Just a warning the new zeemeride shocks Lolocost are selling are too long.
Although I could get the front ones to fit Ive got a feeling Im gonna have to remount the front top bracket after Ive fitted the wheels and dropped the car off the axle stands to readjust ride height.The rears however are way too long with the axle resting on the chassis the springs would still need nearly 2 inches of compression.Ive taken the axle out to remove the bottom bracket and Im
hoping they'll fit with a longer bolt fitted
thru the top trailing arm mount as the lower fitting point.
To be fair to Lolocost they did warn at the Newark show where they were selling them that they were different from previously supplied zeemeride shocks (which a mate of mine bought and were fine) and to make sure they were fit for the purpose but there again they are selling em for locost fitment so why sell something that they know wont do the bleeding job.They were cheap(£150) but like the man said yer pays yer money....
Bob

Well ive got the old kind and i knew they had an imperial measurement for the bore of the bush so i called them up to find out what it was. They told me then that i had the old kind when id measured ~9.5mm on the calipers (3/8). So i then asked what had changed between the two and the woman from loloquali..... said it was just the bush.... hmm sounds like they were trying to make a sale out of me even though they knew the size had changed................. bas****s. Oh BTW mine fit though i havent fully put in the rears, still waiting for my half shafts.........

Findlay

I've got a pair of half shafts you can have. Just pop over and pick them up.

Chris

Are they shortened?

chrisW: Nope

Findlay234: Its ok mate they need to be shortened for the velocity. Ive got some half shafts, its just luego were gonna send me the half shafts with the chassis in march.....

I have 'old' lolo zeemers and they are 3/8 bushes.

I have had probs getting bolts (not screws) to fit and will use a reamer to take em out to 10mm when I fit em.

My rears are 'book' and I recon about an inch too short.

I need longer ones - id be willing to swap if yours are an inch or so longer - never been used.

atb

steve

I bought my suspension bolts from an aircraft supplier - expensive, but I got exactly the length of unthreaded shank that I needed.

The bolts are certified AN quality (i.e. very high grade) and cadmium plated. Available in metric or UNC/UNF (can't remember which, but probably UNF). The diameter is to a tight tolerance, as well.

Some people may think that this is an extravagance, but there are some bits of the car I want to be certain about!

cheers,

David

Thats fine by me Steve I'll measure the length when I get home tonight.Pointless you having em if thier no good for you as well.I agree I think aircraft quality is the way to go for suspension bolts, remembering back from my microlighting days Mainair are a reasonably priced supplier.
Bob

Bob
I got zeemers last year for my lolo chassis ( which is 2" taller than book) and they were a bit on the short side for the rear. Solved it by making a spacer out of some square section. HOWEVER, it occurs to me that yours might suit me and mine might suit you (sir) Once you've checked how long yours are (oo er missus) when uncompressed, if you cant sort anything out with Steve let me know ? I'm in Stoke too so maybe we could do an easy swap, sort you out and I can throw me spacers away.


[Edited on 1/7/03 by jonti]

Steve I get all my UNF bolts from carrington bearings on the telford way estate. If your worried about strength then buy cap screws as they are generally 12 grade and very tough.
Paul.

quote:

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Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
I have 'old' lolo zeemers and they are 3/8 bushes.

I have had probs getting bolts (not screws) to fit and will use a reamer to take em out to 10mm when I fit em.

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stephen_gusterson - 1/7/03 at 09:13 PM

thanks paul.

I usually get my bolts either from work - lots of stainless less than and including 10mm.

Others I buy from a fasteners company in wellingbourough on the finedon rd estate


atb

steve

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splitrivet - 2/7/03 at 09:04 AM

After a quick measure up the zeemers are roughly 14 inch between bolt centres, which means the book is well out cos thats the size that Ron said to use but if you notice in the book the lower mounting point is virtually touching the axle.I should just get away with it by using the upper swing arm bolt as the bottom mount but there again this means that the thru bolt wont fit into the shockers bush tube (why didnt I just take up cake decoration instead).
So I think they'll probably be too long for you Steve but just right for you Jonti.
Bob

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stephen_gusterson - 2/7/03 at 10:33 AM

they would probably be ok, but as you and jonti are in the same town, it would make sense for the pair of you to do a swap instead of us hassling over sending stuff in the post.

cheers

steve

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splitrivet - 2/7/03 at 10:36 AM

OK Steve,it'd probably cost about fifteen quid to post em out with em being so heavy anyroad.
Bob

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stephen_gusterson - 2/7/03 at 11:26 AM

its not as expensive as you think.

parcelforce ship a kilo for about 3 quid and 30 kilos for a tenner. I recon you would be looking at about 7 - 8 quid.

When I have ordered fibreglass stuff weighing about 35 kilos, it costs only 12 quid or so. Lots of suppliers - lolocost is a good example - pump up their shipping costs to make money on the parts they are supposed to be selling cheap. Just look at lolos posting prices. way out.


atb

steve

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David Jenkins - 2/7/03 at 11:32 AM

Vehicle Wiring Products are similar - I wanted one of their switches, worth £1.50, and P&P was £3.50, non-negotiable! I declined their generous offer...

I bought a similar item from Premier Wiring and paid about 75p for them to send it in a padded envelope.

DJ

[Edited on 2/7/03 by David Jenkins]

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kingr - 2/7/03 at 11:37 AM

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
I bought my suspension bolts from an aircraft supplier - expensive, but I got exactly the length of unthreaded shank that I needed.

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Out of curiousity how much did they cost. I bought my suspension bolts from a local engineering place, and for 24x M10x90mm, 4x M12x100mm and 2x M10x190mm (all bar the M10x190mm were cap head) was about £50 which seems a lot. How does it compare with you?

