Right people of club gti i need your help. ive got a mk1 golf on weitec coilovers and have just ordered the gaz adjustable top mounts, now upon fitting the top mounts it seems i dont have enough thread left for the the top mount nut see pictures this is with both gold alignment washers in place and only 3 threads left. now when i remove the bottom alignment washer and place it on the wider part of the strut i get double the threads, my only concern is the stress it can put on the threaded part of the strut with only one spacer. see pics any ideas on this guys, should i have gaz coilovers for these top mounts even tho it doesnt state you have to, it also states they are a direct replacement. cheers jonny
Not sure on the strut / unit composition but could you use a `half` nyloc nut ? Example only ... https://www.graphskill.co.uk/en/851...nut-nyloc-type-a4-stainless-steel-din985.html
There's no problem with you leaving out the bottom washer. The load from the shock goes straight into the top mount, whether you have a washer or not. Because the load is straight up/down there won't be much force going sideways against the threaded portion of the strut so a thinner top washer should give you enough thread to bolt onto. Not much help to you but on my MK1 I'm running custom spherical thrust bearings from KMAC suspension (local Australian company). They fit perfectly inside the top mounts. Giving me a lot of thread when all bolted together. Do the Gaz adjustable top mounts sit under or on top of the suspension turret? Any mount that sits on top of the suspension turret is putting all the cars front weight on the two bolts per side that hold the mount to the turret. If those bolts break then there's nothing stopping the shock coming out of the top of the turret and the car scraping to a halt on the road. If you must mount them on top then make sure you use the strongest aircraft quality bolts you can find and I'd also suggest drilling a few more holes in the top mounts and turrets so you've got more places to use more bolts. Even when parked and doing nothing those bolts will be stressed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so 4 bolts per side is better than 2 and 6 is better than 4. Cheers Paul
Hard but ok to drive around. All my suspension rubbers have been polybushed which firms things up even more. I wouldn't want to drive on anything less that 50 profile tyres though. My MK1 is built as a weekend toy unlike my MK2 GTI which was used daily, doing over 600 miles a week. The suspension on the MK2 was softer but still cornered very well.
I'm upgrading my rubbers to Superpro as well, but same as you, this will only be a weekend car and hopefully track toy.
Got my top mounts now and coilovers, won't be fitting for a while but i have a really stupid question. For both the front and rear, how much thread should be left at the top, or will it become apparent when they are fitted to the car? PIctures below of the coilovers and mounts. The last couple show that i can compress by hand to allow the top nuts to be tightened much further.
Engineering standard is at least half the thickness of the threaded portion must stand proud of the nut. You've got more than that so well within safety levels. Using 3 nuts is an overkill. I recommend a single Nylock nut similar to what's on mine on the pictures above. This sentence has me puzzled - "The last couple show that i can compress by hand to allow the top nuts to be tightened much further". The upper spring retainer/mount shouldn't be able to slide all the way down the shaft. The bolt/s on the top have to be screwed down tightly which means the upper spring retainer/mount has to sit firmly on the shaft.
