Rear ride height adjustment

[Arne]

I set mine even side to side, as 90% of my miles in the car will be with my wife as a passenger. If I was driving solo most of the time, I'd probably have the left higher.

[NorthernThrux]

I set mine even side to side, as 90% of my miles in the car will be with my wife as a passenger. If I was driving solo most of the time, I'd probably have the left higher.

hah, hah. My wife called Hildegard a noisy, unairconditioned tin can on a recent trip up to Lake Huron. So I think I can set the suspension asymmetrically....

[Arne]

hah, hah. My wife called Hildegard a noisy, unairconditioned tin can on a recent trip up to Lake Huron. So I think I can set the suspension asymmetrically....

My wife is fine with it so far, even drives it occasionally. Of course, that may change when summer temps finally arrive around here. I don't expect to get the factory A/C re-installed and enhanced this year. Should be OK for next, however.

[Boulder Bob]

Thanks everyone. Will aim for about 36 deg. Richy, the guidance of 3 mm per degree is very useful, so I can go from what it is currently set up to, to the desired height in one trial (lol). I read Bruce Anderson's book last night and he says "Adjusting the torsion bar one inside tooth up and the swingarm one tooth down produces a swingarm change of approximately 50 min and a vehicle height change of approximately 6.5 mm". Hmmm. It's easy math anyways, once I can measure the distances from the torsion bar centre to the perpendicular to the contact patch and the centre of the axle. I'll figure it out.

I found this old road test panel for the 2.2S in R&T, back when it was a real magazine with technical specs and all. Measuring from the scale, the front fender lip was 27" and the rear was 26". Hub centre is at a hair under 12" which is consistent with the 301.5 mm I measured, so it's all self-consistent. These cars were setup pretty high from the factory, at least in the US. That 27" front is entirely consistent with my estimation of the front from the rear 39 deg spring plate angle that ER says is stock US ride height. I like it when the numbers come together.

Ravi

Attachment 527914

The headline for the R&T Road Test was "Performance of an American Muscle Car without the stigma of low price" - or something like that

[NorthernThrux]

The headline for the R&T Road Test was "Performance of an American Muscle Car without the stigma of low price" - or something like that

Yep, that was the byline. Had to chuckle.

[Richy]

I made a mistake in my previous post , a 1 degree difference in the spring plate angle = about 7 mm difference in the ride height , I checked my notes and this is in line with Bruce Anderson's
recommendation . So good luck .

[NorthernThrux]

OK. Good to solve that little mystery. Since the smallest increment is 50 seconds, it looks like the smallest height change is ~6 mm. So 3 clicks CCW on the inner spline and 3 clicks CW on the outer spline and I should have about 18 mm or 0.7” higher. About what I’m looking for.

Too hot to work on the car for the forseeable future, but excited to try this. Since all the hardware was cleaned, replated and lubed, it should be relatively easy to do this (fingers crossed).

Ravi

[Arne]

Here's what I worked out as a cheat sheet, as I no longer trust math I do in my head.

I note here that while I thought I went for 36°, looks like I set it at 35°20' instead. Which may be why I don't do math in my head any more.

[NorthernThrux]

Labour day weekend, so time for some labour. Took about 5 hours yesterday to reindex the torsion bars to 36.3 deg on each side. It was around 29 deg L and 31 R with fender heights of 25.5 “ L and 25 5/8” R. Was really disappointed because all the effort to reindex gave me a too tall fender height of 27” or 22.4 mm measured the official way. Official spec is 12 +- 5 mm. Slept fitfully last night, partly because of the thunderstorms and partly because I wasn’t looking forward to another 5 hours of wrenching.

I did know the suspenion would settle a bit, and sure enough this morning, the fender is about a 1/4” lower and the official way of measuring gives me 17 mm which is right at the upper spec. I imagine with drivng it will drop further.

And idea how much more it will drop with some use? I have read 1-2 cm drop from initial heght is pretty typical on G body cars.

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend.

Ravi

EDIT: This settling was after 14 hours of sitting on my 4post lift.

[Arne]

Ravi, I'd expect it to drop a bit more after driving. Not a lot, and how much it drops is dependent on compliance of your bushings in back, especially the big spring plate bushings. Best guess is another 2-3mm. Which would put you in the heart of the factory range.