oil shocks

Are you sure you need shorter front shocks? They're only required when you've lowered the front of the car by turning the center sections in the beam and the drop is more than about 2" (I think). If you're using offset spindles and/or shorter tires then regular length front shocks are what to use. 

Al, I don't have dropped spindles, and the VS came to me with no name shorter shocks...But these from Atomwerks are such a great price how could I pass them up?

....ahhh, even if I never install them, at that price, they're like 'money in the bank' sitting on the shelf.... keeping company with a lot of other stuff I've acquired

Heh, this is kind of timely. I *just* swapped my front shocks to lowered units.

 

I wouldn't consider my car to be 'lowered'. I do have an adjustable front beam, but it's only adjusted two or three notches down from the 'full up' position.

 

My car rode *VERY ROUGH* when I first got it. I replaced all four shocks and that didn't solve the issue. I rebuilt the entire front beam and even lowered the air pressure in my tires. The ride was improved, but still like riding in a covered wagon.

 

I finally measured the length of the "boge" shocks when the car was at rest. I measured the length from the top of the upper shock body hood to the middle of the lower shock mount/bolt. The measurement was 12.75". I removed one shock and compressed it to 12.75" to see how much travel was left in the shock before it bottomed out. The 'bottomed out' measurement for those same two points is 12.5".  I effectively had .25" of travel before the shocks bottomed out.

 

The lowered shocks are much shorter. I have installed the new shocks this morning.  The car has improved suspension travel. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm hopeful that this will improve the ride a bit. I'll keep you posted.

 

I don't know what shocks you have, but maybe start by measuring the current length of the shock with the car 'at rest' and then remove one shock (two nuts) and then measure how much travel is left in the shock. Maybe it's worth a shot.

 

If you find that you just need new shocks, I have two brand new boge shocks that have less than 2000 miles on them. I'll make you a rippin' deal on 'em.

 

Ted

Very true Carl; it's hard to argue with that logic! But if you keep this up, what will the wife say when you buy another fiberglass body to store all the stuff on?

 

And Ted, that is the best way of determining if you need stock or shorter front shocks! That tells you why it was riding so rough. So a regular front shock is approx 12 1/2" compressed...good to know (take note of this people, if running  regular shocks and you want to figure out how much downward suspension travel you have). Did you measure the compressed and stretched length of the shorter units?

If you measure from the TOP of the shock hood to the middle of the lower bolt hole, it's 12.5"

 

I didn't measure the compressed length and extended length of the shorter ones, but I should have. 

Carl, stop buying stuff! OK, never mind! Spend your money!

I can't remember exact lengths, but I modified my stock length KYB GR2 shocks. I cut the dust cover off and shortened the rubber bump stop under it by half and gained an extra inch of travel. With my ride height that was enough to gain back some ride quality. Lowered shocks were too short for me. I then welded the covers back on and painted them up.

I agree with Danny, Carl needs to stop buying stuff before we find him on an episode of "Hoarders".

Danny, you're a hell of a lot left brain cleverer than I am.  I never have thought of that...Hope I can make it to Lime Rock.

 

Rich, I'm not sure how clever you are!!!

But you're right about 'hoarding'. I should see if the production company offers a $tiped for their crew to dig into a chaotic (but photogenic) mess... I could use the money...there's a lot of neat things to buy on The Samba.

 

I think the lowered shocks compress to around 9 1/12 inches if memory serves.  Gone through this issue already.  After you put these on the front spindles will not 'droop' very much when you jack it up.  Gets the tires off the ground for removal very quickly....less jacking.