No, I didn't replace the springs. 16.5 inches seems a little high to me. I may be mistaken, but I think ride height should be around 15 - 15.5 inches.

 

Yep, 15 to 15.5 inches is the target. Each car is a little different, though....

 

Gian,

just a thought...
you have mentioned the left is slightly lower than right..?
‘when you add body weight it will be even lower
Q: is it possible/difficult to swap them ? and re-measure...
see if the difference transfers..if the left side is then taller (empty) then it could possibly be even/level with you in the car...?....

thx for your & Wayne’s efforts,

max & XKRFACE

 

Max, a good thought, but requires completely disassembling the whole shock tower. If we do that, I'll go in halves with Gian and buy a pair of springs for his effort in this.
Possible those loose springs might help him with those roads, Baja cars have lots of spring travel, don't they.

 

Guess what folks, The Energy Suspension Parts distributor just sent me this after 15 minutes of the order confirmation.

Hi Wayne,

I'm sorry to bother you. As I was trying to place your order, the warehouse notified me that this part 9.6108R 4.7113R16.6104R is currently on back order. We can send your order factory direct, but it will take about 5-8 weeks to get to you. I do apologize for the inconvenience

Alternatively, we can send you an immediate refund. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience. Please let me know what you would like to do and I will be happy to assist.

- Amanda Wartes, (DST Customer Service)

Looks like someone along the way was paying attention and grabbed up the full supply of what we need. LOL
Well maybe not, just seems funny that all the ones we need are gone. Thank you very much, maybe they will follow my instruction and offer them as a kit to us.
Sorry guys, will keep checking.

 

Well, CRAP HAPPENS! Hope they are too far behind in making the parts. Guess we will wait. That should allow adequate time for any flaws to surface, if any. I can't see the Energy Suspension parts failing due to pounding or exposure to elements.Thanks again.

 

Wow. I know you are disappointed, Wayne. Maybe there is another distributor who has the required components in stock. The problem is being able to track down such a distributor....

Hopefully everyone here will remain patient. It is not fair for you to order $500+ worth of components if 1) you cannot get them and 2) you do not have the confirmed orders in hand from folks who want a set of your custom shock mounts....

 

Well, just went to 3 different vendors and ordered one part from set of bushings from what ever they said they had. Shipping hurt but I will wait for a little bit and see if they really have any of this stuff.
I took a chance on the lower spring seat and ordered 5 sets, here's hoping they fit, still no measurements from someone taking one apart. I might be trying to hard. LOL

 

It's not difficult to swap the entire assembly from one side to the other, just that it would require some time I don't immediately have with this being my "last" week in school, and having the prom, graduation, Hippocratic Oath, and the Welcome to the Profession activity by the Colegio de Cirujanos Dentistas de PR, it's a busy couple of weeks plus the licensure exam in mid-June. Swapping the individual springs requires a bit more work as that requires dismantling the assemblies as well.

Thank you Wayne, that's extremely generous of you. (*looks up price... yowza*). While you're right and new springs would be good and it would probably correct my camber and ride height, I can't accept you invest such a ludicrous amount of money on my car.

 

wayne,

a truly great effort that is worth waiting for.
at any point in time i, and no doubt others, am ready to send some funds (deposit or whatever) to assist in the endeavor...
as poorly as "the others" are made it would be dastardly but not surprising of them to capitalize on your great efforts/design.

thx and
standing by,

max & XKRFACE

 

Just to show what a team effort we have on this project.
MaxTorq did compare the lower spring seat I thought might work with his spring. We have a winner, like it was made for it. I know, until we get it installed not a proven application.
Couple of guys are doing theirs at the present time and might want to give is a go, if just to see how it looks.
Part # 16.6104 by Energy Suspension.
I found it being offered by Autozone, but it's not here yet, so that's is up in the air. Dang, gave away another secret, like I tried to hide anything. LOL
Hope all have a good holiday weekend.
One quick thing, add a couple of holes on each side of the bushing to drain any water that could get trapped in there and rust the spring. Just enough to open up a hole, 1/4 inch should be more than enough.

 

Wayne, as always, Thanks for your efforts and info. Everyone have a safe and great Memorial Holiday week-end.

 

I just spent 5 hours making up the top tower bushings for a member. Mostly getting a jig ready for the inner bushings and now have to change that, see below.

I got in some bushing over the last few days and enough for two sets, not great but a start.

Couple of things have reared their ugly head and I’m a bit disappointed, first off, the bells that were sent to Gian were 9/16 inch on each, where all the ones I had for comparison were all 5/8 (16MM). So a good portion of my day was setting up a jig to cut the top inner bushings all the same size, that was the 9/16. Guess what, the inner measurements of the bells vary by as much as .020, that’s huge in crush factor, like we need.

This is putting a big dent in the ability to sale a kit, that is unless you will be willing to sand the bushing to fit. I use a belt sander and try to make the crush factor of ¼ inch, about all you can get on these firm bushings.

