AVO shocks

I have converted a OMS hill climb car to FB. It has push rod front suspension and pull rod rear suspension. It came with AVO adjustable shocks. They have a dial that is adjustable at the bottom of the shock body centered in the shock. I think memory recalls maybe 5 or 6 settings. I have tried adjusting them making large changes at the track and haven't noticed much change to the handling of the car. I'm questioning whether they are even functional. A simple push/pull test by hand only reveals resistance. In other words they don't appear to be totally dead. Anybody know who may be familiar or work with AVO shocks? Thanks in advance.

The shocks may be just fine. Most likely your car is the issue.

What you need to do is get someone to dyno the shocks. Look at where the adjustments make a difference. My guess is that you are not stroking the shock in the range where the adjustments are effective.

My experience is that Penske makes the best shock options for light weight formula cars. This is not to imply that other shock manufacturers don't make very good products. It is that Penske shocks are the easiest to get to work for light formula cars.

The AVO's are pretty basic but I have found them to be tunable. They adjust over 20 "clicks". With my light weight Jedi I use 12 clicks from soft with 550lb springs, and 6 clicks with 220lb springs. If they are very old the oil (5W) may need replacing . . . they are easy to rebuild.

Thanks both for the replies. Last year was the first time on track so I am still learning with the car. Steve, I agree the shocks may be fine. I am hoping for confirmation they are fine from someone who knows these type of shocks.I would send measurements for motion ratios to help dial them in. I think they are also single adjustable if that further helps. With the changes I made last year I just thought I would feel some type of change. Maybe I am being overly critical of my expectations from the shocks.

I used AVOs many years ago and had problem with adjuster. The set-screw in the knurled adjuster was not tight enough to turn the shaft to which it is attached. The detent is in the knob, so as I turned the knob, it clicked giving the impression I had changed the setting.

Thanks, I will check the adjuster knobs and insure they are indeed turning the actuator.

Checked the knobs today to insure they are indeed turning the shock adjuster. They are tight and indeed turn the adjuster. The shock adjusters seem very coarse and go from very free movement to very stiff movement within about 6 to 7 clicks. I guess my best guess is the shocks are indeed working. Don't know why I didn't feel anything when trying adjustments at the track. Really thought I had a dead shock. On to the next issue.

OMS from the UK? I remember reading about them (him- "One Man Show") years ago in Race Car Engineering...
We got a car in here a few years ago with AVO's on one end, something else on the other. Ended up selling them off and replacing with Ohlins.
Isn't Dave Darrow at rod-ends.com a dealer?

Here is what I know about OMS. To start it is the backwards initials for Steve M. Owens. He makes a lot of very successful hill climb cars in England although I don't know where. There was an English chap that raced at Waterford Hills Road Racing here in the Detroit area a few years back and he raced an OMS DSR that Steve built for him and took it to the runoffs that year at Mid-Ohio, that's how far back this goes. This is before the Stohr days also. That ends my knowledge of OMS although I had heard there was a guy in the Atlanta area that was bringing some cars over here. I can't remember his name. I think but don't know for sure that is how my car got here. I got it from a guy in Michigan and have been slowly working on it. Last year was the maiden voyage and I was pleased that it didn't overheat and it didn't blow up from oiling issues. I owe a lot of that to this site. OMS does have a web site by the way and I have tried conversing with Steve by e-mail, but like most small race shops he is hard to get a response from.

http://www.omsracing.co.uk/
The story I read in RE was probably about someone else or he (Steve Owens) was just being funny. I believe it was in the late 80's or early 90's when it came out.

Happy New Year!