Dennis,
Unfortunately, it is "the nature of the beast". Your sag is due to the
inherently bad design of the swing-spring rear suspension used on the Spits.
The longer axles put a greater load on the weaker springs and will
inevitably cause the sag you are witnessing.
You can treat the symptom by replacing the shocks with gas charged ones of
Corvette style air bags as some people have done. Or you can eliminate the
problem by replacing the spring with a fixed spring from an earlier (Mk1-3)
Spit. If you do this, you will probably need to install a camber
compensator to prevent the resulting wheel tuck.
The swing spring was used to eliminate the wheel tuck but with it came the
problem you are seeing as well as reduced roll stiffness and the
accompanying additional body roll in turns.
Regards,
Joe Curry
-----Original Message-----
From: spitfires-owner@autox.team.net [mailto:spitfires-owner@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Dennis Reese
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 8:23 PM
To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: sagging rear/advice
Greetings,
My '77 Spit has a pronounced driver's side sag in the rear. Fixing it
is next on my list and I'm wondering if new shocks will take care of
it (recommendations? - I'm doing that anyway regardless) or do I need
to replace the spring?
Thanks,
Dennis Reese
Arlington, WA
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