04.15.08
Wierd Shock Absorbers
Today, I spoke with the folks at Electro Automotive and they recommended the same system that Mark is looking at – a 144 VAC system., using 18 8-volt wet cells (Trojan T-860, T-875 or T-890) for now and perhaps Lithium-Ion batteries in the future. I disassembled the entire front end of the car today – coil-over shock absorbers; tie rods & steering damper; steering box and trailing arms; spiders & brakes; front beam; shifter rod; master cylinder; pedal cluster and front and long brake lines. The only hitch in the giddy-up was the ball joints in the lower trailing arms. They wouldn’t release from the spiders, so they’re in the shop as assemblies. All that’s left now is the rear end. Then, I can get the VW chassis to the media blaster and measure and draft up the sub-chassis for Mark so that we can start designing the new sub-chassis.
I did note something odd about the front shock absorbers. These are standard EMPI adjustible coil-over shocks. However, someone put a ring of metal between the bottom of the adjuster and the two pins that index the adjuster on both shocks. This ring renders the adjustment feature useless and compresses the spring by about 2 inches. what I’m wondering is — how did he disassemble the shocks to install the ring?
