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Re: Ride Height

To: larry.p@erols.com
Subject: Re: Ride Height
From: James Barrett <jamesbrt@mindspring.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 19:57:07 -0500
At 07:17 PM 3/10/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Jim.  I have been restoring my MKI and have just put the front and
>rear suspension back on.  This is a total ground up resto.  The problem
>is the ride height in front and back.  Engine, trans in car, but
>radiator and coolant not in yet.  Here is what has been done.
>
>Front - Frame rails straight, crossmember welded, and reinforced, all
>bushing replaced, and all a arms, fulcrum pins, etc. examined and OK,
>and all put back together.
>
>CAT 330"/lb. springs installed.  Classic Sunbeam rubber insulators.
>
>Rear - Springs disassembled, sand blasted, and painted with POR-15, and
>reassembled with original "buttons" that were in good shape.  Original
>eye bushings were in good shape, and springs reassembled using standard
>shackles, and the rest of std Tiger suspension.
>
>Height of car in front is 9 5/8" vs 6 1/8"
>
>Height of car in rear is 9 1/4" vs 6/3/4". 
>
>These height are per an article from Larry Wright.  Height is measured
>at the vertical seam on the bottom of the car, starting from the rear of
>the front fender arch and extending to the front of the rear fender arch
>of the car.  The heights are taken at the front and rear of this
>vertical seam.
>
>The car is up about 3" too high and I know from previous articles in CAT
>some have cut front springs, 1 coil. 
>
>I need to bring the car down in the front and rear.
>
>Can you help.  Thanks.
>
>Larry
        Assuming you didn't measure incorrectly or have the Tiger on
jack stands, you definately have a major problem unless there
is no motor or transmission in the Tiger.
  With 225-50-15" on the rear of my Tiger II I am only at 7". 
         Sounds like something is bound up.  Remember the rear axle goes 
above the rear spring not under the springs. 
         Did you tighten up all the A arm bushing retaining
nuts (and nuts for rear spring bushings) while the Tiger was up on jack stands?
 Never tighten the nuts until the Tiger is at normal ride height, 
else you will damage the bushings in short order. 
         Did you remove the old rubber insulators from the
front end before you installed the new ones?  Are the CAT spring 
designed to use the rubber bushings? The bushings are good for
an inch or so of ride height.  Did the spring fit nicely in the
grove of the rubber insulator?  Did you install the insulator
upside down?
         Are the new coil springs binding in the hole? 
         Are the coil springs located properly over the hump on the
lower A arm? 
         An extra 3" height on the front with 330 lb/in is equivilent
to more than 990 lb of missing weight given 2 X 330lb/in X 3"  divided by 
the ratio of the distance from the piviots of the lower A arm to the 
center of the spring mount and the distance from the center of the spring
mount to the centerline of the tire, roughly 1:2. 
        I also assume you do not have extreamly tall tires, because they
would not fit fore and aft in the wheel wells.
        When I measured Tiger front springs I got 174 lb/in. Three inches
to high would indicate 522 lbs of missing weight.  With the 330 lb springs
one would expect a higher front end if the length of the springs were
the same between the original and the new.  I assume the 330 springs are
shorter, but I have no data on their length. If lengths were known
one could calculate the equivilent change in height for specific weights.
        Make sure you did not replace the shocks with threaded rods and
forgot to replace them.  One uses threaded rods to locate the front
and rear end when attempting to find the center of gravity of a Tiger.
Need to hold the suspension at a fixed level while jacking the Tiger at
least two feet in the air on one end.
        If your shocks are frozen due to rust etc. then the shocks could
also be holding you up in the air.
        Loosen the nuts on all the bushings ( front and rear) and then 
bounce the Tiger to settle a bit. Tighten the bushing nuts after you get the
ride height close to what you want.
        Complete the radiator check all the items above and drive around 
a bit before chopping springs.

James Barrett Tiger II 351C and others


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