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New DeCarbon Dampers

malcolm said:
Has anyone found an affordable source of gas pressurised dampers in the UK (preferably deCarbon)? Ian mentioned he'd had a quote of approx £350 for a set of 4 from the only person that seems to advertise on the web. Which seemed a bit much. I know Renault don't sell them anymore - they sell Sachs-Boge dampers which fall apart in 5 minutes.

Failing that - anyone prepared to post from Europe? I could use 4 rear dampers and 2 front.

My GTL is currently damperless at the rear. Fine when I'm driving in economy mode, but I was in a bad mood this afternoon and it was really scary. :eek:
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I know a few people out here in France and could possibly get you a set but would have to inquire about the postage to the UK - if you give me the car details I will check for you ?

Cheers, Matt
 
Many thanks for that Matt - I'm hoping to import them from somewhere else in Europe at the moment but will certainly give you a shout if they aren't available from there.

Meantime I'm still driving in economy mode - now more than 40mpg through the twisty roads and towns on the way to work. :D
 
..Good news Malcolm

The gas filled shocks arrived this morning and am bringing them back to London today.

What do you want me to do with your two - Post them to Paradise or do you want to collect them after the R 4 run - I could leave them behind my dustbin at home?
 
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Great news, thanks, I've sent you a message.

I wonder how quickly the cars in the photo were crashed (nobody say about one a day). Doesn't look to be enough damage for it to have been 30mph, though they are light so it could be 30. In which case it seems we are driving the safest cars on the road after all.
 
..They are in todays post..

..So Malcolm, you should have them on Monday...have them on on Tuesday...be on your test run on Wednesday...be thrilled to bits with the comfortably ride on Thursday...be checking Ebay.Fr for De Carbon amortisseurs derriere on Friday...placing your winning bid on Saturday and having a fantastic R4 run on Sunday - I will be with you in spirit and am very sorry not to be tail end Charlie again this year.

And who, by the way needs 4 wheels when 2 will do?
 
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Magic - they arrived today and look very lovely. I replaced one of the rearson my car last week with a spare from another car so it's safe for the trip down to Kent. Not convinced they come up on eBay all that often.

If you need any help fitting yours do come to Paradise. You should visit anyway. Did you sort out your amortisseurs derriere problem? Or should I aim to find a couple of sets?
 
..Bravo La Poste..

..Well quite reassuring that the Post Office is still managing to get small parcel from one part of the UK to another at the speed of light and am glad you have received them - are you on target? Tomorrow you should be 'thrilled to bits with the comfortable ride'

Mine are already on and I have to say not appreciably different to the ones I took off but what should I expect??

And guess what - I left my Sinpar in a South London Tesco's car park last week and look what I found when I got back with my shopping...
 
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I rang Delphi and was given the tel no. of their Technical Department (01926 472794) for help. They reported that R4 original spec de carbon dampers were still being manufactured in their factory in Poland, but they were not generally available in Britain. (Further enquiries indicated that Delphi took over the factory and production of F A KROSNO in July 97. This factory is 240km south of Warsaw and they were the major eastern bloc factory for high quality de carbon type gas dampers.) I explained our need for these dampers to the Tech Dept and he did find Delphi part numbers for our R4 dampers in an old catalogue and he has promised to post this information to me. As I see things, the dampers are in the Delphi world wide empire but it's a case of getting Delphi to make them available in Britain or sourcing them direct from Poland by some means at an affordable price.I will post the info when I get it.
 
Many thanks Brian for organising this :hug:

Delphi DeCarbon gas pressurised dampers will shortly be available from Scorpian Racing in London for approximately £35 each plus postage. He has ordered 100 of them from Delphi and they should be available in 2 to 3 weeks.

Part numbers (for the comfort dampers) are V01 1383 12\1 for the front and V01 1240 12\1 for the rear.

Scorpian Racing's contact details are: Colin 0208 2114888
Scorpian Racing
Unit D
The Coppetts Center
North Circular Road
London
N12 0SH
 
comfort ones>?
do they come in harder specs then as well as standard

ive checked mine 1 might have a slight leak
wont know till i actually get to drive it which wont be for a little while yet
 
I'm fairly sure the comfort ones are the type that would originally have been fitted to Renault 4s. There's also a "performance" version but I don't know what the supply situation is like.
 
