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MG MGB Technical - Has anyone used Gaz Shocks ?

Ive decided to replace the rear lever arms with tele's mainly due to havng to replace the front shocks all though everything else is fine.

Was going to replace both front and rear with Spax, then i herd that somebody recomended GAZ adjustable,
ive not heard of them personaly but have been told there easily avaliable.

has anyone used them and if so what do they think ?

are they better than Spax or Koni ? if not better are they technicaly just as good, or does it depend upon what your using the car for ?

regards
JW

Jonnie Walker

I havn't fitted them yet JW, but I intend fitting a trailing arm coil over set up. I did quite a bit of homework on it and GAZ are the ones I chose. I could find anthing bad about them on the net and they appear to be very good value for money.
SPAX on the other hand, had many detractors. Bitter remarks along the lines of "why not just burn your money". Most people found the SPAX to be way too hard on MGB's, even on the softest setting.
KONI are more expensive than GAZ and although they have a good reputation, did not offer as much value for $ as GAZ.
I believe it would be worth taking a close look at the GAZ mgb adaptor kit before buying it. I suspect that this is just a bit of shaped angle iron that attaches to the hydrolic shocker bolts and could be made up easily yourself with an angle grinder. Let us know if you do.
Peter

Stay with the lever-arms, anything else is a waste of money and time especially for road use. My V8 came with Spax adjustable telescopics (very hard on anything other than their softest setting as Peter says), one started leaking and I had to replace both at many times the cost of a single rebuilt lever-arm. Several years and many tens of thousands of miles down the road I'm becoming more and more aware of the rear bouncing up and down over minor undulations and being very soft. They are Spax adjustable but of course the adjusters have seized. Certainly not willing to shell-out for another pair of tubulars so get a set of lever-arms, drop-links and bottom plates from Stoneleigh and problem solved. With the dampers off I can use a bit more force on the tubulars as it doesn't matter if I break them, and manage to free the adjusters, only to find they make no difference on compression, which has almost no damping, and very little on expansion, which has some. Unless you go for wholesale redesign of the rear suspension you won't do better than lever arms especially for road use.
Paul Hunt 2

One advantage of teles over lever arms, is that they help locate the axle a bit better.
I have used Gaz on other vehicles and have found the company helpful, and the prices competitive.
I believe they are also rebuildable, whilst Spax are not.
Koni are a different league as reflected in the price!

Colin
Colin Parkinson

I'm putting lever arms back on. The ride is so hard with teles even with the softest setting.
c cummins

Jonnie,

I have come round to Pauls way of thinking re the rear dampers anyone who really knows about B's will trll you to stay with the standard lever arms at the rear, my car came with a Moss/hopkinson handling kit which included an upgraded front anti roll bar 3/4" which is fine and a rear anti roll bar 1/2" which is not because it makes the rear toostiff and causes sudden rear end breakaway so thats coming off as are the telescopic dampers of unknown origin, cant find any brand name on them and they have no obvious adjustment so unless their Koni's and can be adjusted to a softer setting they will have to go.

The recommendation for a good handling B seems to be to run the front stiff with 500lb springs 3/4" anti roll bar and keep the rear end on the soft side as this helps traction and overall grip by makinf sure your springs are ok and either keeping the standard lever arms if they are not worn or leaking or replacing them to the same spec with decent quality units, don't be tempted to buy cheap re-con ones for £15.00 you will only get what you pay for.

Re the Gaz dampers I have not heard any reports from anyone who has fitted them at the rear, I recentlyfitted a coilover front suspension which has Gaz coil over units, they are adjustable for damping and ride height which is what I wanted, the spring rate is 500lb and with the dampers set 1/3rd hard the ride is firm but not harsh so on the front they seemto work well.

You didn't say what year your car is, and it would be useful to check your ride height by measuring from the centre of the wheel to the underside of the chrome strip, let us know do we can make other recommendations. Measure front and rear and also rubber bumper or original chrome bumper car.

If you are still interested in the Gaz rear dampers here is a link.

Kevin

Kevin Jackson

No here is the link.

http://www.shock-absorbers.co.uk/

Kevin
Kevin Jackson

I have Gaz shocks on my Hoyle rear IRS and love them!
Frank

Like Kevin's my V8 came with an uprated front bar and a rear bar, and like him I found comparing it with the standard roadster the rear would break away sooner in the wet. However since then I've found tyre choice, and particularly where they are different front to rear, makes a much bigger difference than the uprated bars. As far as removing them goes if you remove the rear you *must* restore the front to standard or the oversteer will get even worse.
Paul Hunt 2

I have parabolics and Konis on the back of my CB GT, too firm really on urban roads but fun elswhere
JR Lakey

I have recently removed the Spax rear tubulars from my roadster due to them being too hard even on the softest setting. This hardness translated into poor traction on uneven surfaces due to the axle hopping and losing grip. I have since replaced them with uprated lever arms and am completely satisfied with the results. Incidentally my roadster still has Spax tubulars on the front which seems to be fine and in the tradition of keeping the front stiff.
Iain MacKintosh

hello ,i puschased some up rated lever arm about 25% stiffer .they work very well thanks
daren

there are a set on ebay front and rear i think cost around 300 pounds. Id be very tempted but there are pros and cons- secondly is it really worth it if the cars never going to see a track where coil overs are in their element?

SGE Granville

£300!!? Never worth it for road use.
Paul Hunt 2

Use a heavier weight oil. I have read that 30wt motor cycle front fork oil can be used without causing damage. I believe (ie could be wrong) that the MGB standard is 20wt.

However I don't find the standard shocks excessivly soft as they are.
Might be worth a try if they were a bit worn.
Peter

Hi Frank NC,
Where do you live? I am interested in the Hoyle suspension. Do you have the front also? I bought the front coil over last year from him. Any more info about the rear?
Werner Van Clapdurp

Werner,
I live in western NC. The Hoyle IRS is a really nice addition although at the current pound to USD conversion rate extremely expensive. There was a definite improvement from the rebuilt (shocks/springs/superflex bushings/panhard rod) setup I had although I would be hard pressed to say it is enough to justify the cost unless you just want something relatively unique. I have the FastCars front independent suspension on the front. Also extremely nice set-up that makes driving the car a pleasure indeed.
Frank

Hi Frank,
Thanks for the reply. I would like to talk further about the Hoyle IRS set-up off line. sent an e-mail to me. Did you buy the unit in the USA?
Werner Van Clapdurp

Werner,
Purchased it straight from John and he had it flown over. My e-mail is incorrect so I will try and reach you via my new account. Try not to post it here due to the Nigerian scammers.
Frank
Frank

This thread was discussed between 26/04/2007 and 09/05/2007

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