US enthusiasts enjoying Britsh enginered suspension work.

[Mitsuru]

British Engineering keeping the motorist and motorsports happy for decades.
What is stated below is from a fellow Neon enthusiast in the USA.

So, once in a blue moon you have an opportunity to pull the trigger on a relatively risky endevour. For those of you in the know, including Robert Kearns III, I purchased a set of Leda coilovers which were a complete unknown in the Neon community at the time. They were based on the UK and a search online yielded ZERO results. The chances of running these for a limited time and then needing a rebuild leaving me out in the cold was nearly a deal killer. I however managed up the nerve to purchase them and as a result MiniMe used them for ~15k miles flawlessly from drag racing in Oregon, to both national road trips including drag racing in Cincinnatti, Down through St Louis to Hotlanta, then back through Nashville to meet Sebstian Loeb before he demolished the Pikes Peak hillclimb record by nearly 40 seconds. They served me well on the second trip all the way to Detroit where I picked up two long-blocks, strapped them down where the passenger seat would be and jacked up the ride height nearly two inches at each corner...

Well, the day finally came that one of the fronts began to show some leaking oil from the top seal. I crossed my fingers and attempted another online search which yielded much better results. Leda was now under new ownership and....well....I'll let their email response say the rest:

___________________________________________________________

Hi Steve,

You are correct about Leda falling upon hard times a while ago. Leda was
set up by one Len Dixon way back in the mists of time and when Len
retired in the mid 90's, his daughter and son in law apparently took
over but were poor business folk and Leda failed rather quickly. It was
taken by an investor who placed it with a carbon composite company. They
started to build Leda back up again but their core business took off 5
years ago and everyone was pulled on to the shop floor to service F1
contracts. At the time we were the same as you and wanted a number of
dampers servicing, but were told they were unable to do so at that time,
so we bought the company and here we are today!

Your struts look to have swaged nickel plated bodies, mounting plates
with no camber adjustment nut facilities, 2.5" spring seats, 22mm chrome
section rods, and 22 or 24 'click' damping adjusters with cast resin
black knobs. They are of twin tube construction with an atmospheric
pressure headspace to account for the differential rod intrusion into
the central cylinder tube. The adjuster alters both bump and rebound
damping simultaneously, not just the rebound as with many manufacturers
offerings. They can be serviced, repaired, upgraded, and re-valved, and
if cared for well, will last for a very long time. We regularly see Leda
dampers still being used in anger that are 40+ years old!

The cost of servicing is £100 per damper, and for this charge we
initially test each damper on our dyno, and then strip them. We then
provide a quote for work or parts required outside the scope of
servicing (hopefully yours will only need servicing), then we undertake
the agreed work. The service then continues with replacement of all lip
and o-ring seals, along with the piston rings, honing of the cylinders,
re-facing of valve seats and reassembly with fresh damping fluid. we
then test them again on the dyno, set the adjuster ranges and
performance curves, and balance the dampers as axle and car sets.
Formation of quotation takes about 3 days, servicing about 2 weeks
depending upon workload at the time. We are now entering our busiest
time of year which lasts until the end of February and the start of the
circuit racing season. If required, non service items such as
replacement rods are not too expensive, for example a rod is about £30,
and a cylinder tube about £8.

With regard to carriage, we us UPS and find it best to arrange
collection and return worldwide so we have control over temporary import
into the UK, and hence can minimise import/export duty. Recent return
carriage of 4 dampers and springs (about 50 lbs) to Florida was about
£150 including temporary import duty, but if you remove top mounts,
springs, the weight can be reduced, and hence the cost.

Regards,

Roger

Leda Suspension & Harvey Bailey Engineering Ltd,
Unit 4 C Chestnut Ind Est,
Bassingham,
Lincs,
United Kingdom
LN5 9LL

Tel: 01522 788362
Email: info@leda.com
Web: www.leda.com
VAT: GB125687493
Registered Company 07881371
___________________________________________________________

This now amounts to a full shipping and rebuild of a measly $840 for top-notch racing dampers. I am ecstatic that I can keep a small part of history alive and use these for their intended purpose. HAULING ASS!!!

http://www.leda.com/


IF WE DON'T USE EM WE LOSE EM!

[JPB]

Ouch! They appear to be ridiculously expensive, especially compared to AVO, who also offer a rebuild service. As far as the slots for camber adjustment at the top bearing are concerned; such things should be available only to the trade or people who can demonstrate that a) they understand the necessary measuring and concurrent adjustments that must be done and/or b) they promise not to fiddle with the adjustment after taking their adjustable struts to their local garage for fitting and setting up, as the idea of some kid with no mechanical nous, a shagged out modern warm hatch and some negative camber where none should be is frightening.

The AVO coilovers, that I had made to o/e spec but with adjustable seats and damping rates (yes, rebound and bump, just as the Leda ones do) for one of my autotest kittens in around 1993, are still giving excellent service for the car's present custodian and AVO rebuilt them for the first time ever a mere two years ago. So yes, British engineers can do great suspension upgrade parts but right now it's storm shelters that the poor buggers in the Untied States are needing.

[Mitsuru]

John the guy happens to be a serious petrol head doing rallying and circuit. The fact he took a gamble
on them years ago and can get them either refurbed, serviced or replaced and shipped back to the USA
cheaper than some of the pro companies in the States means Britain can still hold it's own. Something
we can still be proud of.