Front spring verus ride height on a G body.
06-25-2011, 06:40 AM
#1
Senior Member
DYNO OPERATOR
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: central Illinois
Posts: 459
Front spring verus ride height on a G body.
After upgrading to aftermarket tubular upper and lower A arms on my 1980 Malibu G body BBC bracket car, I discovered I had a ride height issue.
With the OEM A arms, the lower bump stops were holding up the front end. The new tube A arms don't have bump stops. When the car comes down from a wheel stand it lets the tires touch the plastic inner fender wells, and thats not good. I have installed clamp on bump stops, but really the front springs are the issue.
Also the front end is so low I can't get the alignment correct. I want 3.5 degrees caster on the drivers side and 4.0 on the passenger. With all the shims pulled from the upper front bolt I can't get more than 2 on the driver and 3 on the passenger. Higher ride height should correct this?
It had unknown springs so I took the front end weight with me in the car, 1650# and used the Moroso chart to order 47205 springs. They are rated at 242#/in. for 1650-1750 # front end rate
.
Well, when I removed the old springs I saw they looked pretty much the same as the new ones except they had 1/2 coil cut off them. The new ones set at the same ride height, too low.
So now there is 1 Moroso spring heavier, 47135 rated at 250#/in. and for 1750-1850 front end weight.
Anyone have experience with this situation or know of a better spring for the application?
With the OEM A arms, the lower bump stops were holding up the front end. The new tube A arms don't have bump stops. When the car comes down from a wheel stand it lets the tires touch the plastic inner fender wells, and thats not good. I have installed clamp on bump stops, but really the front springs are the issue.
Also the front end is so low I can't get the alignment correct. I want 3.5 degrees caster on the drivers side and 4.0 on the passenger. With all the shims pulled from the upper front bolt I can't get more than 2 on the driver and 3 on the passenger. Higher ride height should correct this?
It had unknown springs so I took the front end weight with me in the car, 1650# and used the Moroso chart to order 47205 springs. They are rated at 242#/in. for 1650-1750 # front end rate
.
Well, when I removed the old springs I saw they looked pretty much the same as the new ones except they had 1/2 coil cut off them. The new ones set at the same ride height, too low.
So now there is 1 Moroso spring heavier, 47135 rated at 250#/in. and for 1750-1850 front end weight.
Anyone have experience with this situation or know of a better spring for the application?
