Birkin S3 ZA. Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Hi Guy's if you need to know how to strip and revalve your Nitron shocks I would be happy to help. Having got a new set last year and asking for a softer settings, with adjustment right out it was to hard for racing never mind road use. Sending them back to Nitron for revalve inc post was about 480 pounds Since I do Lots of revalves on shocks for motor bikes I just opend them up, had some shims the right sizes 2 hours later job done. Used a bit of bike no how and fitted two stage shim stacks for the compression, and it works very well. Bleeding them is easy and the gas pressure is in the end of the shock with a piston that hits a step in the body and won't come out from the top. Oil you can get from a yamaha bike shop S1 shock oil, shims you can get from Race tech in the states, Packet of 10 shims per size for a few $, or a motor bike shock repairer if he repairs sachs rear shocks. One of the few shims that have a 12mm id hole, if you would like I could take one off my car strip and take some pics and post them with the shim stacks for comp and rebound. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter clarke Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Hi Chris, I would be very interested as now am using car only on the road and would like to soften up the damping, particularly on the rear. Seems to cost a fortune at Nitron to change it so have just been using progressive springs on the rear which work well. Amazed you have not had a lot of replies. Worked on most things but not dampers (well apart from the old friction type on my MG PB's!). So if you can do this would really welcome it. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 18, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 18, 2013 Chris I would be very interested in seeing this and getting more info on shims required to change the damping characteristics. It may well dispell some of the myths of how these shocks can be customised. I have seen a video of the Quantum shocks being revalved and it looked fairly straight forward. Not sure how you would know what you have achieved without putting them on a shock dyno though, apart from just fitting them and driving the car? Could be a time consuming exercise. 1 vote from me anyway. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 It would make an interesting tech article for Low Flying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klunk Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6speedmanual Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Very interesting post. I would consider changing my shocks if there was an option to do my own valving like this. (self confessed modifier and fine tuner of mechanical things) Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birkin S3 ZA. Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Ok I will plan to remove one of my front shocks and take some pictures and give some specs for the shim stacks, should take me 30 min to do. It's one job that looks difficult but once done you get over it, A bit like fitting and timing cams the first time. You get a feel for it after a few years, But to change them a bit softer or harder is easy. Just write it down as you go along each time you change shims and it's easy to go back if you go to far. It would be easy with a dyno to test the changes, but how it feels on the road is the best test for me. It's not that big of a job to remove the shocks. you would get a good improvment after a days work. Very heavy rain for this weekend, so will post something soon. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 18, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 18, 2013 Chris This is the video for the Quantum Shock revalving Ride Tech website is quite interesting. here Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Stone Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I will be interested in doing this. I have been thinking of having mine re-valved softer. Never thought it would be so expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damdy-Cash Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 very intresting stuff! Thanks for your effort, Chris Cheers Volker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damdy-Cash Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 DIY shock dyno Build Your Own Shock Dyno! if some is fancy to dyno Edited by - Damdy-Cash on 19 Jan 2013 09:18:04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 20, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 20, 2013 There are some clever people. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birkin S3 ZA. Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Shock has been stripped and photos taken, my son Stuart will do most of the other stuff. He has to pay for his drives some how, I will do some drawings for the shim stacks and how to change them. Will try and set up a page on mylotusseven.com chris Edited by - Birkin S3 ZA. on 20 Jan 2013 13:16:26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 20, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 20, 2013 Excellent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Wilson Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Quoting bluenose: Chris This is the video for the Quantum Shock revalving Ride Tech website is quite interesting. here Nick Who's the handsome fella in that video ? How you doing, Nick? Quoting Rob Walker: It would make an interesting tech article for Low Flying That could be arranged. In fact, I'd be plenty willing to host a 'how-to' at Unit 9 if there was enough interest. Edited by - Laurence Wilson on 23 Jan 2013 22:13:01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 23, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 23, 2013 Laurence Good thanks. Ended up getting some second hand Nitrons and am in the process of getting the suspension re powdercoated, rebushed and ready to go back on the car. How's the rebuild going, must be nearly there now? Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Stone Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Nick Try and make sure the powder coaters block up all the thread points. If they don't then you will have to run a tap through them to get all the shot blast sand out. like I had to. You won't get the bolts back in otherwise. Was a real pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Wilson Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Quoting bluenose: How's the rebuild going, must be nearly there now? Sort of Was it Myles who christened his car Project Scope Creep? I appreciate the true definition of that phrase, now ;) That and I'm still in the throws of house buying — offered on a flat in October and got involved in a bidding war — so I haven't had a whole lot of time to dedicate to it. But it's still there and all the expensive bits have been bought 😬 Thinking about it some more: if someone wants to pen an article for Low Flying, in addition to demonstrating the rebuild process we have the shock dyno here — so we could explain how to read the dyno plots and illustrate how changes made affect the performance. I hear a lot of people arguing the merits of different builds and 'special' valvings — dampers that are soft in bump and stiff in rebound or equal bump to rebound — but there really is no art to taking them apart. It's a lot easier than building an engine Perhaps this is an opportunity to dispel some myths? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 This is too good an article to miss ! I'd be there like a shot, pen in hand, but we now live in France .... Someone, please ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted January 24, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted January 24, 2013 Laurence Good to hear you are nearly there on the rebuild Regarding shock rebuilding, revalving etc, are your Quantum shocks very similar to the Nitrons, infact would they use the same shims or are they completely different? It would be really good to look at different shocks on a dyno and dispell a few myths by revalving/shimming them. As I understand it from talking to you when you popped round you can set a shock up to what ever bump/rebound curve you want if you have the right shims. Would love to see a demo of this process. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david nelson Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I am having a slight problem with this thread. I can see it would be easy to move a few shims here or there but that is not the problem. How do you know that your re shim is any good? what pramiters are you working to? On oneway dampers how do you know what the best bump and rebound is. what happens if you change the ratio. Or is it just a "i will try this and see how it goes"? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Wilson Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Nick: We use a 1/2" ID shim but we also keep some metric sizes. As I understand it from talking to you when you popped round you can set a shock up to what ever bump/rebound curve you want if you have the right shims. There really is nothing clever about it This is too good an article to miss ! I'd be there like a shot, pen in hand, but we now live in France .... Someone, please ... More than happy to make this happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Owen Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 This makes for some interesting reading regarding this thread 😬 here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Wilson Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 David: sorry — missed your post, there. If you're really keen to know how you would predict a damper force/velocity curve, I might point you in the direction of Milliken and Optimum G (see the Technical Papers). But what we're discussing here are incremental changes — the sort of thing you might do in the pit or paddock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birkin S3 ZA. Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 This will be good fun guys, even with a dyno you can get it so wrong ask Nitron. Mine were very hard, even with all the information and spring rates I gave them. I like to try them on the road and look at the video from a track day. The one thing I will say is your A arms should move up and down with as little friction as possible, I use a vesconite hilube bushing and it works very well. Then do your spring rates, and last do the shocks. This is how I have set up bikes for years, and then It all starts to work. Busy doing the article then we can go from there. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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