Bilstein dampers with adjustable spring seats

[I.Mupferit]

I need some help guys. Over the winter I fitted some AO32R's to my live axle car. No problem with that except the ride height which was previously already some 20mm lower than specified in the build manual was now virtually non-existent. Aha I thought, a great chance to upgrade to the current spec. Bilsteins with adjustable spring seats. I have just fitted these and now, even at their lowest setting, the ride height is about 15mm higher than recommended, to the point where it looks as though the car is riding on stilts! It seems as though I could raise the height by a further 40mm if I wanted to but just can't lower it any more. I know I wanted to raise the ride height slightly but this is ridiculous!

Am I missing something here or am I right in thinking that to lower the ride height, I wind down the adjusters(effectively lowering the bottom spring seat)

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated

 

[Lawrence_Z]

Sounds like you may have the wrong dampers, the current spec car ie after mid 96 has longer dampers than the earlier version. Is the spring still compressed at the low setting? as it may only be a case of moving the circlip (holding up the adjustable base) down slightly to the next groove. It is not unknown for the groove to be slightly out and is a simple job for the factory to add another.

 

Lawrence Hoy

Scottish AO [:)]

[I.Mupferit]

Thanks Lawrence, I have now been able to speak to Caterham and it appears the circlip has been fitted too high. I didn't know they were supported by circlips until today. I am hopeful this will solve the problem but it is very annoying as I now have to remove the dampers again and either take them back to Dartford or try and get hold of some spring compressors and do it myself. I naively thought that Caterham would supply the dampers and springs in the correct configuration, especially as they were given the chassis No. etc. Oh well nobody is perfect I suppose. Thanks for your reply anyway.