FAO Peter, CF bonnets & Leda now GAZ

[Neil Haughey]

In the interests of the community I thought I would post this here rather then email/pm.

I know Peter that you have a CF bonnet on your car, I have enjoyed looking through all the pictures on your website. I have a couple of questions though about CF compared to the fibreglass options.
1) Is it stiff or does it flutter about like I have heard the fibreglass bonnets do?
2) How did it look unpainted, where you tempted to fit it on the car unpainted and leave as is?
3) I couldn't find comparitive figures in the GT literature to see what the difference is in weight between CF and fibreglass, just that whichever one they refer to weighs 16 lb.
Any other experience/comments appreciated.

2 for the price of 1!
I bit the bullet the other day and ordered the GAZ 2-way system, now as we all know some of the guys from Leda went to GAZ hence the products we are seeing now from GAZ and their recent racing exploits. The springs I have been spec'ed look to me much like the old Leda setup which you probably have, 400 lb on the front but the rear helpers seem way to soft to me so I am awaiting feedback about the setup I go with, as in will the valving need adjusting if I use em with my 27 mm torsion bars. BTW I highly recommend anyone to ring up Absolutely Shocks and have a chat about the GAZ systems.
Thanks
Neil

 

[sawood12]

I thought that for a dedicated race car or track car 400lb springs are considered too soft? Are not 600lb+ springs the norm for a dedicated track car?

 

[Neil Haughey]

True but what they have come up with is tailored to what I told them about my immediate and future plans for the car, in that the starting setup is for a car that will be still be driven on the road, do some trackdays and sprints etc.

 

[Peter Empson]

Sorry for the delay replying Neil, I've got trouble with my ISP and cannot get online at home at the moment.

The CF bonnet is pretty rigid and when aligned correctly did not flap excessively. Whilst it can be used without additional latches I would recommend using them, the threads are obviously just bonded in to the resin and it's difficult to know how tight you can do them before they'll pull out. I nearly once had mine unscrew itself which could have been very nasty. I then decided to do it much tighter and threadlock it, this seemed to work, but when you're doing 130+ down Hanger Straight you don't want another 'what if?' in the back of your mind!

My bonnet was finished in matt white gel coat on the top, I have recently seen an exposed carbon bonnet at Simons and it looked stunning but he wasn't sure who'd made it when I spoke to him. If it's about I'll try and grab a picture the next time I'm down there (Thursday hopefully).

Some bathroom scales said the bonnet was about 9kg IIRC (compared to over 20kg of the metal one) but it really feels lighter than that so guess the scales are quite inaccurate at such light weights. I've not weighed a GF version but have handled a few and they all felt heavier to me (with the exception of race ones that need all 4 latches and have little structure behind them).

Congrats on the Gaz system, I'm very envious [:'(]! The current spring rates were chosen based upon a scaling up of my previous setup (250 fronts, cant remember the rears here at work) and followed discussions with Leda. In hindsight, and as mentioned previously the rear is a little too soft, but the 968 M030 rear arb can dial it out so it can't be too far from the mark. My existing setup is a pretty good road and track compromise, albeit heavily biased to the latter. I was contemplating going to 600 fronts and matching rears at some point as I felt I could still tolerate something a bit more extreme on the road, I may still do this but just want to start enjoying it again first!

 

[bennyboy]

Peter, was the bare carbon bonnet Simon has for sale per chance?

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: bennyboy

Peter, was the bare carbon bonnet Simon has for sale per chance?

I think he was planning on using it on his car instead of the GF one he has, but I'll certainly ask him.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Thanks Peter, brilliant info as usual.

I had a fairly long phone conversation with Derek from Absolutely Shocks about the GAZ system, and this was after a fairly long e-mail listing out my questions, what I want and my plan. I have to say I am very impressed so far with the response, and for the money it is easy to see why so many racers are going to GAZ, £1250 for a remote resorvoir 2-way race shocks is a belter and with the week pound I can see GAZ killing the opposition overseas because in euro's or dollars these will be the bargain of the century. I think the 400 front and 275 rear springs they specified will work perfectly with my 27mm torsion bars, with 24 mm bars I think the rear would be to soft. Just waiting to here now if the valving on the rears will be OK in this configuration or if the valves will need to be different.

You can definitely have some pax laps Peter, I like having someone to chat to on the way round.

