ride height

289, FIA & Daytona topics
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colin henry
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Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:35 pm
Location: walsall

ride height

Post by colin henry »

Hello All,Ihave a 289 fia, is it possible to reduce the ride height at all,i am running ford 302 with jag rear axle,the collars on the rear coliovers are almost at there limit of the threaded section of the coilover,i have read the article in the technical section regarding spring rates and was wondering if anyone has tried it out,
Regards Colin.
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clive
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Post by clive »

Hi Colin,
How many miles have you done in your car? I found that mine settled after a few hundred miles and now sits lower than it did at first.
Cheers, Clive.

(If I'm not here I'm in my workshop or on the golf course!)
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Roger King
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Post by Roger King »

If you are using Gerry's supplied rear springs, you will find they are shorter than the shock adjustment comfortably allows. You can wind them right down to the bottom of the thread and risk them coming loose, or fit some helper springs, obtainable from someone like Merlin Motorsport. If you need to go lower (and you shouldn't, as they will settle), go to the D Faulkner website where you will find more springs than you can shake a stick at.

Roger
colin henry
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:35 pm
Location: walsall

ride height

Post by colin henry »

Thanks for your replys guys,the car has done 3300 miles,and i have only had her for 400 of those, so i am not sure where the springs were sourced from,the car was kept outside for a couple of winters before i came into ownership, so the coilovers and springs are corroded somewhat ,so was thinking of replacing them at some point, how does the helper spring work,Thanks,
Colin.
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Roger King
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Post by Roger King »

A 'helper' spring is a short coil made of flat steel. It takes up the space if your 'real' springs don't reach both ends of the fitting, i.e. are wound down too far. It merely keeps the main spring in position so it won't fall out of the top mounting at full suspension travel, or when jacking the car up.
Having said that, it sounds like you would do better to fit new spring/damper units. Now there's a minefield to enter - the permutations are endless!

Roger
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Migge
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Post by Migge »

At thet point I would try to change the dampers as well if they are corroded. Try to use dampers 1" shorter and your spring are not going loose.

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Migge
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Roger King
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Post by Roger King »

I eventually got rid of the helper springs by shortening the dampers by about an inch.

Roger

Corrosion on dampers is only really an issue if the chrome shaft is rusted. The test for dampers, of course, is whether or not they dampen!
I have Gaz steel bodies on mine, about 5ish years old now and working perfectly still.
To shorten, remove the dampers, unscrew the top fitting from the shaft (held on with a locknut), run a tap down the thread to increase it by the amount you want to cut off, cut off what has become the excess, and re-thread the end fitting. I had thought there might be an issue with hardened surfaces, but there wasn't. Make sure you have a good quality HSS tap.
The shortening process became more important on my car after I had converted the rear drive shafts and wishbones to outboard discs - the slightly shorter wishbones meant that the UJ knuckles did not rotate cleanly on fully relaxed suspension. Still not really a big issue, but if you're going to do a job, you might as well do it properly....
Wynterburne
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Post by Wynterburne »

Hi, I have found the answer to the ride height. Two large rolls of turf in the boot seem to have the desired effect and also provide a tad lighter steering! At least that was the case on the way back from the garden centre yesterday.

I can assure you the ride height does not change with miles, mine hasn't changed in 7,000 miles, the car is far too light to have much effect.

The article in the mag was I think from Dave Pilbeam, I seem to remember he said it made no difference. Cutting an inch off the springs may have been more effective.

Regards

Richard
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Roger King
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Post by Roger King »

My springs (on the original Jag XJ6 setup) settled about 1" over the first year of use. You can get a good ride height with Gerry's spec, but as stated earlier this means screwing the dampers to the bottom of their adjustment, hence the need for helper springs, or shortening the damper as I suggested.
If you use the (superior) XJ40 setup with outboard calipers, you will need either a slightly shorter damper or, again, to shorten them slightly to obviate the risk of the UJ binding.
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clive
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Post by clive »

Hi Richard, I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with you and second what Roger says. My car also settled by about 3/4" after the first few months, so much in fact that I had to alter the ramp into my workshop as the exhaust started to drag on the ground every time I went in or out!
Cheers, Clive.

(If I'm not here I'm in my workshop or on the golf course!)
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