Electronic shock absorbers & steering racks reconditioning

[Alfan]

As mentioned somewhere else I shipped a set of Q4 shock absorbers and steering rack for reconditioning in Poland.

They are now returned and looks really good Still not mounted in my car, so I cannot comment on performance. You can read more here and see photos:

http://alfaromeo164register.com/viewtop ... 5&start=75" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The company doing the work is in Gdansk, Poland: http://www.nagengast.pl/regeneration-en.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Q4 shocks & steering rack

[pinino]

When I saw the pictures of your rebuilt CDS struts that you received from South Africa (AlfaBB) I noted that they couldn't be gassed with nitrogen as the rods were not pushing out (new struts always come with straps to hold the shaft in recoiled position). But now I notice same on these Polish rebuild units with their shafts parked in their fully recoiled position. It's too bad that schrader valves cannot be added without taking them apart as reinforcement bosses (tabs) need to be added to strengthen the wall of the strut.

[Alfan]

I don't think that the struts in this photo can extend more than is shown, and they are not being held down with straps, so I am not sure what you mean... These are probably not as good as brand new, though.

It is correct, that the ones from SA (for the Lancia) is not like this.

[pinino]

Hi Allan,

When struts are gassed the normal resting position (fully extended) are like the struts in the attached photos, compliments of DanZ.

[Alfan]

They do look different. The only thing I have to compare to, are the new struts I bought for the Q4 in 2005 (they would have been some years old at that time), which looks very much like the reconditioned ones.

[Alfan]

I managed to find new front springs for the Q4 (Suplex 01045) and the are the same, apart from being app. 2 cm lower than the originals I have, see photo. I don't think that will change too much when compressed, though.

I also found the values for the extension of the shaft for the Q4 front, which is less than the FWD. According to the workshop manual the FWD should be 167mm +/-2.5, for the Q4 it is 122mm +/-5.5. The rear struts are different on the Q4 and no value is given for this measure. I measured the rebuild ones and got 118mm for the front and 140 for the rear (which is stated to be 212,5mm +/-3 for the FWD), so they are within the given spec.

I will measure the height of the front, before installing the new springs, so I know what the difference is.

When searching for the springs, I also found that for the 24V there are different sizes between the manual (thicker) and first auto transmission version, but that later auto got the same as the manual version, see attached.

Suplex spring

164 front spring

164 FWD front data 01

164 FWD front data 01

164Q4 front data 01

[ALFAHEIDA]

Great Alfan!!

[obenhaus]

As mentioned somewhere else I shipped a set of Q4 shock absorbers and steering rack for reconditioning in Poland.

They are now returned and looks really good Still not mounted in my car, so I cannot comment on performance. You can read more here and see photos:

http://alfaromeo164register.com/viewtop ... 5&start=75" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The company doing the work is in Gdansk, Poland: http://www.nagengast.pl/regeneration-en.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2017-12-15 18.09.06.jpg

Thanks for the tip. Would you be so kind to tell us how much it was?

[AlfaWhiz]

It was about 160-170 EUR for the rebuild of the Q4 steering rack in my case (seals, etc.).

[Alfan]

I don't know the price for each exact part, but was told up to 200 euro per piece, depending on the work needed. The total means that it was a little bit less per piece.