[project] Silver 1.9 Gti 16v Project (now Gti-6)

[welshpug 1,657]

ahh ok, that makes no difference really as the Leda people work for Gaz now

[taylorspug 7]

Much sturdier shock body, 2.5in springs, shorter stroke, plenty of differences.

 

Wouldnt have bought them if they werent an improvement!

Edited April 20, 2009 by taylorspug

[welshpug 1,657]

as to where you buy the spares I meant!

[taylorspug 7]

Ah ok, i see, misunderstood you there! Yeah id sort of decided to go to Gaz for the bits anyway, although apart from a few seals i cant see what else they are going to supply me? The adjusters work perfectly, its literally just the bump on one of them (although obviously il be doing both shocks). Oh and i may see how much a couple of damper rods are, theres a couple of knicks in each one where some doughnut has used a set of grips on them to undo the top nut. Quite near the top though so i may get away with it...

Edited April 20, 2009 by taylorspug

[Baz 421]

Coming along nicely Dan, bring on the trumpets!

 

Wish i'd have known you were getting the Leda's from Rich, not that far away, could've met you somewhere for that engine i still need to collect!!

 

ahh ok, that makes no difference really as the Leda people work for Gaz now

 

No they don't...

Edited April 20, 2009 by Baz

[taylorspug 7]

Ah bugger, these things happen mate! To be fair i did the deal with Rich pretty quick, spoke to him Friday and picked up Sunday. Yeah the engine is still here, i thought you might have forgotten or something! It will be on the deck ready to go this week (im lazy so its still hanging in the car at the moment...).

 

Yeah shes coming along well, its just so annoying fiddling around waiting for bits! Bar filter and cams its pretty much all here or on its way now though.

[hman205 1]

I thought packing a silencer with wire wool was a bad idea that could very easily lead to a fire

im sure I read that on here ?

Edited April 23, 2009 by hman205

[taylorspug 7]

It does burn easy yes, well it cinders anyway. Although it only seems to be the thinner stuff that does, i tested some of this with a butane lamp before i fitted it and it wasnt too bad. Also welded the backbox shut over the top of it dont forget!

 

Even if it does s*it itself, its setting fire to nothing other than itself, it is in the backbox afterall.

[The Arch Bishop 0]

As long as it's packed in well, it shouldn't catch fire. If it's thick old stuff, there's even less chance.

 

Can't wait to see the finished article! I reckon I'll be able to hear you going off to the workshop from my place when you're finished with the mods!

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Top work once again Dan

[taylorspug 7]

Cheers Ed!

 

Well ive got the bodies finally on now:

 

 

As you can see the throttle linkage is all on and done, works well, really nice pedal weight and the pedal length is near on perfect. The fuel pipes are also done, but not pictured. Ive run the return line under the top engine mount along with the throttle cable, in order to keep the bay nice and tidy, and then ran it from the far outlet on the rail to the regulator. Ive cable tied the line up to the bodies underneath so it doesnt lay on the starter/wiring. Just waiting for some new O-rings for the connector pipe on the fuel rails. Rang Jenvey up and they werent even interested in charging me for any- so thumbs up for them. Really helpful too.

 

Still have the wiring loom to do, but im trying to sort getting the car back on the deck first, so it will have to wait and fit in around work.

 

Talking of getting the car back on its wheels ive started to tackle the Ledas i recently picked up. Stripped the more knackered one down (it had lost its bump damping), to find one very smashed valve in the bottom. From what i can see someone has been running the shocks on the minimum height, and has removed the bump stops to allow any suspension movement. This has allowed the damper rod to bottom out and squash the valving in the bottom of the shock body which obviously controls the flow of oil/damping. Fortunately the valve is removeable in a small piece, so i can get a couple of new ones from Leda. However from offering the suspension up onto my car and taking a few measurements, i think i will be in much the same position, as i tend to run a fairly low ride height myself.

 

From stripping the shock down i noticed they are running a stroke limiting sleeve to limit unloaded droop. This looks to be a Leda fitted item, but i cant be sure. To me this isnt ideal, as it means the damper rod is effectively alot longer than it needs to be, especially for me as im going to have to go to a 7 inch spring to get enough adjustment in height. So my plan is to shorten the damper rods, which has a number of benefits for my car:

 

- The shorter stroke will be ideal for my ride height, and will take away any possibility of the valving getting smashed again.

 

- By taking the material from the top of the damper rod i can re-shoulder and re-thread the top mount, which means i can allow for a little more thread to poke through the spherical bearing for the nut to catch. Even though there is enough now, another 5mm wouldnt hurt, even for the sleeve nuts im planning to run.

 

- Again by taking the material from the top of the rod, the small marks in the rods from previous idiotic use will be moved upwards and out of harms way of the damper stroke-in fact i think they will be hidden under the bumpstop. This is a big plus as new rods are £45 a throw!

 

- Gets rid of the stroke limiting sleeve.

 

Basically im going to tailor the shocks to my car. Ive decided 2 inches will be a sufficient amount to remove, as it swallows up the limiting sleeve, plus another half inch or so. This leaves me with less droop, a shorter rod, but still plenty of slack in the rod if i want/need to wind the height up. Fairly simple lathe operation aswell. Anyway il get a load of photos up as im doing it, which should be next week if Leda can get the bits out to me to rebuild them. Im planning on using one of the oils reccommended by Phil in the link Welshpug posted. Oh and i should order the springs too!