My thoughts for the price would have been really high about an hour ago but have got over it.

The kit was going to be $160 including shipping in the USA, but not going to be everyone's cut of tea to make them fit and rivet (screw) them together.

The bells assembled with cushion pad (two bushing overlapped) in each case, inner bell bushings, top spring seat (ugly but works) and bottom spring seat, which we think is a perfect fit, if your plastic parts are in great condition, you might want to use those. All parts installed in the bells and screwed together. This leads to the price, $190 including shipping in the USA, note not a lot of difference in price but you will be required to send your old assembly to me, at your expense and they fit nicely in a Priority Mail Box $16 or close.

If they rattle around and that bothers you, just stuff dollar bills around them.

I have offered the one assembly I will make up later to a member that wanted one, so I’ll give him a day or so to answer, as it’s a Holiday weekend, then hope to get in a few more packages from the dealers.

That’s where I am right now and hope to have 4 complete in the next few days.

Now to go down and check to see if wear and tear of the old bushings in the assemblies I have could have caused expansion or closing up of the bell. Don’t see how, they were all doing nothing by the time I got them.

Thanks, Wayne

 

Wayne, just a thought... Is that variation in the bells related to the provenance of the shock mount? I believe the one you sent me was originally an OE shock mount from your car, whereas the others are, if I am not mistaken, from Welsh?

 

Yes Gian, that is correct. The bell measurements vary depending upon who made them. Another fly in the ointment that Wayne has to deal with individually. What this essentially means is that each set has to be custom-made to fit the specific cores in each case. That will slow down Wayne's production process. Hats off to Wayne for being kind enough to charge as little as he currently is given all the time he has to put into custom-making each set....

 

Good morning all, and a new day.
I made adjustments to the jig I made and with the measurements I gathered, will be able to put this together and make the inner bushings what ever size that is required.
As Jon stated, they will all have to be custom made, not a big deal, just a adjustment.
A kit would be made with the largest size, but really don't want to do that, to many things could go wrong for the small difference in price, just a waiting period being the bummer. A turn around right now would work, as the ones I have can be sent out and I would just wait on returns to fill any orders.
Let's say this is a rap and we all have learned a lot. Others are going forward and it might just be a better solution, which is what I started out to do.
What I have is really good, perfect ????, inspiring others, yes, lots of great suggestions that were applied, thank you all.
I will make up what I have and go from there. If I can help give me a PM.
Wayne

 

Greetings to all members :-)

I'm slightly disenchanted combing through all the posts regarding the upper shock mount; a job that must be done on my 2006 XKR that will be delivered in one week. I'm thinking to myself that I can handle the front suspension work/bushings and so on, but when I came to the group for insight regarding this matter, I found myself reading through numerous fabrication attempts to the upper shock mount secondary to poor quality of the original and crappy aftermarket products.:-/ I hope that the word "fabrication" doesn't pop up for any of the other jobs that need to be performed to keep my beautiful car running straight. That said, I wish to get in on the early orders of these upper shock mount fabrications. Wayne, Tropic cat and others are to be commended on some excellent work, I would be willing to send my parts to you so that I feel better about getting my car back on the road. Thank you in advance for everyone's input and all of the expertise of the fabrication process. Robert

 

Robert, check your Private Messages.
Wayne

 

Robert, it may seem daunting and there is no doubt a good many mounts fail but to add a little context, the old factory mounts l replaced in 2018 were still serviceable and the welsh mounts l used as replacements are still as new today.
This is one reason l have not done any road testing of my own poly efforts.

 

As Tom so bluntly put it, this never ending thread just gets longer.
So, should I start a new thread every time I find more information, no, don't think so, it's all here, good or bad, just a long read from the start.
Now we have Baxtor, with a completely redesigned inner bushing, so we are making those that do, get into the fold. Might get a answer, but nothing is forever on a wear factor.
My latest was finding not all things are alike in the bell area and don't want ot try to make a kit, not know what measurements might be on a members car.
Jim and I did explore a pad that fit under the inner fender, between that and the bell that is used on a big truck to raise it up 3/8 inch. That seemed odd as the pad was only 1/4 inch. In the end as good as it looked, too small for our area and out of stock.


Here you go: https://trail-gear.com/1-4-thick-sin...te-spacer.html



I did get in some rubber sheets for the top spring pads and ordered 1/4 inch sheeting for possibly making us one for a weak spring. D0n't know if anyone would use it, so that's kind of iffy.
I have a couple more full bell kits out and hope they will get installed over the next few weeks, then get some reports on how they like them. They included the bell, top and bottom spring seats along with the thick pad between the spring collar and bell. Everything is Energy Suspension Hypro bushings cut to fit except the top spring seat. I did made a bunch of those today and they turned out pretty good for a drill press cut.
That's where we are and our buddy in PR has graduated and we will get reports form him once in a while.