Paul Dunstan
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Adjustable strut tops
Hi All. Had a major failure of my Noltec strut tops during the week and the car isn’t even on the road!! Anyways, looking at ones from Suspention Concepts in NSW - has anyone used them? They no longer make nolathane ones due to reliability issues hence I’m a little concerned over the harshness etc without anything to insulate the suspension. I ideally want adjustable tops as it allows some minor adjustment to tweak the alignment and make some minor handling improvements. It’s not a race car but would prefer to have some adjustability. From an engineering perspective adjustable lower arms are not really an option.
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Robbie
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 18:14:52
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Paul Dunstan
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 20:45:01
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Hi Robbie. Have you been advised that adjustable tops are not possible? I know adjustable lower arms are frowned upon.
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Paul Dunstan
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 20:52:30
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Robbie - FYI my engineer is ok with adjustable strut tops
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Robbie
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 21:13:49
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Yeah i just had a read, it doesnt really seem to worry about tops more about the adjustable height. If the engineer is happy then i think youll be fine. I think john downs from classic rally sport is the rep for grp4 in aust, i think last time i asked the adjustable tops were about 500ish aud. Grp4 has a pretty good rep so youd hope they would be of reasonable quality.
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Sean
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 21:46:48
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Paul Dunstan
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/16 23:48:23
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Madcow
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 01:05:37
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Try some K-mac they make a pretty good kit about 550 to your door
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Paul Dunstan
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 08:59:51
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Kmac do not specify anything but roll bars for the early escorts.
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Sean
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 10:08:00
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The ride is firm but the conversion was also done in conjunction with a coilover kit using Capri struts, 250lb coils and Bilstein inserts. Prior to that I had 200lb coils & Bilstein inserts in standard strut setup. I don't really drive the car (enough) to notice how firm the ride is. Here is a link to thread detailing my conversion 12 1/2 years ago... http://www.classic-ford.org/cfp/tm.aspx?m=7871
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Paul Dunstan
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 10:28:47
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I was more thinking from a noise transmission without the rubber bushing etc? Gee 12 years, mines approaching a build time greater than that 🤔
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Noono
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 13:40:50
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Sean
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 13:46:27
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I could not notice any additional noise as a result of front strut conversion.
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Drewdog
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 16:30:40
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When I contacted Kmac what they had listed wasn't available. Not sure if things have changed. I'm using the eccentric types with a pair of gaz golds. No more road noise but they do give a clunk every so often on change of surface. Paved roundabouts etc. There seems to be a little play in the ball joint in the strut top.
GT Cortina Project "The Ugly Duckling"
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SFE
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Re: Adjustable strut tops
2019/01/17 19:59:15
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Paul, I've recently suffered the same issue with the urethane in my Noltec top mounts failing too in one of my mk1's. It was brought to my attention by the owner of my previous mk2 RS. They were considerably older in the mk2 and had deteriorated worse than mine. Crumbling to dust almost! However Kmac adjustables (with urethane) in my other mk1 are still fine after over 2 decades of my ownership. Obviously it's the Noltec urethane formulation that is 'rubbish', not the general design. I like the Noltec design for that little bit of isolation the urethane bush gives. Rather than buying something new (at 4 or 500$) both myself & the owner of my old mk2 have had ours recast in 'new' urethane by a fellow up in Gosford NSW who convinced us his stuff would last and was aware of Noltec urethane issues I believe. (the mk2 owner did all the talking & legwork) It was cheap to get done too! Worth the gamble I thought. However I'm yet to see if the new stuff stands the test of time though! If interested the contact is Graham White Urethanes, 0418241037 and he does a fair amount of specialist car stuff so I'm told.
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