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My springs appeared to be too high with the height of the fender lip being at 28.5 inches from the ground. To solve the problem I ordered new springs from Long Island 3851100 that everyone has said were the best. I just lowered the car back down and presto- 29 inches from the floor to the fender lip. It took 6 hours and a lot of work to be really disapointed. My car does not run yet so taking for a test ride can not be done. What am I doing wrong. The car is a 67 small block. The z score is 5 inches!!!!! what is going on?????????
Thanks
Are you using rubber bushings? Did you torque the bolts at the end of the A-Arm's cross shaft?
The bolts at the end of the cross shaft should NOT be torqued down until the suspension has a chance to "settle". If those bolts are torqued while the suspension is up in the air then the car will be "held up" by the tension on the bushings. Of course, that is very hard on the bushings.
You might try a SLOW drive around the block before tightening those cross shaft bushing bolts.
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Is the spring properly aligned in the upper spring tower? (0.38" plus/minus 0.12" from the spring stop)
The front bushing bolts are not on the car yet. The sping is sitting correctly in the upper tower. I can visualize the end of the spring through a hole in the frame. Most likely 1/4 inch from the end stop. I am going crazy about this and can not figure how to correct this. The tight coils are at the top as required. If there is anyone in the Toledo area that could take a look I would appreciate.
IF the springs are ORIGINAL GM #3851100, then those are the springs that were originally installed in your car. However, if the springs are "reproductions" of the original GM #3851100, then who knows if they are reproductions that are faithful to the original specs? The original springs were 15-13/32" in free length and of 11 coils. I don't have the wire diameter handy but it's also critical.
The original over the counter coil springs sold by GM came with a colored paper tag that had the actual part number repeated several times on the tag. These part tags were “somewhat similar” to a 4-5” long piece of 3/4 inch wide masking tape wrapped around a coil and the ends stuck to itself. I cannot remember exactly, but the color of the tag used to ID the assembly line production springs was different than the color of the tag used on those springs sold over the counter.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong in the following. Assembly line coils springs were identified with Green tags and over the counter sales had springs identified with Yellow tags. The Green tags are available reproduction. However, because Yellow tags are not “correct” for judging – nobody reproduces them. If the springs you purchased has or had Yellow part number tags on them, it is a good chance that they are gen-u-ine GM springs. If however they have no tags, and no evidence of the sticky gummy residue left by tags, you may not have the real deal. This gummy "stuff" is just about always present as a residue if the tags have been removed.
I always left the Yellow tags on as they told you what the actual part number was and you could not readily remove them without damage.
Another factor to consider is that the springs will not settle until all the vehicles weight is upon them and you have gone around the block a few times and over some bumps.
Another "clue" is the finish on the spring (or lack thereof); production springs (with the green part number/broadcast code tags) were as they came out of the hot-rolling operation - no paint, as they went directly to St. Louis and were used soon after they were made. Service springs (with the yellow tag) were dip-primed black before the tags went on so they wouldn't rust in long-term warehouse storage.
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