[Spits] Rear Spring reply

[Jim Muller]

On 10 Nov 2009 at 20:32, Greg Stull wrote:

> It was taken Saturday after I let the car down from the jacks.
> So it was probably sitting a little high.

Oh, well that's okay then.

> I checked my Haynes manual and it said the rear should be 0 to 2
> degree negative camber. Is this correct and how do you measure that?

If Haynes said so, it probably is.  There are several way you might 
measure it.  With swing axles the sheel is always normal to the 
halfshaft, so you can just measure the halshaft.  For example, if you 
have a flat, level garage floor you could measure the distance from 
floor to the bottom of a halfshaft at two points a known distance 
apart, then do the trig.  For two points separated by 12", -2deg 
camber means the outer distance from halfshaft to floor would be .42" 
greater than the inner distance.  [ 12 * sin(4deg) = .418 ]


> Also I'm thinking about doing what Joe said about letting the
> car down with everything loose and then tighten the bolts.

And I'm wondering if Joe wasn't pulling your chain, stirring up your 
fluif or something.  What bolts are we talking about?  Both ends of 
the trailing arm, vertical strut to spring end, shock mounts.  All 
those bolts are meant to pivot with suspension movement, except 
perhaps the shock mounts.  Even if they weren't, surely the torque 
retained by the bushing isn't enough to hold the car higher off the 
ground.  Having the tires bowed inward after you lower it to the car 
can hold the car upward, but not those bolts!


> Does anybody know how thick the original rubber spacers were?

I would imagine someone does.


-- 
Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com
'80 Spitfire, '70 GT6+