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suspension Issues.

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the springs are not symm. i believe they have a long side and a short side , as measured from centerbolt to the eye on either end. i don't recall which is which. but it would be hard to confuse them due to the pre installed bushing in the front.

Dr_E , you did not mention your spring supplier, i purchased from the Lady in Kansas and had no problem returning them well after the cut off date. seems they had a bit of trouble with a lot of springs.
BTW nice lookin car...Tahiti Blue ?


i am paying close attention to this thread because i have basically the same problem, car does not sit level. i have tried 3 sets of springs, swapped side to side, front and rear. my shackles have the same angle. However the car sits about 3/4 inch low on the d/s.
about the only conclusion i have come to is the body shell may be twisted. i did some floorpan rust repairs in the usual spots along the rockers and behind the seats. One side a little worse than the other. but still didnt think it was that bad. and it is possible the rockers werent paralell when this was done. and the DPO let car sit for a long time on unequal tires.
some folks say learn to love the lean, others claim the bodyshells take a set over time and the fact that all the weight is usually on the d/s. most say that the shells are rather fragile.

Mark
 
Hello SU,

there is no need to put up with that lean, if you make up or buy a spacer to put between the axle and the spring on the high side.

Alec
cheers.gif
 
Hi Piman, i have thought of that...but i wonder about handling? and a correction like that is bound to show up somewhere , probaly the front wold then be off.

Mark
 
I belive the springs came from victoria Britsh, Im not even sure if i could find the paperwork at this point. I ordered a front shock at the same time and i still havent gotten that on either (being 150Miles away hurts progress) Physically the springs look nice, no cracks anywhere. It has to be an issue with the arching when i get home next i will look for all the paper work. I dont relish the thought of having to remove and replace them again. What a pain! maybe if i can get the modified bracket to work i will do that for the time being. Ill just take it auto X'ing and break a leaf again then i can justify buying yet another new one.
Also, no.. you cant put the spring on backwards, there is a front and a rear side but they are obvious and will not simply not bolt up another way. its on correctly. something is just messed up.
The color IIRC is "Teal Blue" it was the original Color. I could be wrong with that but thats what comes to mind. It needs painted again. The camera is kind to my car. The mustang is Bimini Blue.

Dr.
 
Hello SU,

I would think that the front is already off if one side is low at the back, because not only will the other rear be high also the front opposite to the low rear should be as well. I believe that is what they do with racing cars, put a scale on each wheel in turn and adjust the suspension height to get equal weights across each axle.

Alec
cheers.gif
 
Dr_E,
Hey ya all ready been there once ...twice as easy the second time around. Its nice to have new hardware


Piman,
yea the front is off but is not as noticable as the rear.
i didnt know that about balancing racecars. Neat
Think i could do that with a pair of HD bathroom scales?


mark
 
LBC's were never made to perfection.

Determining whether a car is really sitting level is not as easy as it sounds. The problem is what to measure to or what to eyeball. The way these cars were made & how repairs have been done along the way make it very hard to find anything reliable to measure to. Fenders, bumpers & frames may be off from side to side. My car appeared to be low on the left front. I could prove it OR disprove it depending on where I measured. Also the back appeared to be slightly low on the left.

I finally lowered the right front 3/4". The front looked good but the back looked a bit crooked so I adjusted the rear bumper side to side to make it parallel with the road. The bumper parallel to the road is the biggest visual cue. If it "looks" ok I doubt if the rest really matters. Even new high quality cars will often be off 1/2" or more side to side.
D
 
Are you sure you have the right springs. When I ordered them for my 76, there where 3 different spring loads available. Sorry I don't remember which years required which. But I don't think my 76 called for the stiffest spring. I think the early 70 models called for the stiffer springs. In fact, I remember thinking that if the new springs didn't solve the lean I was going to install the stiffer ones.
 
I only recall seeing one spring listing for my car. i think it fits all the 1275 midgets. So i am pretty sure i ordered the correct part. the Springs had stickers on them that had "1275 midget" written on them. Another thing is both springs i ordered were the same part number. I would think that if i ordered the wrong ones... both sides would be messed up. Not sure though. I dont have a catalog here but how many rear leafs does your catalog list for a 1275cc 73 midget?

Dr.
 
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