 

EDIT: I also remembered encountering a similar problem with smashed valving on Ledas on a friends mk4 Golf racer a few years back. He had an identical problem, and because of this when i bought the suspension for my stillborn Golf, i had to specify working lengths so they could make the dampers to suit. Effectively the same thing im doing now.

Edited April 30, 2009 by taylorspug

[taylorspug 7]

Right ive had it running and the wire wool backbox has worked a treat! Its super quiet out of the pipe now! Oh and rather loud out of (or should that be into?) the bodies....

 

Having a couple of problems with the sequential setup, but im on top of them now so all should be well soon enough. Ran it up to check for leaks etc and was very impressed- it idled at 700rpm for one thing!

 

Also modified my rev counter to work with the Emerald and it seems to be spot on, certainly up to 5k anyway it cross-references perfectly with the laptop. Wired in my old Omex shift light too and relocated the lights to inside the dash clocks, so now the 4 LEDs poke out just below the rev counter. Looks factory. I will have some pictures tomorrow.

 

Still no joy with the shocks- Leda are bloody useless, all i want is a price for the rebuild kits and some new valving. Ive phoned about half a dozen times now and emailed once, and had one phonecall and one email back out of all of that. Literally all they need to do is come up with a price and i will pay them the money, but they cant be arsed, which is a bit of a kick in the nuts seeing as ive got three cars in my workshop with Ledas on them.

Edited May 19, 2009 by taylorspug

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

Looking sweet, fair play credit where its due, it could be mistaken for looking stock how Peugeot should have

done it. Keep up the good work mate..

[taylorspug 7]

Tbh the look of it is nowhere near finished yet. Once all the cam covers are painted along with the slam panel it will look OE spec. The bay looks so empty now with the tiny loom in it!

 

Forgot to add im also going to run a narrow band lambda in the management too. Im really keen to get good economy on a long run from the car, as it will mean i can use it alot more, which is ideal as i just really love driving it.

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

Obviousley its got a bit to go but im sure the loom will be tucked up nice and neat in there, what is the black water washer off?

nice touch that, i like the clean lines and little touches like the throttle cable hidden out of sight plus like said that washer bottle!

Look forward to seeing the finished article, cant be far off now....

[jackherer 543]

I had trouble with some Ledas that were too long on a mates 205, they aren't blue/green coloured are they?

 

It might be worth talking to Gaz if Leda are no use, someone from Leda works there now.

[welshpug 1,657]

No they don't...

 

oh really?

 

It might be worth talking to Gaz if Leda are no use, someone from Leda works there now.

 

That's what I thought.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2009 by welshpug

[Alastairh 47]

Bingo!

 

Where are you getting it mapped then Dan?

 

Al

[taylorspug 7]

I had trouble with some Ledas that were too long on a mates 205, they aren't blue/green coloured are they?

 

It might be worth talking to Gaz if Leda are no use, someone from Leda works there now.

 

No they are the standard nickel coated finish. The problem seems to be a combination of the damper rods being too long, and also the thread for the ride height adjustment isnt cut low enough into the shock body to allow you to lower the ride height enough. Its not too much of a problem, certainly the modifications im doing to the damper rods will sort out the travel problem. My only slight concern is the springs going coilbound as im going down from an 8 to 7 inch spring. Will have to see.

 

Bingo!

 

Where are you getting it mapped then Dan?

 

Al

 

Not 100% yet, either Torque of the Devil or Emerald, although from being on the phone to them the other day Emerald are booking into July now!

[jackherer 543]

I missed Baz's post earlier, I mentioned it because I was talking to someone at Gaz two days ago about some Ledas amongst other things and he specifically mentioned it then.

[taylorspug 7]

Yeah i think il give them a call in the morning if they have all the parts to sort me out. I need my BMW uprights and rear shocks rebuilt soon which are Ledas, il go to Gaz with them too if all goes well.

[Baz 421]

oh really?

 

 

 

That's what I thought.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And how old is that?

 

May be a bit of chinese whispers but they claimed that for a while a few years ago!

 

The guy that worked at Gaz (which is a father & sons' company) worked there for a while but didn't for long, and i think you'll find they don't put that anywhere anymore as they're not allowed...

Edited May 19, 2009 by Baz

[Baz 421]

Not 100% yet, either Torque of the Devil or Emerald, although from being on the phone to them the other day Emerald are booking into July now!

 

Try Steve Greenald at Track & Road, keep hearing nothing but good things!

Edited May 19, 2009 by Baz

[welshpug 1,657]

that's on the back of this months retro cars magazine.

[taylorspug 7]

Yeah il keep him in mind, i know a few people who have used Track and Road. Tbh il prob go for Torque of the Devil, as a few friends (Maxi included obviously) have used him and always had good results, and the cars always drive really nicely on the road and make good power, even though his rollers under-read a touch on flywheel figures. Im not bothered about the flywheel figure though, ive got a wheel figure im shooting for and il be happy as long as i get in my range.

 

Hes also only an hour or so from me and very reasonable on price.