Ford Sierra rear dampers.

[Motormouse_67]

I have two rear dampers from my cabrio .Standard Sierra fitted new at build done about 2700 miles. Free to any one who would like them. Will post or take to Donnington kit car show.
Peter

[Mike]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

What have you replaced them with?

[Motormouse_67]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Hi Mike.
I have fitted GAZ adjustable dampers .
HAVE YOU HAD ANYTHING FROM KERRY ? Wheel centres etc.
Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Hi Peter

Have you driven your Cabrio with the new GAZ adjustables at the rear?
What setting are you using? I know you felt your Cabrio ride was too soft - I feel mine is too hard, and wonder if adjustables can be set both harder, and softer, than standard?

Kerry has contacted me, thank you, and I have ordered some new Marlin oval (Ford style) centres to replace my steering wheel and hand brake badges. They are now in the post.

Mike

[scott h]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Hi Mike, I have recently bought a pair of Gaz adjustables for the rear of my Sierra based Berly. So having just finished driving the combine harvester on the farm for the day I nipped into the garage for a quick comparison with an old standard Sierra damper. The first thing I noticed was that the old unit must be pressurized as it extends by itself so I'm not sure if it's a standard unit, it does say Motocraft on it. This old unit feels about the same to compress and to extend, but the Gaz unit feels easier to compress with more force required to extend it.

Anyway, the Gaz unit has a knob for adjustment which clicks as you turn it with the maximum being 22 clicks. At zero the Gaz unit is a lot easier to compress than the old unit but there is not such a difference in extending both units although the Gaz unit is still easier. Perhaps the old unit being pressurized is affecting this test. I would say that at 4 clicks the Gaz is equal to the old unit when extending but is still easier to compress. At 6 clicks the Gaz unit is equal to compress but harder to extend than the old unit. At 22 clicks the Gaz unit is more or less solid.

So overall I would say that the range of adjustment goes from a fair bit softer on compression and a little bit softer on extension, to a lot stiffer on both counts. This is compared to the old unit that I have and I'm not sure of its origin but it did come off a Sierra.

[greyV8pete]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

I have Gaz all round on my Hunter and found about 4 clicks was about right.

The best way I found was to try the car with the adjusters fully undone. Then try increasing one click at a time with a drive over a known piece of road until the "bounce" just dissappears. Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Hi Mike, I have recently bought a pair of Gaz adjustables for the rear of my Sierra based Berly. So having just finished driving the combine harvester on the farm for the day I nipped into the garage for a quick comparison with an old standard Sierra damper. The first thing I noticed was that the old unit must be pressurized as it extends by itself so I'm not sure if it's a standard unit, it does say Motocraft on it. This old unit feels about the same to compress and to extend, but the Gaz unit feels easier to compress with more force required to extend it.

Anyway, the Gaz unit has a knob for adjustment which clicks as you turn it with the maximum being 22 clicks. At zero the Gaz unit is a lot easier to compress than the old unit but there is not such a difference in extending both units although the Gaz unit is still easier. Perhaps the old unit being pressurized is affecting this test. I would say that at 4 clicks the Gaz is equal to the old unit when extending but is still easier to compress. At 6 clicks the Gaz unit is equal to compress but harder to extend than the old unit. At 22 clicks the Gaz unit is more or less solid.

So overall I would say that the range of adjustment goes from a fair bit softer on compression and a little bit softer on extension, to a lot stiffer on both counts. This is compared to the old unit that I have and I'm not sure of its origin but it did come off a Sierra.

Hi Scott

This is really useful information, thank you for taking the time to carry out the test
- from what you have described it would be worth me buying GAZ adjustables in order to get a softer ride.
As Peter then added, the best way to determine the optimum setting is to start at the lowest setting and keep increasing one by one until the ride is where I want it.

So how much is a set of GAZ adjustables, and do you just order ones suitable for a Sierra?
Many thanks to you and Peter.

Mike

[scott h]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Hi Mike, I got mine from Rally Design along with front coil overs and a full set of poly bushes. They had everything except the rear dampers in stock so I opted to get the rest sent and the rears followed in about 3 weeks with free carriage. I'm not sure if they are not stocked due to the low demand for Sierra parts these days or if I was just unlucky, but something to ask about if you need them quickly. I just asked for units to fit a Sierra saloon. They were £44 plus VAT each and the total was £105.60. There are a few companies that list Gaz products, I went with Rally Design as they had the bushes I wanted in black, other companies just do bright yellow.

I remember ordering a pair of Spax adjustables for the rear of the Berly during the original build, and having an argument with some friends when they insisted that the adjustables only got harder than the standard units, but I was happy with the result. During my oval racing days it was common to have coil over units with valves to suit the customer, i.e. on one side of the car it was useful to have dampers that were easy to extend but hard to compress and on the other side the same unit would have the reverse characteristics. So perhaps you could mention that when you order them, and what you require.

[Motormouse_67]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

I got mine from Burton power about £120 for the pair ,however they have the bottom bush fitted for a cosworth .I rang GAZ and they sent the standard Sierra standard bush free of charge it took quite a time to get to that point though no help from Burton as to why they didn't fit.I have mine set at 4 clicks and that seems fine.

[greyV8pete]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Can't remember where I bought my Gaz adjustables as it was a while ago. From my notes I have found: Part number Rear Shock Absorbers GAZ GT5-2066. These fit the rear suspension with disc brake set up and have the larger lower bolts (diameter) There are also Sierra shocks with a smaller diameter bolt which I believe were fitted to the base models. Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Ford Sierra rear dampers.

Can't remember where I bought my Gaz adjustables as it was a while ago. From my notes I have found: Part number Rear Shock Absorbers GAZ GT5-2066. These fit the rear suspension with disc brake set up and have the larger lower bolts (diameter) There are also Sierra shocks with a smaller diameter bolt which I believe were fitted to the base models. Peter.

Hi Peter

This is the same code as Scott has confirmed - it appears they are the ones for disc brake Sierra's, and which GAZ notate as Cosworth 2WD.

Thanks both, I have ordered a set from Rally Design - the current code has gained a suffix b!, now being GT5 2066b.

Mike