Mk1 F Shocks

[hilly]

Dear All,

I'm looking to renew my shocks all round on my Mk1 MGF.

I noticed a set for sale that have apparently only done 50 miles, but they are listed as fitting a Trophy 160..... are they the same as a Mk1 F?

My hydro system is perfect and has never dropped or sagged, s I'm not contemplating a conversion, but before I go and grab a set of std Gas shocks, I wondered if the Trophy ones were better, or indeed different.

Dave.

[John SS]

My hydro system is perfect and has never dropped or sagged, s I'm not contemplating a conversion, but before I go and grab a set of std Gas shocks, I wondered if the Trophy ones were better, or indeed different.

If your F is the one in your profile photo it looks mighty low to me.
Could just be the photo I suppose, but the ride height does not look right for a standard F.

[hilly]

Ride height is perfect thank you

[hilly]

I am going to need to purchase in the next couple of weeks, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be most grateful

[talkingcars]

If your F is the one in your profile photo it looks mighty low to me.
Could just be the photo I suppose, but the ride height does not look right for a standard F.

Agreed.

[hilly]

guys, the photo is irrelevant………….


do you have any suggestions for shocks?

[Charless]

However few miles the second hand ones may have done, you would probably be better off buying new gas shocks as you infer. All car parts deteriorate with age...

[hilly]

Thanks Charles,

I agree...…… I used to run Monroe training nights in the early 90's...…….. it was fun to see the colour drain from the faces of big butch mechanics as they watched the cars crashing in the videos..... and my sales of shocks rocketed for a few weeks too!

I'm just wondering if there is a preferred brand that suits the F...… KYB seems popular, but I wonder about some of the lesser known brands that appear to make 'Specialist' fit units.

[Bigfootmgf]

On a f the dampers really only control the movement in one direction as the Hydragas unit has damping built in! They don't really damp in the same way as on a car with springs & dampers! Which is why if you have adjustable ones fitted you don't make them to hard as they brake the top mounts.

[hilly]

Cheers Paul,

It's a good point...……….. I think I'll go for an everyday set of Gas shocks and see the difference.

My ride height is just a few mm high after I put all of the front end back in last year, but it doesn't ever drop, so I'll get it back down to spot on and get the shocks replaced...……

I'm doing a Hill Climb next month, so from there I'll take stock of a view on my Hydragas units to decide if they need replacing or re-gassing.

[Charless]

For not much more than the standard dampers you can get aftermarket adjustable ones. Though I don't do competitive events as you are proposing, I have replaced with GAZ all round on a couple of mine. There are other manufacturers but GAZ seem reputable (I bought from Rimmer's).

[Bigfootmgf]

To be honest if what you have are not leaking you probably won't notice any difference. If you find you have a hard jiggly ride then you have a lack of gas in the spheres and they need replacing or a refill.
If you want to make it less floaty then you put adjustables on. (It will only be floaty if the gas is full)

[hilly]

Thank You Paul,

I've not made it easy for myself, as I did a total rebuild of the front end last year (excluding the shocks), and Poly Bushed the front, but done the rear yet, which is next years job!

So, where I find a bit of over steer and it being a little 'Tail Endy', I think is caused by this. It is a tad 'bumpy', but again I think this might be the Poly bushes...… in reality, it's all a bit trail and error and where one person may or may not prefer a harder ride or not I guess.

I'll work through it and get it all done at some point.

Thanks again for your views.

[Bigfootmgf]

I too have polybushed suspension, adj dampers and also have lowering pins all set up for doing track days. I found the suspension got a bit crashy and it bounced wide on bumpy corners and as my car is a N reg so 22years old I found and the only thing to solve this was regassing the hydragas sphere to regain a nice compliant ride. It has also improved the handling.
Good luck with the hill climb

[hilly]

Cheers bud,

My mk1 is Aug 96, so about the same age.

As it feels to give a bit of skipping out and a tad of oversteer when pushed, i.e. downward pressure on the outer weight bearing on corners, I'm inclined to think it's the spheres that are needing re-gassing too!

I've got a spare set I think, so maybe I'll get those done regardless of their condition and just do a swap over. over the winter break.

I think I'll go with a set of Gaz or Spax over standard shocks to start with.

I'm also wondering if I should get my wife re-gassed………… see if that makes her more compliant! .... P.S. don't tell her I said that LOL

[talkingcars]

Polybushing will always have a harsher ride than rubber, unless you get shore 70 bushes.

[hilly]

Yes, I knew it would, although I guess it's all a bit Marmite

My everyday cars are mostly always Audi's and I always go for the SLine for the harder, nore positive ride.

It'll be interesting to see how it is once I've done the rears as well.

I must say, it felt a bit reckless taking out the std rubber inner bushes on the brand new front lower arms!!

That said, I went for Stainless inner collars to avoid any expansion of std metal ones