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Mustlust
27th May 2011, 08:27 AM
Having refir the front springs, the old girl seems to sit an inch higher on the drivers side. In the workshop manual it says to roll the car a bit and fasten all shackle and spring to chassis bolts. However, in the SIII book it gives specific measurements for the span b/w the spring and chassis, and instructs to compress springs to a given span before tightening bolts. Does this apply to SIIA also??
I think this is where my 25mm tilt comes from. I wouldn't expect this much lean to compensate for drivers weight.

:(
JDNSW
27th May 2011, 09:42 AM
I have not seen the suggestion to compress the springs as you suggest, but if it applies to the Series 3 it will to the Series 2 as well, as the suspension is identical. And I can see where it comes from - you want to tighten the shackles to clamp the bushes with the springs in their "normal" position, and this could, for example, include the driver. After all, it hopefully will not be having much use of the springs without the driver!

But all this will do is slightly lengthen the life of the bushes - I can't see it correcting your lean. But if it were myself, I would not worry about that amount of lean with the driver side high - that side sags more over time anyway.

John
peterg1001
27th May 2011, 04:38 PM
The driver and passenger side springs are different, and you may have replaced them on the wrong sides.

The part numbers are stamped on the underside of the 3rd leaf or bottom leaf. If you can see them, I (or someone) can look them up and tell you if they're on the wrong side.

Peter
JDNSW
27th May 2011, 07:46 PM
The driver's side is higher, so if it is sitting high on that side when empty, that is as it should be - so they are on the right sides.

John
B.S.F.
27th May 2011, 08:06 PM
Quote from Haynes # 314 workshop manual: "The acceptable variation between vehicle sides in body height is 1 in.(25.4 mm)."
W.
Mustlust
31st May 2011, 07:12 PM
Wow, a one inch variance b/w left and right is a lot. I actually compressed the springs the the spec span and tightened all related nuts and reduced the difference to half an inch. I am happy with this result, esp how the tank is almost empty.... learn something every day!!

Thanks for the thread input.