70 Ride Height

[Alan S.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Hi Joseph,
Here's a picture of what I had when I brought my 71 home from being painted.
The body is bare except for the core support and the steering column and steering wheel. DUNE BUGGY !!!
I was pretty surprised at the height. It gradually came down as I put the car back together. I continued to cycle (jounce) the suspension as I put more and more parts back on it.
I'm using the original springs (44k). The front is now about 3/8" low and the rear about 1/2" high.
I continue to read posts elsewhere from people with new springs and ride height problems/questions.
My Corvette guru says if I drove it everyday, like God intended, it would settle perfectly.
I'm sorry I can't be more of a technical help.
Regards,
Alan

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Alan, tx for the pic and info. My car currently is complete, less the doors, interior and gas in tank. We're installing the doors today so we'll see if that makes any difference. My friend and I decided we're going to finish the car, fire up the motor and drive alittle and see if the suspension settles. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Alan, tx for the pic and info. My car currently is complete, less the doors, interior and gas in tank. We're installing the doors today so we'll see if that makes any difference. My friend and I decided we're going to finish the car, fire up the motor and drive alittle and see if the suspension settles. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Joseph-----

When you originally posted this question I assumed that the car was pretty much together (even though you did only state that you had dropped the body on the frame). Now it appears that besides the interior, gas tank and spare tire not being installed, even the doors were not installed. You can't really make any judgement as to whether the springs will provide correct ride height until you have the car at least close to its final assembly configuration. You don't need to have every single piece on the car, but all the major components have to be present.

Consider this: GM used different front springs when a big block or A/C were part of the option package for a car. Either of these only involved a few hundred pounds difference in weight from base configuration. The components that you've apparently not yet installed on the car collectively involve way more weight than this, so you can expect that their absence will have a considerable effect on ride height.

Notwithstanding this, you may still have a problem with ride height when the car is all back together. However, wait until that occurs before making such an assessment.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Joe M,

Back in my first response to your post I told you there was a way to measure the ride height and eliminate the deviations due to changes in tire size, body mounts, and body work. I had hopes someone (especially you) would pick up on my hint. Only today did I find time to get to my AIMs to help you out.

In order to determine if the loaded spring height is to specification you have to measure the Z height in front and the D height in the rear. Both of these are illustrated on the same page you found the P and R dimensions you gave us. Unless you make those measurements (Z & D) you can not attribute your measurements to spring height alone.

Unless you have OEM tires or the Kelsey reproductions (Coker reproductions might be close, but I am not sure) tires alone will throw your P and R measurements off. By enough to matter -- I just don't know, but then neither does anyone else.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Terry

We were working on other parts of the car today and didn't do anything further with the ride height issue. I guess I thought if I didn't think about it the problem would go away. I appreciate you direction and expertise with the Z & D measurements and will check those out tomorrow night. On a positive note most other things in the reassembly process are going very well. Tx

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Terry

I checked the Z & D measurements and they are as follows. D =4.75 ins S/B =2.54 ins.
Z =4.60 ins S/B =2.42.

It looks like about an approx. 2 in difference on both measurements. Any thoughts? Tx

[Harmon C.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Terry

I checked the Z & D measurements and they are as follows. D =4.75 ins S/B =2.54 ins.
Z =4.60 ins S/B =2.42.

It looks like about an approx. 2 in difference on both measurements. Any thoughts? Tx

Put the car together then go get a tank of gas and drive it down a road that makes the springs work.
See if your measurements are different. All the cars I have done sit high before the test drive.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Terry

I checked the Z & D measurements and they are as follows. D =4.75 ins S/B =2.54 ins.
Z =4.60 ins S/B =2.42.

It looks like about an approx. 2 in difference on both measurements. Any thoughts? Tx

My thoughts are I doubt you can count on it meaning much until you get the car together, or at least substantially together. It seems like it sits high due to either springs or torque wind-up in the bushings, or not all the parts assembled or a combination of these.

Lyle's suggestion is as good as any. I suggest you try it.

[John H.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

I checked the Z & D measurements and they are as follows. D =4.75 ins S/B =2.54 ins.
Z =4.60 ins S/B =2.42.

It looks like about an approx. 2 in difference on both measurements. Any thoughts? Tx

Those heights are for a fully-finished car at curb weight with gas in the tank; any measurements you take prior to the car being in that condition are meaningless. Finish the car, fill the gas tank, drive it, then measure it.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Ride Height

Tx all. I will follow the advice of fully completing the car, fill with gas and drive. I'll let you know how it turns out.