big problem varishocks

[el-camino]

hmm, i think so.
i send marcus a email, and we will wait again.
the old stock a-arms with the hotchkis springs have a straight line under the car, the new spohn arms have a angle up !
i will post later new pics.

[el-camino]

hmm, markus send me now a mail.
mark says:

You`ve got the ride height set WAY too
low. The suspension is bottomed out. Add some preload to the ride height
adjusters.


when i give more pre-load, the spring have no more space for working.
the coil windings are for the moment narrow nearby

[Marcus SC&C]

This is all part of putting a really adjustable suspension in a car. You need to adjust it. The motion ratio of the coil over is such that 1/2" of coil over travel equals about 1" of wheel travel. On a lowered car we don`t have much jounce travel left so the coil over shows even less. That looks funny to people at first but as long as the coils aren`t actually touching at any point (coil bind) you`re fine. Using a longer spring would mean that it`s compressed height is also higher and it would coil bind before the shock has used it`s full travel. It`s permissible to use a 1" coil spring preload spacer and it`s sometimes a handy tuning aid but it shouldn`t be necessary with 575lb/in springs on a small block G body. We can`t help without enough information though. We need more info as far as where the lower seat is (can`t see it in the pic). Posting threads like this before the client has even spoken to the vendor is almost always counter productive because you end up with a lot of wild speculation from (well meaning) people who have never worked with the system before. It just muddys the water and makes it harder to get things done. It`s best done after the tuning is done,then it can be a help to others. Mark SC&C

[el-camino]

hi markus,
i have you now send a mail with pics.
adjust is not the problem, the problem are the spohn arms.
i have now the springs fully compressed, for the arms can free moving.

chassis grinding is the next

[el-camino]

yeep, here is the problem
first pic, under the car, springs fully compressed.
messurement from centerbolt to a-arm


second pic
old a-arm, messurement from a-arm to centerbolt



difference 0.7"

[Marcus SC&C]

Klaus and I have been working this over and the primary issue is that the car is simply set much too low. He raised the ride height some and the arms had a lot more clearance. At this point the pivot axis of the lower ball joints was still above the inner pivot axis where the arms bolt to the frame. That`s too low. You want the inner pivot far enough above that you allow for some brake dive before the geometry goes south. See pic. The orange line is level. The red line shows where a line between the pivot axis is now (at the "raised ride height") and the blue shows where it really should be for best geometry and performance. Basically the Spohn arms use the cross bar in lieu of a bumpstop to prevent over compressing the suspension and causing shock or steering linkage damage.



At that height the car is still about 1.5" or so lower than stock and everything has plenty of clearance and travel. If you want the car lower for cosmetic reasons simply use tall lower ball joints (in this application) or spindles with some additional drop like AFXs and you can have lots of travel,great geometry and the stance you want. Coil overs aren`t the end all be all of lowering a car and making it handle,they`re just another useful tool in the box. Like any tool they have to be used properly for best performance. A new option BTW are the SPC Performance tubular lower arms which offer 1" of additional drop and more clearance as well as enhanced geometry and bumpstops. We`ll have them up on the site as soon as our web guy gets off his butt. Mark SC&C

[el-camino]

yesterday i have my first rollout after the wintertime
the bad news first.
the car is undriveably.
why ?
the car is now 2.5 inch lower than before with the Hotchkis springs.
steering is the biggest problem, you cant turn from left to right.
the car is definitive to low.
i think this are 7" long varisprings, will i helps when i replace this with 9" ?

and last but not least, the biggest joke are the lower tubular a arms from spohn.
this a-arms have no steering stop limit and no bump stops.
the centering for the ball joints is not the same as on stock arms.
and this will say, i come with the steering parts more backwards.
i think i replace the lower arms and buy the g-plus from global west.
the global west have all the features, bump stops, steering stops.
greets
klaus