Eccentric Top Mounts

[Gavin Waddell 18]

Ive got myself of ecentic top mounts and wanted to fit them to my bilstein coilovers and well iv had a few issues. Firstly ive havent got top spring pan but that aint a problem. Basically i think tha the top hat bolt doesnt pick up enough thread, i must only be able to get 4 turns before its tight. Ive done searches and everyone seems to have had the same problem but not bilsteins. they are comp brake mounts.

 

i was going to turn 5mm off the top hat bolt so it sits frther in the bearing, this is not going to cause of problems.

 

thanks gavin

[Jrod 7]

Are they long top inserts? I guess they must be as I don't think you'd get any turns on if not.

 

Mine didnt do up all the way, was enough though.

[Gavin Waddell 18]

i was going to turn a bit off anyway as there is about 19mm of nut some 5mm will leave me with 14mm to get a spanner on to ireckon that will be alright. Do you have a picture of your top mounts in situ.

[tom_m 0]

 

[Jrod 7]

Do you have the nut like this?

 

 

From above it looks like there was only a few threads but the narrow bit was threaded aswell so there was quite a bit on it.

[Spiky 37]

i did

 

and mine came via compbrake

 

 

mine fit together fine

[Jrod 7]

Did the thread come flush with the top of the nut? If so what inserts were you using?

[Spiky 37]

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?s...0322&st=200

 

 

i'm using bilstein inserts

 

see that link

[tom_m 0]

Do you have the nut like this?

 

 

From above it looks like there was only a few threads but the narrow bit was threaded aswell so there was quite a bit on it.

 

with this style top hat you don't need to use the brass spacer, the bearing should slip over the extension on the top hat, (it may need some minor clearancing to achieve this) then you can just use a normal nut on the exposed thread.

[Jrod 7]

The brass spacer is to go in the bottom of the bearing though is it not?

[Gavin Waddell 18]

the top mounts i got are from comp brake and well i reckon the nut only picks p on the first 3 or 4 threads, thats why i wanted to turn the nut down so it would fit further down. i was assuming that you have to put both spacers in th lower and the upper.

 

Thanks gavin

[Jrod 7]

I'm assuming yours looks like the picture of mine as mine were combrake aswell.

 

If so spacers only go in the bottom AFAIK and the nut goes into the top of the bearing.

[Spiky 37]

mine stripped is as above, and i have 3-4 threads free at the top? clear of the mount

[Gavin Waddell 18]

right i went and got the spring pan today from my suspension guy and thought sweet but no. The diameter of the centre hole is to small but the lathe can solve that.the real problem is this, I meausred the inside of the spring pan to the top of the spreing pan and i have about 19mm, basically if i do make the centre hole bigger i still wont have enougth thread to even get near the nut as thr spring pan is to thick.

 

Now ny take on things is this, the suspension kit i ordered was for use with standard top mounts (even though they are bilstein coilovers). So i need to take it back to my man who can and get him to change the inserts for ones with more thread. THis gives me the oppurtunity to change the inserts to gravel as i find the tarmacs to hard, i use the car for road and track, its my sunday car. so i reckon the gravel inserts with 8''200lb springs will be ok. it has 7'' 300lb springs and well it understeers in corners and feels snakey at high speed, this i know is beacuse the torsion and ARB are not big. But these are 600 quid and so softer springs and inserts is a good comprimise me thinks?

 

advice is much welcome

 

thanks gavin

[Spiky 37]

i run 9" 185lbs springs, and i must say handles well, #

 

but i'm going to purchase 200's and see if there is a difference

 

tarmac's to hard? i dont find mine hard at all

[Gavin Waddell 18]

spikey do you drive your car on the road alot. May be its the 300lb springs that make it hard, are you running standard rear beam or not.

 

thanks gavin

[Spiky 37]

i drive mine to and from track days

 

croft last year

 

bedford few weeks back

 

309 beam full bilstein tarmac spec.

 

it's fine

 

eccentric top mounts too

[Gavin Waddell 18]

i ve just had a look at your build and well my front struts look differentr to yours they seem to be longer, they are bilsteins on mine i must have only about 30mm of thread to boult on to. im going yo see my suspension guy to get it sortd next week me thinks.

