" tubing was difficult to find, 4" and 5" easy to find but to small and to large.
A company in Cornwall is laser cutting the top and bottom sections, they should be ready next week then I can put them together.
Thanks again for your help.
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