Okay,...now that I've opened a can of worms!!! Here's the final measurements
I've acheived from lowering this Series 3 front end.
24.5" from ground to fender lip bottom edge.
2.5" between tire and fender lip bottom edge.
I didn't think to measure before I started doing this, but I'd say I gained 2"
as a result. It has a very nice stance and the gap between the front and rear
tires and the fender lip is the same, 2.5". The measurement from the floor to
the front and rear fender lips are also the same, 24.5". It is now aproxamately
.5" lower than my Harrington 'A' with stock Alpine Series II springs, which
would be Rootes part # 1201465 acording to Scott Christie. This is the early
Series II spring number. Acording to David Kellogg, the spring rate should be
increased by removing the top of the spring. I would have to say that this is
true. It does appear to have a noticeable increase in stiffness, but not a
whole lot. It should still ride very nice. Dave says that the Rule of thumb for
cutting springs is that one full turn of a coil equals about 10% of the total
spring rate in pounds. Thanks everyone for the input on this topic. I'll let
you know how it rides after I finish off his interior. Overall, this should be
a very nice Series 3 GT. Jason had started the restoration from a 90% rust free
body that I had purchased from Eric Gibeaut many years ago. Jason had a buddy
paint the car for him and for the most part, it turned out all right. I think
the painter got a bit in a hurry towards the end and overlooked a couple little
dings. I just went to pick up the bonnet and boot lid and I'm not happy with
the work on them at all. So, I think I will strip them and have them redone by
someone who knows what they're doing. (Jan are you reading this? Cause I've got
a little job for you.). I rebuilt and installed a 1725cc engine for it this
summer and it runs great! One Rick's stainless exhausts really makes it sound
good too. All that's left is the interior, which I've started on and need to
get completed sometime soon. Jason lives in Naples Florida, so if any of you
southern guys see him driving his black RHD Series 3, be nice to him. He's a
good guy. He's also looking for a Hard Top to finish off the project.
Jay Laifman wrote:
> Ian, funny you should mention front end ride height. I have been looking
> into it these past few days. I have brought this up before too. My very
> late SV always sat very high - like no engine. I can easily fit my fist in
> there. In fact, I've measured from the top of the tire (with a 2x4 on it
> to extend out the top) to the bottom of the lip is currently 4.5" (with low
> profile tires)! But, I have realized that there are lots of Alpines like
> this. Take a look, for example, at the SV in the R&T article on page 132
> of the Gold Porfolio. The picture in the Gold Portfolio is in some
> shadows. I don't have the original. But, you can make out a pretty high
> gap. When I asked about this last, I remember though that a couple of
> people went and measured their gaps and came back with 3.5".
>
> At the last car show I went to there were around 10 or 12 Alpines. I could
> easily fit my fist plus more in most of those - especially the SV's.
>
> I've been busy looking at all the pictures of Alpines in all my various
> Sunbeam books, especially period shots, as opposed to more recent shots of
> cars that probably have sagging springs anyway and are not a good example
> (or course ALL of our cars are probably sagging by now). I have even been
> measuring the gap in the pictures. What I have been doing is measuring the
> distance between the center of the front wheel to the bottom of the
> wheelwell lip straight above, and measuring the wheel from edge to edge
> along the same line. Then I have been coming up with a ratio of the wheel
> to the distance from the center to the lip. I know this is very
> unscientific. But, I do believe it shows that many of the later Alpines
> sit up much higher than I had realized. (I know there is distortion in the
> pictures too, but figure the ratio should still stay the same)
>
> I think it's odd that your S3 has the same problem. Most of the S3
> pictures show a pretty "normal" gap.
>
> Another thing that might be involved is the tire height. My ratio
> calculations mentioned above eliminates the tire issue - since regardless
> of how high profile the tire is, the distance between the center of the
> wheel and the wheelwell lip will stay the same. I am running Michelin
> XZX's. I don't have the size here at work. But, I believe they are low
> profile, which would increase the gap size by a little.
>
> Also, in some of the pictures where the gap in front is small, I noticed
> the gap in the rear is smaller too.
>
> Finally, although I know Ian knows this, when you install new springs, you
> have to loosen the nuts that hold the A arms to the rods (I forget the
> technical name of those rods - you know, the ones that break on the Tigers
> - pins, some sort of pins). Once it settles back down, you can tighten
> them back up.
>
> As to the rubber isolator, there are three available. There is the stock
> one that is being remade. There is the CAT one which is much thicker
> (because it was designed to go with a certain spring). And there is the
> Ford Capril one which is thinner than the stock one. Of course, you can
> eliminate it all together - which will give more vibration and road noise
> up through the car.
>
> I presume this constant changing of height may have been intentional. I
> don't know if there was some wheel rubbing problems, or other steering
> problems they thought they were fixing. Or, if it was thought that it
> de-emphasized the fins.
>
> I was going to put the set of S3 springs I have in there until you now said
> your S3 is sitting up too high. I think I'll still pull them from the car
> and put them side by side to see how they appear (assuming the spring rate
> is the same).
>
> By the way, what do you use to remove and replace the springs. I have used
> a floor jack in the past. But, I don't like the feeling when it finally
> gives and pops. It's never shot out or seemed to risk harm to me or
> anything. However, that pop still makes me nervous. The standard spring
> compressors I've found don't really grab enough spring because of how much
> of the spring is covered on top.
>
> Jay
-- Ian Spencer <www.sunbeamalpine.org> '61 Harrington Alpine B9104782 OD HRO '62 Harrington Le Mans BH9115930 OD LRX
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