Tom I forgot to mention the charge for the springs at coil spring specialies
was $150.00, what I thought was a real deal. Stan in Sarasota
>From: "Tom Witt" <wittsend@jps.net>
>Reply-To: "Tom Witt" <wittsend@jps.net>
>To: <tigers@autox.team.net>
>Subject: confounding ride height nonsense - hopefully solved
>Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 23:05:55 -0700
>
>To clear up some confusion in the feedback I have been getting (and report
>my
>latest results) this is what happened:
>
>1. The stock Tiger springs had about a 1/2" free length difference. The
>shorter of the two was on the driver's side. The front sheet metal had
>damage
>enough to bend the front fenders at the center of the wheel opening.
>Someone
>had put in one of those screw-in spring lifters on the driver's side. It
>may
>have been to compensate for the shorter spring AND the fact that they had
>215-60-13's up front AND and the needed lift for clearance of the bent
>sheet
>metal. Frankly it could have been any combination of those reasons.
>
>2. The above is a mote point since I had purchased the CAT springs,
>replaced
>the front clip and will likely run about 195-60-13's. The real problem was
>to
>get the car to sit relatively level (side to side) with the slightest
>incline
>to the front (about 1/2" measured from the back to the front). Since the
>Tiger
>doesn't have a straight sill "level" is a difficult thing to define. It was
>recommended to me that I use the side trim as it is "supposed" to be level.
>On
>my car the stainless is missing, replaced by a tape pinstripe. Additionally
>it
>disappears at the Tiger script because of the replacement clip. The best I
>could do was draw a continuation of the pinstripe.
>
>3. When I first installed the CAT springs there was a slight upward incline
>at
>the front (about a 1/2") and I cut 3/8" off the coils (3/4" effect at the
>wheels) to give what I thought would be about a 1/4" downward incline to
>the
>front.
>
>4. Instead what I noticed was that the driver's side had about 1-1/2" gap
>at
>the bump stop and the passenger side had only 1/2" bumpstop gap. At the
>bump
>stop that is a lot of difference (66 percent)!
>
>5. Today's corrective action was to switch the CAT springs left to right. I
>had tested the springs on the same side with rather different results
>regardless that they were both 10-1/8" free standing. I had also originally
>installed a thin, strong reinforced rubber ring (1/8" - about 1/16th"
>compressed) on the bottom of each spring for quite operation. I took the
>ring
>off the diver's side and used it as a second ring on the passenger side.
>
> The end results are that the car sits much more level. I measured the
>A-arm
>to crossmember distance at two points. One at the bump stop and the other
>at
>the outer slot for the sway bar to the crossmember section where the two
>halfs
>join together.
>
>Here are the results:
>
>Installed without driver
>
> Bump stop Swaybar mount slot to crossmember weld
>section
>Driver 7/8" 3-1/2"
>Pass. 3/4" 3-3/16"
>
>With driver (Well, 116 lb's wife - but at 42 I won't complaint that she
>could
>have weighted more for the test!)
>
> Bump stop Swaybar mount slot to crossmember weld
>section
>Driver 5/8"+ 3-1/4"
>Pass. 3/4" 3-1/4"-
>
>The end results are that without a (light weight) driver the driver side is
>slightly above the passenger side bump stop, and with the driver the bump
>stop
>is slightly below the passenger bump stop. So, I guess that swapping
>springs
>and adding the reinforced rubber shims on the passenger side pretty much
>evened things out. I still think that the main problem is the compressed
>difference with the CAT springs, and for some unseen reason the driver's
>side
>seems slightly higher than the passenger side as it relates to the A-Arm
>and
>the crossmember gap.
> Also, the downward front inclination (measure at the side trim) is
>between
>5/8" and 3/4" which is minimal and right about what I was hoping for. All
>measurements were done without shocks and the car weighted as FULL wet.
> I'm still baffled though that the gap at the bump stop is so small.
>Anyone
>care to measure and give some feedback? It is somewhat hard to do because
>the
>rubber bumper is convex and the the stop on thecrossmember is concave. I
>used
>dividers for measuring internal dimentions.
>Thanks to all who responded, it is great support to know that you don't go
>it
>alone.
>
>Regards, Tom Witt B9470101
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