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

True but what they have come up with is tailored to what I told them about my immediate and future plans for the car, in that the starting setup is for a car that will be still be driven on the road, do some trackdays and sprints etc.

Forgot to add that ISTR he said something about when I get them serviced before it becomes a race car, then the valves would be done as part of the service. The price was remarkably low but I can't recall if this is a published price so I won't say it, again as I said before support is the number one reason why I have gone this route, I never got an answer back from KW yet I asked much much more of Derek Abshocks / GAZ and got an answer the next day and the phone conversation another day later.

 

[Fen]

I'm utterly unfussed if I sell it or not, but I have an unused fibreglass bonnet which I believe is designed to be mounted on 4 pins sitting in Honiton if anyone wants a cheap lighter bonnet.

 

[944 man]

Price pls?

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

Forgot to add that ISTR he said something about when I get them serviced before it becomes a race car, then the valves would be done as part of the service. The price was remarkably low but I can't recall if this is a published price so I won't say it, again as I said before support is the number one reason why I have gone this route, I never got an answer back from KW yet I asked much much more of Derek Abshocks / GAZ and got an answer the next day and the phone conversation another day later.

I've not used GAZ yet, but the old Leda gave me a similar level of confidence, I had mine serviced and revalved at very short notice and they pulled all the stops out to get it done in time for a track day. They came back looking like new and with only a small bill too []

Btw that's an excellent price for external reservoirs, you know I said I was going to leave mine alone for the time being? Well I could possibly be tempted to upgrade sooner than I thought []

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

Price pls?

I'm not going to use it even if I get as far as shipping the car here, and if I sell it with the car it isn't going to add value, so how does 50 notes sound?

I bought it used but never fitted so it's not packed in any way and as it's 12,000 miles from me I'm not able to pack it, so it really needs to be collected.

 

[Neil Haughey]

As 944man got in first he can have it but if not I will take it please Fen

 

[944 man]

I'll take it. Now, my little brothers about to get married in Adelaide: perhaps I could pick it up on the way home? []

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

Forgot to add that ISTR he said something about when I get them serviced before it becomes a race car, then the valves would be done as part of the service. The price was remarkably low but I can't recall if this is a published price so I won't say it, again as I said before support is the number one reason why I have gone this route, I never got an answer back from KW yet I asked much much more of Derek Abshocks / GAZ and got an answer the next day and the phone conversation another day later.

I've not used GAZ yet, but the old Leda gave me a similar level of confidence, I had mine serviced and revalved at very short notice and they pulled all the stops out to get it done in time for a track day. They came back looking like new and with only a small bill too []

Btw that's an excellent price for external reservoirs, you know I said I was going to leave mine alone for the time being? Well I could possibly be tempted to upgrade sooner than I thought []

The reasonable rebuild cost attracted me to Leda too - was pleased when Peter reported they came back looking like new as well []
Tony

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

I'll take it. Now, my little brothers about to get married in Adelaide: perhaps I could pick it up on the way home? []

I had assumed Honiton would be an easier pick-up location than somewhere in New Zealand, but maybe not. after all []

Anyway drop me a mail through the forum and I'll pass on the details of where it is and warm up my indie that you'll be collecting it. The money can go direct to him also.

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey
, I never got an answer back from KW yet I asked much much more of Derek Abshocks / GAZ and got an answer the next day and the phone conversation another day later.

I contacted KW to see if I could buy just the front shocks from their kit, they don't seem to want my money either.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: bennyboy

Peter, was the bare carbon bonnet Simon has for sale per chance?

Ben, you have a PM []

 

[333pg333]

The only full c/f hood I know of is the one from Van Zweden although GT racing probably offer a c/f look one. The VZ one is ok without being nearly perfect. I'd give it 6.5 out of 10 for finish. I also think it feels lighter than it weighed on some crappy old bathroom scales in the workshop. I'll weight it again when it finally gets back from being 'finished' by another c/f guy out here. Wasn't cheap either with shipping from Sweden to Sydney.[]

 

[Neil Haughey]

Err you mean Holland don't you, I thought Van Zweeden were Dutch.

I have looked at their site many times and I get the impression that a few ppl that sell FG parts actually source them through Van Zweeded. Just a shame the pound is in the toilet now, buying in euro's is getting painful for us.

Pro-9 are another FG panel seller, they advertise amazingly cheap wings on ebay, no idea about the quality though, but on a race car cheap front wings looks like a pre-requisite.