Ive now re-fitted the old suspension on the front and its fine, I will phone gaz tomorrow and see if they have any ideas.
in the meantime can anyone confirm from these pics that these front units are correct for a VX220? The other 2 sets of coilovers Ive had before have never had this 'stalk' bit on the front, only on the back -
next to the old unit, you can see that I have it wound right the way down and the car sits just slightly higher than the old suspension, which you can see could go lower still.

evidence of bump stop taking a battering

this is the back one, you can see here there is loads of thread to go lower.

I think the fronts have been built/boxed wrong.