Look DG no jackstands! :unibrow:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-C...CJHFdmx-XL.jpg

Front suspension is mostly reassembled and the car is sitting at ride height. I swapped out my front springs with some Hotchkis springs I had which should be slightly stiffer. The Hotchkis springs overall length was 1" shorter but they had finished ends and my old springs had one unfinished and one 'semi' finished end.

I was guessing the finished ends and stiffer rate wouldn't compress as much but the only way to find out was put it together and set it down. As it worked out it's only 1/8" lower than the old springs.

Now the issues.......previously I was not running lower bump stops and never have experienced harsh bottoming or coil bind. I installed some 1-5/8" cone bump stops on the lower arms and that leaves 1/2" to 5/8" free space between the bump stops and the frame stops.........not good, nor is the anti-roll bar relationship to the lower arm. That bar bushing grease zerk has 1" clearance from the lower arm......I'm thinking grease it remove the zerk and plug it just to be safe.

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-t...t9sd2jB-XL.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-w...w5KpVct-X2.jpg

One solution to gaining travel/clearance may be these Global West cast aluminum .375" spacers, does anyone have experience with them?
http://static.summitracing.com/globa...gls-1102_w.jpg

Global West says 1 at the spring equals 2 at the body, though with the 3/8" spacer they spec 5/8" lift, not 3/4".

Regarding stance - 5/8" lift up front would be the max without altering the rear ride height. Fender openings front to rear would be 24.5" and 24.75" if those spacers deliver as stated.

Another gain could be cutting the bump stops or replacing with shorter style. The OEM lobe/triangle stops look like they may provide more initial travel. Prothane offers triangular stops in two heights 1-1/8" & 1-1/2" and Energy offers a 1-3/8".

I'm leaning towards the spacers and 1-1/8" stops at this point.

Any experience input would be greatly appreciated! :thumbsup:

Scott, it sounds like the geometry is altered in a bad way to achieve the desired ride height. Wow, I've never heard of that happening before. LOL

If it were me, I'd put big block springs in the car to get the correct geometry, and suspension travel. Then run drop spindles to achieve the ride height your looking for. That is what I had to do on my AMX chassis. Even with an aftermarket frame stub. Geometry and travel, trump everything else.

I was going to go kind of the same route, on my car I spent countless hours cycling the front suspension with the springs removed trying to gain as much travel as I could. The more it traveled, the more stuff hit. Once I had everything clearanced and all of the travel I could get, I then measured for shock length and calculated which springs to use.

I started with about a half inch between my bump stops and the frame as well, I now have almost 2" of bump travel up front and the car only sits about a half inch higher at ride height than before.

Just ditch the wubba stops.... problem solved.


The thing to have done was to run the suspension/travel with wheel/tire mounted -- sans spring - and see what clearance issues you'd have - and then weld a stop where it needed to be for "protection" purposes.... or find/modify a wubba stop to work.


So now you can disassemble the suspension on one side and do that.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You mean mine isn't the first one? :ohsnap:

Agreed on longer springs and drop spindles as the proper cure. With the current pro-tinkering budget altered wubba stops and spacers will probably prevail.......technically it 'should' will be an 'improvement' from where it was.

2" eh............Bragger! :D

I did cycle it w/o springs, but with the stops. I optimistically put it back together to know where everything sits at ride height knowing it would most likely be disassembled.........again.

I'll have disassembly and assembly of these archaic front ends down pat when it's all said and done........whoopie.

I will say that using the flexible cutting boards for turn plates was really slick, pun intended. Though I did need one last night for dicing asparagus. :(

Norwood
 

Reminds me of the 800lb springs I had put on
the Firebird years ago... when I got it back from
the suspension guy ( a Norcal Shelby Otec guy) I
told him it sat too high.. he said the geometry was
perfect and go run it to see how it does... next event
I won and the car was on rails..

I went back and said it ran great but looks like crap
he said Dropped spindles would fix it... no one made
them at that time so I left it... now we have new arms, spindles,coilovers,
taller ball joints, different size bump stops,etc, etc.. where does it stop

Bob

Just so you know we're all white men Lance. Mine has 3" of compression, and 2" of rebound.

On my last set-up, i left the bump stops but cut them down to 3/4 to 1" at LCA (i had cut the snot outa my hotchkis springs to get desired ride height) once cut, no bump (well, when i wasn't dukes of hazzard'in it), i tend to drive the car like my Katoom, perhaps i should stop doing that.....

Judging by your control arms and bump stops, you have way more rebound than compresson available in your suspension. Is your shock in the same place in the stroke? Let's pretend you have 1.5 inches of compression left at the wheel. That will likely result in half that at the grease zerk?

Taking some measurements and then running the suspension through its range without the springs will allow you to dial it all in. Raising the car will need to happen either way if you want to be anywhere close to your shock sweet spot and greatest handling capabilities.

This is why people buy subframes. :sarcasm_smiley:

As long as you don't drop it too fast off the floor jack....I don't see any issues.