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Thread: Question for rear ride height experts

  1. #1

    Question for rear ride height experts

    Well my 69 E coupe restoration is very near completion. I have not had the car aligned yet. I set the rear suspension using the ride height calculator that was available on Rennlist, and it worked very well. Everything in the rear suspension, is either new or completely rebuilt. The car only has test miles on it and no hard cornering speeds. My issue is this, the rear ride height differs from side to side by about 3/4 of an inch which is driving my eye nuts! The question is without having the car aligned and everything settled in the rear after some driving should I correct this imbalance now or wait until everything is completed and it's a true driver for a while? If I do need to correct it now, how much correction is needed in inner or outer splines? The rear is currently at 24" on the passanger's side, and about 24.75" on the drivers side. I want both at 24", so will rotating the drivers outer spline counterclockwise by one spline achieve the desired effect? Yes when my 180lbs is in the car it's much closer to even, but still not correct! Will rear alignment change the current side to side difference? Thanks for any advice you can give me...Steve
    1969 911 E #824

  2. #2
    Jack up the front of the car right under the tow hook to clear the front wheels of the ground, then remeasure the rear. This will ensure that a front torsion bar adjustment isn't adversly affecting the rear. You don't want more than a 1/4, 3/8ths " difference in the rear (with just the rear wheels on the ground) But you do want the preload on the left side (driver weight)
    Early S Registry member #90
    R Gruppe member #138
    Fort Worth Tx.

  3. #3
    I'll give that a try this weekend, and re-measure.
    1969 911 E #824

  4. #4
    Moderator Chuck Miller's Avatar
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    Jack up the front of the car right under the tow hook to clear the front wheels of the ground, then remeasure the rear. This will ensure that a front torsion bar adjustment isn't adversly affecting the rear. You don't want more than a 1/4, 3/8ths " difference in the rear (with just the rear wheels on the ground) But you do want the preload on the left side (driver weight)
    Ed, thanks for the simple real world check...

    Comes at an opportune time...
    My 'set-up' was causing me concern by being too low in the front.... Not only was I scrapping on EVERYTHING but I was getting some nervous under steer turning in hot... So up it needed to come....
    So... I call my set-up guy and ask if cranking the front end up 'a little' will mass up my set-up.... Marty said "Of course, any adjustment to the ride height will have an affect on camber and toe, what are we talk'n about?"
    I said about 1/2 and 5/8"... He said "It's a street car, don't worry go for it"....

    So, about 3 weeks ago I crank up front end, settle, and measure, and measure again, and find a kid in the neighborhood to sit in the drivers seat ... and measure... and we're good... turns out my 1/2" came out to 5/8 and 3/4".....

    So... I take it up in hills and car feels MUCH better with more clearance, more suspension travel, and it dialed out the nervous pre-turn plow.....

    So... This afternoon I turned to Ed's handy dandy check and jacked the front up to check the difference in deck to rear wheel well... and son-of-a-gun ... I'm between 1/8 and 3/16 pre-load on the drivers side....

    Thanks Ed....
    Chuck Miller
    Creative Advisor/Message Board Moderator - Early 911S Registry #109
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  5. #5
    Sure thing Chuck,,,,this simple test doesn't replace real corner weighting,,,but it does work to even out gross mis-adjustments. Done this many times as a good quick fix for street cars. As you found out with your handling analysis, being too low just causes the shocks to ride on the bump stops and then you cease having a suspension. Being super low make look good sitting still,,,,,but as for handling,,,,,,:
    Early S Registry member #90
    R Gruppe member #138
    Fort Worth Tx.

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