had my avo coilovers fitted today and there is no bracket for holding the brake lines to the shock absorber. my mechanic said it might fail an MOT as its not held back by anything. he suggested that we cut the bracket off the o/e shocks and weld it onto the coilover.

cheers mike

 

Bloody stupid isn't it? Your mechanic is right, though shame to ruin the original struts! I mad some from 1.5mm steel sheet, copied the original and MIG welded them on (carefully). That was 12 months ago and all is well. I was very annoyed at AVO who told me to use big cable ties. Not very professional!
Graham

 

that what i`m doing for the time being, but as he said that might fail the mot. i`ve got braided lines so the is less risk of them rubbing away on anything. so it looks like cannibalising the origanals [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] . said they were tw@t to fit due to lack of instuctions

cheers mike

 

Get those brackets on PDQ! When the suspension moves through their full travel things can get stretched!
I complained really hard to AVO but got little response in return, you have paid so go away! they are very noisey too, makes you think all is loose under there somewhere, not good when racing hard....
Graham.

 

Mike don't weld to the strut bodies!! Just cable tie the brake lines in place, thats good enough. Rally cars need an MOT and they don't have fancy little brackets for brake lines.

 

What about making a bracket, and fixing it in a way other than welding, sirely that can't be good for the insides if the strut!!

 

spoke to the mechanic today when i picked the car up, and he said that instead of welding them on, make the bracket connect to the strut through the lower strut bolts.
or i might just leave them cable tied to the stunts as they look ok as they are

cheers mike

 

I wouldnt weld to the strut as this will invalidate the warranty..

I cable tied p20spd's But put plenty on and make them tight.

more likely to fail by the spring dropping out of the spring seat.

David

 

Mike, I can get you some stainless steel cable ties if you want. Let me know.

 

cheers mark, theres prenty of ties on so i think i`ll leave it like that for the time being, looks quite secure.

yea david never thought about the warranty side of it. as for the spings moving, well its quite low

cheers mike

 

Each to their own! Welded mine to the flat plate bracket using MIG not the round housing of the strut body. Warranty? on AVO products? The paint splits away when you do the bolts up, unplated steel underneath (etc). Welded mine 2 years ago, no probs and the pipes are clear of everything.
Graham

 

I have just made some brackets for mine, which are attached to the strut body with a jubilee clip. The profile is the same as the oe bracket, and it comfortably holds the lines away from the sharp corners of the adjusting ring. will take some photos if anyone's interested.
simon

 

yea simon that would be good

cheers mike

 

heres the brackets i got made.

 

Brackrts look good! Is your car a gravel rally car? The spring collars are very high up on the thread compared to mine!
Graham

 

use it most days, and its pretty damn low! set-up is for track, and only just clear my 18" OZ pro-drives.

if anyone need any brackets let me know- maybe not the most elegant looking bits of kit, but they serve the purpose.

cheers,
simon.

ps. why do they rust so fast (please don't answer that as i know the answer)

they may be cheap and cheerful but they don't half do the job

[Edited by RRH - 3/17/2003 8:21:42 PM]

 

cheers simon that looks quite easy to make so i might have a go at that.
as graham says looks like the springs are quite high. but then i`m on 17 inch OZ`s so that might be the difference.

cheers mike

 

I am using Demon Tweeks' spring range which i think are 10 1/4 inches long, maybe yours are shorter?
Rust is natural to AVO struts, that's why they are cheap! I bound the exposed threads on mine with insulation tape, and this has preserved them well.
I nearly did the jubeley clip/bracket way, but I like welding!
Are your AVO's niosey, like something is seriously loose? The rear NS is on my car and the reat dead quiet....
Graham.

 

mine are pretty quiet, only ever hear them creak when manoevering in and out of the garage. sprayed the bodies with WD40 but not sure this was one of my best ideas

i do have this sneaking suspicion that it'll only be about 10 minutes before they fall to bits though ~ although it'll be a fun 10 minutes

simon

[Edited by RRH - 3/18/2003 7:31:50 PM]

 

have`nt had a real chance to try them out yet but the general feel is very good, only got the tracking done on saturday. no noise..... yet. mine have boots that cover the top half of the damper but not the springs like ledas.
i`m using the standard avo springs, i used your settings for the dampers graham and the rind is quite comfortable 7 half turns at the front and 5 on the rear.

 

Mike, don't go any harder on the road as I think the damping rate is not linear to each turn. as you turn to 'harder' you get much more damping action than you expect. I tried max hard on a sprint track I know really well and the car was really BAD, even dangerous. Max soft is a joke, hence the 7Front / 5 Rear settings.
I was told by several experts that the rear spring rate must be 80% of the fronts. Stray away from this rule and the understeer is evil....
Graham

 

yea when i picked the car up after fitting, my mechanic said he left the dampers as they were, which was on the softest setting. it was like driving a car with jelly for suspension

cheers mike