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Protech Shock Adjustment
davidimurray - 22/6/14 at 09:29 PM

I have Protech 400 single adjustable dampers on my car. I am trying to work out which way the adjustment works I,e clockwise and anti clockwise. The more anticlockwise I turn them, the harsher the ride seems to be. Is that correct?

daniel mason - 22/6/14 at 09:39 PM

Yes. Clockwise stiffens the damping! Are you on the 13 click adjustable ones? I usually run mine on circuits at 7 clicks clockwise. With front arb fitted but no rear arb. Mine have rebound adjustment too which I set slightly different front/rear

jeffw - 23/6/14 at 09:59 AM

Protech shocks have three postions (soft, medium & hard) with 13 clicks within each setting.


After assembly the unit is tested with the very latest computer controlled damping dynamometer to establish damper conditions and calibrations. All units are set with an adjustment range to suit 95% of most applications. However in the event of needing a lower range of damping or a higher range of damping this can be achieved as follows on or off the car

Turn control knob to off position (Anti-Clockwise) then turn six clicks clockwise
Holding knob firmly against shock absorber unscrew 4 m/m grub screw in the side of knob by one half turn
Still holding knob firmly against body turn control screw in centre of knob with screwdriver half a turn clockwise to increase damping range or half a turn anti-clockwise to decrease damping range
Lock-up 4 m/m grub screw
Holding the knob firmly against body at all times this prevents the spring and ball bearing coming out of it's location - if this happens you will lose your "Click" action which means removal of knob to correct


[Edited on 23/6/14 by jeffw]

davidimurray - 23/6/14 at 04:23 PM

quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
Yes. Clockwise stiffens the damping! Are you on the 13 click adjustable ones? I usually run mine on circuits at 7 clicks clockwise. With front arb fitted but no rear arb. Mine have rebound adjustment too which I set slightly different front/rear


Daniel, that's interesting. Yes mine are the 13 clicks ones. Only used my car on the road and started off with six clicks all round and seemed to handle OK, reset them to 3 front and 4 rear and noticed the car 'crashing' over bumps and potholes, since then I've been increasing them a click at a time and the ride has got smoother but I was expecting the ride to get harder the more clicks I add-suspect it was under damped at the lower clicks.

daniel mason - 23/6/14 at 05:34 PM

You may be sprung slightly stiff as it's the springs which control firmness of ride. Try 7 clicks on front 5 on rear and see how it feels

davidimurray - 23/6/14 at 08:52 PM

Thanks Daniel- I will give those settings a try and see how we go.

The springs are those reccomended by Saturn sports cars when they were building Haynes roadsters. Rear are 350lbs and front are 250lb.

daniel mason - 23/6/14 at 10:09 PM

Are the springs equal length? If so swap them over as I think you may be too stiffly sprung at the rear. I'd imagine the front should be a fair bit stiffer than the rear but am in familiar with the Saturn geometry! Is it an IRS rear end?