I'm after some Protechs with springs.
MNR have quoted me £425 for a set of 1.9" IDs, 12.5" fully-open for the front and 14" fully-open for the back, with 7/16" bushes.
The dimensions are what MNR recommend for my car, having told them a bit about it, although I'm pretty sure I need 1/2" bushings to accept
1/2" bolts.
Thoughts...
1) £425 seems rather expensive (the MNR website, which seems to be out of date, states £315). Where else can I try? I emailed MK (sportscars) and got
reply saying to go to Protech direct.
2) 14" sounds a bit long for the back. It's de-dion axled, so the shocks will be near vertical. Anyone else used 14"s?
3) Should I go for 2.25" id's instead? I've heard there is a wider selection of 2.25" springs available... Anyone had problems
obtaining 1.9 id springs?
Cheers,
Adam
[Edited on 21/3/07 by AdamR]
I got mine in the kit so not sure about prices, however they are 14.5 for the front and 14 for the back with mine being a CEC.
The bush sizes are indeed 1/2" as well.
Steve
£425 sounds dear to me, but maybe protechs are worth the extra?
I went for Gaz (the ally bodied ones) shocks, 2.25" and paid £270 for 4 delivered including springs and to my own sizes (McSorley 442 with
dedion).
Cheers
Alex
PS
And while it wont help you much the rears are 12" open
£415 seems ridiculous to me. I bought mine from MK but that was a few years ago.
2.25" springs seems far more sensible to me.
Have you tried Protech direct yet? They always seem very friendly at shows. You could talk to them at the Detling show which is coming soon.
Cheers,
James
quote:
Originally posted by ecosse
£425 sounds dear to me, but maybe protechs are worth the extra?
quote:
Originally posted by James
2.25" springs seems far more sensible to me.
Have you tried Protech direct yet? They always seem very friendly at shows. You could talk to them at the Detling show which is coming soon.
quote:
Yes, I've seen GAZ ones for £280, and thought I'd be happy to pay £50 extra for the lighter Protechs... but £150 extra is too much.
Hi The prices you are looking at might not be comparable prices.
Ie it is possible to buy protech's with springs from one place for £360.
But they are just going to be off the shelf units with no paticular attention paid to the exact requirement for your car/application.
Other suppliers may be offering what seems to be the same product but if they have had them specificaly valved and built to suit your application they
will obviously be a bit more.
All you have to do is work out who is suppliying you off the shelf items at price A.
And who is supplying items that they say are done specificaly but are not at price B.
And who is supplying items with the job done properly whith all the bells and whistles also at price B.
cheers matt
[Edited on 21/3/07 by procomp]
Buy them straight from protech, they will build them to your spec as well then. Their price direct might suprise you.
David
Hi yes but how many people can tell rod or kevin exactly what it is they need .
They can only build what you are asking for.
cheers matt
Quick update for future reference....
After changing my spec to be more usual (1.9ID shocks, 12" fully-open at the front, 13" fully-open at the back, with 1/2" bushings) I
got some more reasonable quotes:
- MNR £375 delivered
- GTS very similar
- Protech direct / Fluke Motorsport £460+ 
All prices include springs. Still very expensive compared to GAZ - the price has risen 3 times this year apparently. I bit the bullet and ordered from
MNR.
can confirm matts suspicions the ones we supply are valved differently and all springs are matched in pairs, and believe you me its amazing how much
springs of the same poundage can vary, and how they can be stamped one value and give an entirely different number 
cheers
marc
Hi exactly as marc ^ is saying.
Its just a case of whether you are interested in doing the job properly. Or whether you are more interested in just buying cheapest available from a
suplier and bolting the relativly unknown items on to your car without testing them.
But as marc says there is a big difference and advantage to be had if you are taking the performane of the handeling of your car a bit more seriously
By balancing the dampers on a dyno and matching the springs.
cheers matt
[Edited on 5/4/07 by procomp]
.......................... and the prices they are quoting are still billy bargains, lets not be silly, you can't find close anywhere else that I have found!
Just for the record guys (and gals if any are on here) Protech last month quoted " shocks plus springs inc vat and p&p for the Protech QA1
for the rorty IRS
WAIT FOR IT £235 all in.
Which I think is an absolute bargain
I think that is as good as it will ever get! I'd be all over that.
Hi a quick explenation of what i mean by balancing the dampers ( 23 emails asking for explanation)
We order dampers from protec gaz Avo Ect built to the specification neded for the car in question Ie different bump/rebound ratios. ( so are not next
day delivery as built to order).
When we recive them we then run them on the dyno and find where the working range is for the aplication. Then we set the number of clicks so that at
they are a matched pair in the working range.
On the gaz avo this may mean that your left one of a pair has say a working range of 5-6-7-8 clicks but the other one may have 11-12-13-14clicks.
This is becauce the adjuster knobs are not seperatly adjustable from the number of clicks they are set on.
The protecs have the adjuster knob seperatly adjustable from the number of clicks so when balanced the pair of dampers will have the same number of
clicks for the given working range.
All this can only be done by using a damper dyno and is not done by protec or gaz or avo they get them close enough for your average road car but not
for serious track use where the imbalance shows up.
cheers matt