rcoasby

Dear All

I've had my STiV from new and last year decided to finally upgrade the suspension. I live in Cyprus and the choice locally is limited (mostly rock hard Jap stuff which is no good on these roads). I was put in touch with a chap from the UK who sorts the suspension on most of the rally cars here - he came highly recommended and I checked him out as best I could.

He said he had a set of (supposedly) 50mm Prodrive units used on an Irish tarmac rally car which were reconditioned and would be perfect for my car. They were fitted and the handling was improved although it seemed a little high to me, especially at the back. That was in January. I have done about 6000 KM since then

Recently there was a heavy knocking from the front off-side area under the wheel. The local mechnic put it up on his ramp and couldn't find anything although he spotted that the near side damper was leaking oil. When it was lowered it made a 'clunk' (on the off-side) and became obvious that it was coming from the damper. I can't find the guy that put the units on - he's gone to ground but in the meantime the noise has dissapeared. Here are my questions:

1. if I needed to get these units looked at who could do it in the UK?
2. As it's clearly too high can I simply swap the springs for something else - do they have to be matched in some way to the damper?
3. How do I find out if they are really Prodrive units? There's no markings on them I can see. I.E have I been stitched up?
4. How serious is the oil leak - there doesn't seem to be a lot of it but does it need to be fixed immediately?

Thanks, Richard
Limassol, Cyprus

malinen

For example. original Prodrive springs are blue in color, and they lower the New Age WRX -20mm

-50mm sounds too much for the original damper to cope with

mark@wrx

Are these competition coilover dampers? If they are there should be a short length of braided hose attached to the body of the damper.
It sounds like the oil seals have gone, which aren't very expensive parts (£10 stirling). I would think Roger Clark motorsport will be able to rebuild them.

I think Malinen has got confused a little with your information. The 50mm refers to the size of damper body rather than the drop in height. The height should be adjusted by lowering the spring seat.

rcoasby

[QUOTE=mark@wrx]Are these competition coilover dampers? If they are there should be a short length of braided hose attached to the body of the damper.
It sounds like the oil seals have gone, which aren't very expensive parts (£10 stirling). I would think Roger Clark motorsport will be able to rebuild them.

Mark - Good idea...I'll give the chaps at Roger Clark a ring. Indeed there is a braided hose (for the remote reservoirs?). The springs are blue, all which point to them being Prodrive competition units.

I tried to post a photo to show how high the car is but I can't seem to do that. Chappy who installed them said he couldn't lower them anymore which is strange. Just to give you an idea, the distance from the centre of the wheel to the top of the wheel arch is ~380mm at the back and ~370mm at the front. It's a big hole and was easily enough to get under the car and take a photo of the suspension units themselves! If I wanted to lower it would I have to change the springs and if so what springs would I use to match the dampers? Anybody at Prodrive I could call?

Cheers, Richard

mark@wrx

You don't have to change the springs to lower the car, its done by adjusting the platforms at the bottom of the springs. My mates rally car has similar dampers and can lowered a long way. I think that the tarmac height settings are 350mm front and 360mm at the back. If you want to mail a picture to me send it to mark.wrx@tiscali.co.uk

rcoasby

Mark - email with photos on its way. Cheers, Richard