Adjusting the Ride Height on a SPF Car

[patrickt]

Ahhh, I remember this lengthy (10 pages), and contentious, thread: Best way to adjust rear coil overs for proper height on my SPF

And how did that thread end? I remember like it was yesterday.... And it shut everyone up.

[Bernica]

The trick is getting proper corner balance AND ride height! Not always easy, at least for me...

[frankym]

Thanks for the suggestions. Nickmate came to my house from maine 2 years ago to appraise my contemporary cobra for a buyer. Maybe I'll reach out. What if i simply turned the spanner nuts and equal number of turns on all corners? Would that at least maintain the current corner weighting? I have the qa1 coilovers.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by frankym

What if i simply turned the spanner nuts and equal number of turns on all corners? Would that at least maintain the current corner weighting? I have the qa1 coilovers.

No. But, on the other hand, think of it this way: It is almost assuredly not spec'd in to proper cross-weight adjustment now, so you have just as much chance at improving it by making random adjustments as you do making it worse. With those odds, there's no reason to keep it the same. Sooooo, go ahead and just lower it until it looks good to you. If it drives significantly worse, take it to a race shop and have it done properly with the scales. But if you drive that car in the slightest spirited fashion, you will benefit from setting the corner weights properly.

[Shootnride]

Originally Posted by Bernica

The trick is getting proper corner balance AND ride height! Not always easy, at least for me...

That's why I fabricated new rear shock mounts that enable me to adjust ride height independently from spring pre-load. Still haven't come up with a good plan for the front shock mounts (they're a bit more difficult than the rear), but I'm working on it.

Ted

[scottj]

Originally Posted by Bernica

The trick is getting proper corner balance AND ride height! Not always easy, at least for me...

Originally Posted by Shootnride

That's why I fabricated new rear shock mounts that enable me to adjust ride height independently from spring pre-load. Still haven't come up with a good plan for the front shock mounts (they're a bit more difficult than the rear), but I'm working on it.

Ted

I'm not following how height-adjustable mounts isolate ride height changes from corner weight changes. ??

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by scottj

I'm not following how height-adjustable mounts isolate ride height changes from corner weight changes. ??

Neither do I. No matter how you raise or lower a corner, you are moving the weight. Unless I'm missing some magic here.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Bernica

Neither do I. No matter how you raise or lower a corner, you are moving the weight. Unless I'm missing some magic here.

You ever watch the NASCAR guys adjust wedge during the pit stops? They do it from up top with a little hand held cranky thing. Maybe he's done something like that -- some pics would be nice. Here, I Googled it and found this for you: Wedge Adjustment during a NASCAR Pit Stop - HowStuffWorks

[scottj]

Same principle as a coilover collar... tightening increases load on the spring and loosening decreases load.

The point is that you can not isolate corner weight changes from corner height changes.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by scottj

Same principle as a coilover collar... tightening increases load on the spring and loosening decreases load.

The point is that you can not isolate corner weight changes from corner height changes.

Thank you! That was my point! They are inter-related.

[Shootnride]

Originally Posted by scottj

I'm not following how height-adjustable mounts isolate ride height changes from corner weight changes. ??

Let me first say that I am not a suspension expert by any stretch of the imagination. But, what I said was, this enables me to adjust ride height independent of spring preload, not independent of corner weight. I initially decided to make new rear shock mounts just because the SPF mounts seem to have some history of failure, so I decided why not build some adjustability into them at the same time. The stock SPF mounts can actually be adjusted for ride height by moving them up or down to another bolt hole, but these adjustments are in one inch increments.

I have read many (maybe all) of the posts on this forum concerning suspension set-up. I have read where people have adjusted ride height and had corner weight adjustments made, both by adjusting spring preload. It doesn't seem to me that it's possible to accomplish both of these things by making the same component adjustment.

I will try to post some photos of the shock mounts.

Ted

[Shootnride]

O.K., here's a photo of the shock mount.