Upper Shock perches on front coil-overs?

[Geneman]

Hi Peeps. I have a bad clunk on right front race car. THey are 2 way ADj coilovers on (not sure what make) on RSR Struts. I dropped the strut down a bit and the top spring perch is floating free,. meaning its not attached to the top mounting plate.. IS THIS CORRECT? on the other side of car (no clunk), the perch seems to be fixed and does not drop down when you artificially compress the spring.

Plus, as you can see in the image, someone tried to epoxy this perch onto the top of spring itself ( seems bush league to me....)

does the shock shaft normally hold the top perch onto the top mounting plate somehow?

thanks. i have not much experience with coilovers.

FRank

[TimT]

Helper springs... well... help.. they keep the spring aligned and bearing on the hat when suspension is in droop..

Some hats allow you to zip tie the spring in place no clunk when loading the suspension..

[winders]

[winders]

Oh, that's in full droop......

[Geneman]

Scott. so in that image, the top perch drops down with the spring in full droop ( when chassis fully jacked up?)

TIm i have those helpers and sliders . seems they keep it up against the mounting plate .

i still do not understsand why the other side perch is fixed hard against the top mounting plate ( even when you compress the spring a bit,). and this side is loose and just rides on spring.

should i worryabout this ?

[winders]

Frank, the thin spring at the bottom has very little rate to it so it compresses completely flat when the car is on the ground. The purpose of the helper spring is to keep the main spring square and firmly in place against the top and bottom perch even in full droop.

[Geneman]

Thanks Scott. i got it now. was overthinking this a bit......��

[911pcars]

Did anybody mention; the upper spring end should be center-aligned with the shock rod using a spring seat (hat), not floating on the underside of the factory shock mount. The tell-tale epoxy "fix" indicates someone's attempt to eliminate the spring from shifting every time the suspension fully extends.

See "spring cap" (aka "hat") below:



Sherwood

[winders]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

Did anybody mention; the upper spring end should be center-aligned with the shock rod using a spring seat (hat), not floating on the underside of the factory shock mount.

Yes....did you not read what TimT and I wrote and see the photo I posted?????

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by winders

Yes....did you not read what TimT and I wrote and see the photo I posted?????

I thought the discussion of the missing spring hat wasn't explained clearly enough. The helper spring helps, but a top spring hat is required in lieu of an epoxy fix.

[Geneman]

thanks 911p... ( and all) ... i now understand the importance of the hat,... .. the epoxy certainly was alarming ( and cheesy..)

[djpateman]

Wait, what? The spring cannot be free floating between the upper and lower perches. The upper perch should be fixed in place as far as I know, and the lower perch adjusted upwards until the spring is fully contained in place. Usually the lower perch is adjusted to put at least some compression on the spring, and this is determined by testing.
Are you missing parts or is the lower perch just not where it needs to be? Are the springs equal lengths?

[911pcars]

Sometimes the springs are shorter than shock and/or suspension travel. When the suspension is in full drop (as when lifted for maintenance or leaping over a speed bump), the spring may not reseat in the hat. Thus a low tension "helper spring" is also installed to ensure there is sufficient spring tension to keep the spring ends in contact with their respective seat/hat.

[Geneman]

Yes 911pcars..... thats what was so surprising. i have a low tension helper spring, but even with that helper spring, at full droop ( Car on lift) the main spring was detached from the top perch and the perch was free floating... weird

[winders]

Frank, post a photo of the whole damper assembly like my photo....

[911pcars]

Ideally, the coil-over spring should have been ordered for length and spring rate to fit your application with the correct helper spring to take up whatever gap there is. Main springs only come in standard, off-the-shelf lengths and spring rates. I suppose one fix is to source a longer helper spring.

In order to keep the spring set within the spring seat and hat, the free length of both main and helper spring should be sightly longer than the fixed distance when the suspension is at full drop.

[stownsen914]

For a lowered or race 911, it's common for there to be a lot more travel in droop than you want or need. Helper springs are a good way to take up the slack. If you are using only a "regular" spring and take out all the slack, either with a long spring or by adjusting out all the slack with the spring platforms, you'll have 6" of ground clearance! You adjust the spring platforms to set to the desired ride height, not to take out the slack in your springs. (Or use helper springs like winders' setup.)

[winders]

Here is my rear damper setup (excuse the Buttonwillow dust from an off track excursion):

[Geneman]

beautiful setup scott. upside down also! btw love the multiprong socket for motor electric feeds.

packed up for lime rock this weekend. will post a pic when i return?

you ? off track? i thought that never happens!

[winders]

Originally Posted by Geneman

beautiful setup scott. upside down also! btw love the multiprong socket for motor electric feeds.

packed up for lime rock this weekend. will post a pic when i return?

you ? off track? i thought that never happens!

That firewall connector sure makes pulling the engine a lot easier!

Yeah, I try not to go off track....nothing good ever happens when you do! In this case, I made it back on track and stopped at the Black Flag station to make sure my splitter and bodywork was ok. Once I got back on track I was just about to get lapped by the leader. I ended up finishing 2nd.......