I have just got another forum member a set of the performance de carbons for 300 Euros including postage to the UK if anyone else is interested.
 
Almost forgot - thanks Brian for sending the part numbers for Delphi De Carbon dampers. I've scanned them in and linked them from the top of the dampers page.
 
A good idea Malcolm- now we'll be needing Frederick our favourite frog to show us all how to fit the new dampers in "Tech Tips" . Or send me a skilled relative of his - lots of water and nice ponds where I live. I've lost faith in Mr Haynes.:)
 
malcolm said:
Many thanks Brian for organising this :hug:

Delphi DeCarbon gas pressurised dampers will shortly be available from Scorpian Racing in London for approximately £35 each plus postage. He has ordered 100 of them from Delphi and they should be available in 2 to 3 weeks.

Part numbers (for the comfort dampers) are V01 1383 12\1 for the front and V01 1240 12\1 for the rear.

Scorpian Racing's contact details are: Colin 0208 2114888
Scorpian Racing
Unit D
The Coppetts Center
North Circular Road
London
N12 0SH
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Im still trying to get hold of Colin: he seems to e a very busy man!, I understand from others at Scorpion that these bits are still not in yet....

Anyone else got any news on this at the moment?
 
Hi Steve, please note that Skorpion Racing so far, is ordering dampers only for the saloon model. If you check the 'tech tips - dampers' section on this site you will find a Delphi spec list which gives the correct part nos. for van rated dampers. It may be fine to fit the saloon spec dampers on the front and rear - will give a softer ride on the rear. Van spec rear will be uprated for load carrying. Your heavier FARB on the front may/presumably offset any weight transfer/cornering issues. Saloon and van front ends are, after all, identical. I think you will have difficulty in trying to get the van spec dampers in this country. Ring Colin (if you can get him) and see if he can source the right spec items - you never know and letus know the outcome.:)
 
Hi again Steve, Ive now checked the Delphi sheet and the front dampers for saloon and van (1968 on) are identical parts - V01 1385 12/1 however, the van rear (1968 on) is V01 1383 12/1 . Colin at Skorpion may also be able to source this damper, if not, perhaps der franzose in Germay.
 
I've got some news on this, but not on DeCarbon. Ive given up trying to get some 'original' dampers.

I have been working with a suspension company near to me and we have spec'd and developed some adjustible dampers for R4. And yes.. they will take into account the fact the rears extend in bump and they assure me the fact that the damper sits near horizontal is no problem for the kit we are making. I have the fronts and they are an immediate fit. I just need to add bump stops to the shaft and feed the info back so they can add it to their records.

The rears are still a week or so away as the right size bodies were not 'in stock' and the valve block needs re-shimming to take acount of the reverse operation.

Once I've got them all fitted and im happy with them ill put up some pictures and give out some contact info so some of you other fine people can get hold of your own set.

As for the adjustibility, they are one way adjustible (bump and rebound adjust together), 16 settings. my soggy 24 year old fronts correspond to about 4 clicks from full soft.

No idea about costs yet..

Im quite excited about these. More news to follow once I have the rears to play with.
 
Those sound promising. Are they gas pressurised or do they have some method of bleeding for the rear? I could do with something like that for the Gordini which will be overpowered but undertyred, but my driveway can make bubbles in normal dampers in a single trip.
 
Ill find out more about the rears once the bodies are in, hopefully ill be able to go in and 'assist' on the re-shimming operation so I can see whats involved.

The front are not gas pressurised, and I assume the rears wont be as we will be using the same 'series' of body but in different dimensions. They will essentially be hand built, so we should have no problems with unwanted air inside them.

This is a development excercise for now. These guys know their stuff, and they are very confident that the finished items will be juste le billet .

Tell you what Malcolm.. once I have them fitted, I could come down and you could roadtest them on your drive, im only 20 miles away. Ill be interested to see how they cope too.
 
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