coil over question

[Dwight]

My friend had his Cobra rear end jacked up and I noticed his coil springs were hanging loose on his adjustable coil over shocks. The springs were loose and about 1 1/2" below the top mount of the coil over. I think his springs are to short. He claimed he had the correct ride height on his car with this set up.
If you jack the back of the car up and the rear end drops to it lowest point, I think the springs should be in contact with the top and bottom of the coil over mounting points. Not compressed but in contact with the top and bottom.

I'm I correct? Are the springs to short?

Dwight

[WildBill1965]

I had the wheels off the back of mine and the springs were touching the high adjuster. I would think that they should be snug against the ring, if not as the car goes over a bump or large pot hole God forbid the spring probably rattles not having any tension on it.

[john chesnut]

The springs should be snug at full droop. It's a matter of having the shock mounting locations correct for ride height (60% of travel should be available for compression at ride height), the correct spring weight and length. John

[vector1]

run it, you're fine. makes changing and adjusting shocks much easier. you're not going to get enough droop racing or driving down the road for the shocks to rattle, unless you invert, at that time shock travel will be the least of your worries!

or you'll look over at your shocks and say "i knew those springs were too short!"lol

[mdauth]

I'm not a shock expert but my coil over in the rear does the same thing and I've been driving the car for 4 years and never had a problem or rattles. When hitting a bump your shock does not stay extented for a long period at a time and the coil will not rebound out of place.

[strictlypersonl]

I'm with John.

Either get a new shorter damper or put in limiting straps. If the coil comes off the spring perch, you run the risk of breaking the shock. I think there are also spring-like spacers that will keep tension between the spring and the lower perch to prevent the spring from coming loose.

[cdnus]

My upper spring seats have 2 holes 180deg. apart that I thread a nylon strap through each & around the top coils holding the spring in place.
The bottom is guided by the adjuster.
The only time mine slack off is when I jack up the car & the suspension is in extreme droop. If that happened while I was driving I would be more concerned about changing my underwear than if my springs were out of position.

Craig

[scottj]

Here are a couple of links to the parts strictlypersonl mentioned. The take-up spring seats against the adjuster and the nylon guide holds the springs off the damper body. I ran these on my Cobra prior to having the correct length dampers built. (In my case I had too much droop travel for the ride height I run.)


http://www.performancebodies.com/sto...%5Fid=AFC27005

http://www.performancebodies.com/sto...5Fid=AFC201831

[jrjmac1]

Mine does the same thing without issues. You would need to go airborne for it to do this, but you would have other things to deal with at the same time. I am going to check if I have holes in the upper spring mount for nylon straps...sounds like a good idea.