While I have a great deal of respect for Joe's knowledge and skills with a
Spitfire, his answer seems to contradict my engineering understanding of
Spit swing-spring suspension.
Surely the point about the Swing Spring is that it has very low roll
stiffness. The load is taken at the centre of the spring, so there is
little scope for one side to be weakened more than the other - if one side
was weaker, the spring would simply swing to compensate - which it would do
without changing the angle of the car (very much).
Almost all the roll stiffness comes from the front of the car. Therefore,
to correct a lean, you need to replace the front springs and sway-bar - or,
to adapt Joe's suggestion, swap the springs side-to-side and turn the
sway-bar over, to move the lean to the passenger side, so that your weight
will counteract the lean once you are in the car.
Alternatively, a popular quick-fix is to fit gas shock absorbers, which can
be adjusted to add ride height on one side and not the other.
BTW, I have heard people say that their Spit leans to the drivers side at
the rear, which is why they immediately leap to the conclusion that it is
the rear spring that needs replacing. Unless they have actually managed to
twist the chassis of their car, it leans exactly as much at the front as it
does at the rear - it just tends to be more visible at the rear because of
the styling.
I replaced my sagging rear spring (mainly 'cos I had a contact with a good
one he didn't need, having designed and built his own custom suspension),
and while it raised the rear a little, it did nothing to correct the lean on
my car.
Richard Gosling
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