Hi Albatros, please can you tell me if you used gen Vaux parts for your lowering conversion and any part numbers( and an approx price) if avail (my local dealer tells me that they won`t go on my Elite with s/l but I know he is telling me porkys!! )Also I guess it would`nt really work, but what would be the effect of simply immobilising the air supply to the s/l. Also I`m a bit naive here, but why did you need different width spacers front and back? Thanks!! Micky
Hi Albatros, please can you tell me if you used gen Vaux parts for your lowering conversion and any part numbers( and an approx price) if avail (my local dealer tells me that they won`t go on my Elite with s/l but I know he is telling me porkys!! )Also I guess it would`nt really work, but what would be the effect of simply immobilising the air supply to the s/l. Also I`m a bit naive here, but why did you need different width spacers front and back? Thanks!! Micky
I used MV6 springs and shocks all round. This does mean that you lose the self-levelling, but unless you're planning on towing a caravan it doesn't matter.
The air lines simply disconnect from the system in the middle of the car and there is a valve which means that the compressor realises that there are no shocks connected and doesn't bother trying to pump them up. Dead simple.
I would strongly recommend getting your car set up properly afterwards at somewhere like wheels-inmotion.
It is one of the best upgrades to my Elite that I have made and the car drives so much better now.
I could give you the part numbers, but they are different shocks at the front depending on the size of engine you have, and you haven't provided you car information in your profile.
The rears don't come on the Trade Card and that TC Book is my only source of part numbers. :-/
The reason I had different spacers on front and rear is quite simple. If you look at a regular Omega the rear wheels seem much more 'tucked in' under the car then the fronts. I personally wanted it to look a bit more balanced and the wheels nearer the arch. The rears needed pushing out further to give it the balanced look. The difference is only 9mm per corner between front and rear (18mm wider at the rear axle than the front), but it makes all the difference.
It is a bit complicated but...
The old Elite wheels are ET38
The new Signum SRI wheels are ET45
So I lost 7mm of track width per corner or 14mm per axle.
I then added 50mm of track on the rear axle (25mm per corner) or a net of 18mm per corner.
On the front I added 32mm on the axle (16mm per corner), so that is a net gain 9mm per front corner.
Sorry about the long post, but you asked a few complex questions