Kingr

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David Jenkins - 2/7/03 at 11:40 AM

Cheaper at around £45, but as they came from the US of A, I got stung by HM Customs & Excise. Then the carrier charged me a stupid price for dealing with the customs man.

Ended up paying around £60, I think.

Damn fine quality, though!

DJ

[Edited on 2/7/03 by David Jenkins]

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kingr - 2/7/03 at 11:54 AM

Hmm, dammit, did get ripped off then, just as I thought. And half the things were the wrong frikking spec. Where did you get your from BTW?

Kingr

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David Jenkins - 2/7/03 at 11:56 AM

I'll get back to you on that one - the catalogue's at home!

DJ

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splitrivet - 2/7/03 at 01:28 PM

Try Mainair thier up in rochdale they build microlight aircraft all bolt sizes are available they dont show there parts catalogue on line but I think they'd mail one out, the one Ive gots pretty ancient all nuts bolts are ultra high tensile,hydrogen de-embrittled cadmium plated.The thing you have to worry about is buying from an engineers merchant is the specification may be way out even to motor manufacturers standard. I lost one of my lower ball joint nuts when I went round to my local fasteners supply place for a replacement the guy there said if it were him he'd buy it from the ford dealers as spec would be far higher and he'd feel safer.
At least you would feel fully safe if the same bolt you were using was holding a plane together!!!!
Bob

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jonti - 2/7/03 at 05:17 PM

Bob
Mine are 12.5" between bolt hole centres uncompressed. Blue springs. will that do you ? 14" looks about what I need.
If you want to proceed email me on: jt.jones@lineone.net and we'll sort out the swap.
cheers
J.J

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Peteff - 2/7/03 at 05:44 PM

The blue springs are the 275lb ones for the front on the ones I bought a couple of years back. The red are 180s for the rear according to lolocost. Is that what he was after?.

yours, Pete.

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stephen_gusterson - 2/7/03 at 05:50 PM

according to lolo, the springs are 180 rear, 220 front.....


atb

steve

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LoCostLancs - 2/7/03 at 06:59 PM

Okay guys, i bought some of these Zeems at the last show from Lolocost, he assured me that they would fit blue on front red on back, took bloody ages to get the back ones to fit, and the rear axles is only a couple of mill from touching the chassis, is this right, I believe the shocks have to 'settle' after a few 100 miles but im still worried the examiner at the SVA will fail my car, what do i do!?!?

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jonti - 2/7/03 at 07:47 PM

In my ignorance of spring rates and the B*stards at RHE !!!!! I was supplied with and accepted four blue ones. Are these not right then ? The car seems to sit ok with all the big lumps in (including me and I'm a big lad 16stone so will blue on the back be ok ?

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stephen_gusterson - 2/7/03 at 09:15 PM

no

they will make your ass fall off.



It depends on the setup of your car.

On my car with the V6 ford in it, I had to use 350lb springs on the front, not the 220 lolo supply.

On the back I have used the 180 reds, and it seems a bit stiff. But then I dont have all the weight on the back yet.

try out what you have, and if its too hard or soft, get different springs.

atb

steve

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Peteff - 2/7/03 at 11:43 PM

When I bought mine they used to do a few different springs for front use but only 180 for rear. I took the heavier springs to help with the boat anchor engine. 220 might be a touch hard for the rear. On a book chassis the 180 is still a bit stiff but bearable. If the axle clears the chassis now it will clear it by more in a short time. Mine was only about 1/4" off at first but the axle doesn't move in that direction so you should be o.k.

yours, Pete.

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jonti - 3/7/03 at 06:56 AM

Thanks chaps, the set-up does feel about right at present Bear in mind the bridge that lolo sell as a chassis is about 50% heavier than say an MK one. I think I'll suck it and see.

Splitrivet mate. if you have something other than blue springs then we can still swap the core units if you want.

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stephen_gusterson - 3/7/03 at 08:33 AM

if you cant work it out I still have two 'standard sized' units with nice red springs for swap as a fall back...

atb

steve

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splitrivet - 3/7/03 at 08:58 AM

After an evening of head scratching,cursing and general cocking things up got the shockers on by using the top trailing arm mount as the lower fixing point and a longer bolt thru same whether this bolt will bend or not is up to the test of time (only using a standard high tensile bolt at the moment).Of course it wasnt staight forward as the bush insert is 9 mill and Im using book type bushes with an imperial bolt.
This leaves about 5-6 mill clearace between axle and chassis rails which I aint happy about.
My rear springs are red by the way which as someone said earlier is what the guy on the lolo stand said was the way to go.
I hope anyone reading this uses it as a cautionary tale and buys thier shocks elsewhere, they might be 50 quid or so dearer but they'd save you a shit load of hassle.
I'll see what happens jonti in the meantime if you wanna go thirds with myself with another Stoke builder for a length of tube for a roll bar plus your more than welcome to borrow my drybollock bender to bend it up, my email is roberttwd@aol.com but I'll be over in France for 11 days as of tomoro.
The other difference with the shocks by the way is the mounting bushes are a lot wider than the old ones, mine are about 48 mill across.
Bob

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dozracing - 3/7/03 at 12:59 PM

All this talk helps me understand why so many of the customers of my shocks tell me why they sent their Zeemerides back and bought mine!

If you want to buy springs (god knows why they have to sell such horrible colours to denote the spring rates), i can sell you what ever rate and length you need to suit. My kits come as standard with 275 front and 175 rear and so far 120 customers have been satisfied with this. My springs are also as standard black and marked with the rate very nicely, you can have them any colour you want for a little extra. Solves all problems.

Or you could do what my last dozen British customers did and send them back to Lolo and buy mine.

Kind regards,

Darren
www.gtstuning.co.uk

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