Re: New Thread (was REALLY, REALLY SMALL...)
Jarrid Gross (GROSS(at)unit.com)
Tue, 18 Jun 1996 13:44:00 -0700
I just rebuilt the front suspension on my 62 alpine, and found rubber
insulators on them as well. The thickness of the rubber was about .6
inches. I recently went through an excersise on fitting my hipo alpine with
stiffer springs. I calculated the spring rate on my original springs "using
factory literature" to be 250 lbs/inch. I found some springs that are the
proper dimension with 350 lbs/inch. This lowered the car by about 1 inch
over stock. The spring rate is pretty stiff and prabably not acceptable for
a daily driver. Also the shocks are no longer damped properly and I will
have to fit adjustable "higher" damping rate shocks for bounce free driving.
Although there are significant differences in front suspension between our
cars "SII vs. SV" the later suspension has its pivotal point closer in than
that of the early cars and consequently have slightly longer springs of
slightly higher rate. Using the spring that I have in my car would give
more than a 2 inch drop on your car with a less radical spring rate. If you
or anyone else are interested, these are aftermarket Pantera front springs
and are 9.9 inches incompressed "compared with 12.5 inches for SIV". Laden
length is about 7 inches at 950 lbs load.