Lewis;
I'm not going to tell you what spring rate you should have, because you
haven't told us the intended use of your car, and I am no expert. But I
will tell you of my experience.
My car came to me with the ass up/nose down attitude of a period drag
racer.
I incorrectly assumed that the front springs had lost their lift, and
ordered a set of 340# springs from Coil Spring Specialties
http://www.coilsprings.com/ of St. Mary's Kansas. I chose 340# as it
seemed a reasonable compromise of all the conflicting advice I got off
this list. (I got suggestions I should try everything from stock to the
killer-ride 650's!)
When I got the cross member off my car at the beginning of a complete
suspension re-build, I discovered it (the cross member) had basically
suffered the traditional collapse, the repair of which is documented in
an excellent article on the TAE website by someone else.
On re-assembly, with the cross-member repaired, I installed the new
springs, and, with the nose riding where it should, I can tell you for
my kind of driving, on my local roads, the 340's are way to stiff. We
have very bumpy roads here, and I like to drive relatively long
distances in something approaching comfort. My Tiger's ride is closer to
an unsprung buckboard than a long-distance comfort ride.
So my message is this: be very specific in the kind of driving you want
to do when you ask for advice. If you have no intention of ever
autocrossing, track-day blasting around your nearest race track, or
driving really fast in the twisties in the boonies nearest you, be
careful about going too stiff at either end of your car.
Cheers and good luck with your repair ,
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of RMEbstein@aol.com
Sent: July 22, 2005 12:51 PM
To: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Springs
Lewis,
I recently installed the 450 lb springs. There are 650 lb springs
available,
which I assume would be just strictly for race Tigers. The 450's are
stiff
enough, but I don't drive my Tiger that much so the stiffness hasn't
bothered
me yet. I did purchase a set of new CAT springs from eBay and put them
on a
shelf in my garage just in case I felt the 450's were to stiff down the
road.
The CAT springs are out of production for many years. I was told by
some
people on the List that the CAT springs, while they ride more
comfortably, may
experience some nose dive under hard braking. I cannot verify that
experience.
Also, I think Rob Guerra of Flying Tiger Enterprises in Northern
California
was developing a 550 lb coil spring. Something in between the 450 and
650
offered by Dale A. I do not know the status of these springs, but his
email
address is _tiger351w@comcast.net_ (mailto:tiger351w@comcast.net) .
Rodney
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