[Spits] Rear Spring

[Joe Curry]

Dennis,
The swing-spring that is installed on all square tail Spits is a pretty weak
affair and is prone to the sag that you describe.  Since there are fewer
leaves than the early Spits had and only the main leaf is solidly attached
to the diff, even a new spring will start to sag sooner or later. (more
likely sooner if you drive it a lot).

You can have it re-arched by a spring shop or reverse the direction so that
the sagging side is on the passenger side of the car and your weight will
balance it out if you are alone.

Several people have installed air shocks on the rear that can be pumped up
to increase the height of the car.  I suppose that is an option.  KYB shocks
are gas charged and help take some of the stress off the spring by
offsetting the load.  But never use them on the back of an early Spit
because the extra lift causes the rear camber to go Positive. 

Cheers,
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: spitfires-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:spitfires-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Dennis Reese
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 10:11 PM
To: Greg Stull
Cc: Spitfire Group
Subject: Re: [Spits] Rear Spring

I've been following this thread because my 1500 suffers from driver's  
side rear end sag and my next project is to fix it. I've been told to  
"replace the spring itself", "replace the shocks", "do both",  
"replace the front coils". I had planned to replace the spring, but  
after reading what Greg has done i wonder if that might be the  
solution. Any advice, thoughts from the experts?

Thanks,
Dennis

On Nov 8, 2009, at 6:11 PM, Greg Stull wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I finished putting in the disks in the rear leaf spring Saturday.  
> Sure made an
> improvement. The rear of the car now sits higher and the rear  
> wheels don't
> lean in as much.
>
> Went on a ride this afternoon with my Dad to give it a test with  
> two people in
> the car. It came down a little but it wasn't anything like before.  
> I even
> think it rides better. We took the Spit on some rough roads too.
>
> Went down to show a friend who owns a Spitfire and he could tell the
> difference as soon as I turned on his street. He couldn't believe the
> difference. Now, he wished he would done it to his old leaf spring  
> instead of
> buying a new one.
>
> Now the next test is going to be time.
>
> Greg
> 1978 Spitfire 1500
>
> Here's a link to some pictures I took while working on the leaf  
> spring.
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/gastul76/SpitfireSpring?feat=directlink
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