[Spiky 37]

i ve just had a look at your build and well my front struts look differentr to yours they seem to be longer, they are bilsteins on mine i must have only about 30mm of thread to boult on to. im going yo see my suspension guy to get it sortd next week me thinks.

 

 

i think you have the wrong inserts

 

i think i remember being told that they come in two forms, to fit eccentric top mounts and std top mounts, which means the thread can be shorter on std top mounts

[Jrod 7]

Yep that is correct there are either long top or short top, short are for standard mounts / group N where long tops are for alloy mouts / Group A

[Guest rs-tone]

I machined out part of the inside of Spikys top nut so it sits down further.

[tom_m 0]

spikey do you drive your car on the road alot. May be its the 300lb springs that make it hard, are you running standard rear beam or not.

 

thanks gavin

 

 

i drive mine to and from track days

 

croft last year

 

bedford few weeks back

 

309 beam full bilstein tarmac spec.

 

it's fine

 

eccentric top mounts too

 

300lbs is very hard for a 205 on the road, but if you're setting it up for the track thats a sacrifice you'll have to live with i think.

 

to add to spiky's experience, i've got 185lb springs and eccentric top mounts on the front, 21mm torsion bars and solid mounts on the rear, with bilstein tarmac spec damping all round and its fine in my opinion. far stiffer than standard, but perfectly usable.

 

i drove it to the ring and back with no problems at at all (apart from blowing the PAS fuse lots of times, but thats nothing to do with the sus )

Edited February 28, 2008 by tom_m

[Jrod 7]

I ran 240lb with 23 mm bars and the handling certainly was fun on the road.

 

Now using 185lb with 20mm bars and its great for B/C roads o and whites!

[SPGTi 2]

My take on Bilstein coilover setup using parts from Compbrake - rs-tone please comment and could you clarify whether you work for Compbrake or they are one of your suppliers, PM if you prefer.

 

I run

Forest inserts - was informed by Bilstein UK and Shenpar, AB, WMMS that only long spindle inserts were now available and a spacer is available to run std top mounts with them.

185lb 9.5" springs

Compbrake top and bottom spring pans - top spring pans needed to "opened up" to fit over spindle, I needed to make a spacer to keep everyting tight between the spring pan and Compbrake eccentric top mount.

Bottom spring pan is a top hat style that is too thick to allow the 2 1/4" (58mm) i/d spring to fit over so needed machining to fit

Compbrake strut bodies - seem OK but I had terrible problem screwing on the lower spring pans, threads seemed slightly different and there were some flat spots on the strut bodies. Even though I have covered the threads with tape for protection, on last inspection there seemed to be new flat spots on the thread. Passivation for anti-corrosion doesn't seem the best.

Compbrake eccentric top mounts - seem OK fitted OK when I had made the spacer to fit between the top pan and the mount. Bearings have performed better than I expected. Using the collared nut, the top of the insert spindle comes flush with the nut, so plenty of thread used. I do use thread lock as well though.

 

So my take on using the Compbrake strut casing, spring pans, eccentric top mounts with Bilstein / PTS inserts (forest or Tarmac) is everything fits together OK as long as you are prepared to modify the items supplied by Compbrake.

I have spoke to Steve at Compbake several times about this but never really had a satisfactory reply as the products are advertised as "Bilstein replacements" and the spring pans are for 2 1/4" springs so in my mind everything should fit together without ANY machining / modifying. If you look at the Bilstein / PTS setup, it all fits together nicely without messing about, BUT you do pay a lot more money and are stuck with expensive, not that readily available 70mm id springs.

Why didn't i just send everything back ? The usual story, had 2 event entries and no suspension, so had to make everything work / fit .

 

Now though my 205 handles really well and seems to take the rough and the smooth without any problems. Don't get hung up on hard front suspension IMHO unless you are running very soft full slicks on the 205 you will only create a bone shaking understeering machine.

 

only my opinion of course

 

Steve

[tom_m 0]

i got my top mounts and spring pans from a company call M.E.D and i can't for the life of me find their details again! i'm very impressed with the bearing performance so far, with no appreciable wear yet despite a lot of road use.

 

the inserts and strut bodies and lower spring pan stuff cam from shenpar and i've no idea who supllies them.