Shock Towers Replaced - Ride Height

[azruss]

this is a long shot. When i did my suspension 9 months ago, i noticed that the spring could get hung up on the back side of the upper a-arm when the spring sits crooked. I fixed it with a good blow from a rubber hammer. Like I say, a long shot.

[fiatmike124]

the springs themself may be correct, I think I counted 7 coils in my fronts. When you tightened your new suspension bushes, was the suspension at full droop? It should have been done with full weight on the suspension. I'm not sure if its possible but that could be preventing the suspension from setting down to normal ride height.

I agree with this statement. Looking at your other pictures in Photobucket, it looks like you had the upper arm fully tightened prior to installing the ball joint and knuckle. Maybe the resistance from the upper arm is not allowing the car to sit fully. If you havent solved this yet, try loosening the upper arm bolt. Tighten to spec when fully laden.

[jronon]

Hi All, quick update and answers to replies...
1. In all pictures the upper and lower control arm pivot bots are loose - not tightened.
2. I just dropped in a set of springs from a '73, same result - extremely high ride height (three different sets of FRONT springs have been installed).
3. Shock Towers - they match up to the frame rail holes to the cross member - therefore they must be on the correct side.
4. I am going to totally disassemble the suspension, from the '74, including the cross member and install on my '73 - I will document and post the results.
Thanks.

[htchevyii]

Has anyone else that you have found used the IAP towers? I seem to remember that someone was looking for good used ones because the new ones that they bought were really Lada ones and did not fit correctly. Hope that isn't tha case.

[djape1977]

i've just installed lada shock towers and frame rails in spider i'm restoring and ride height is fine, even without the engine in. thats not the problem

[jronon]

The IAP Shock Towers appear to be exact replacements for the Spider...and they are well finished and quite hefty...as they should be - given the price.

Thanks.

[djape1977]

from what i've read so far in this topic, only problem i can see is that who ever did the welding has missed the right spot and had moved shock towers lower than they should be.
the fact that you can notice it at all would mean that they now sit at least half inch lower than originally. that would be a BIG mistake to make for a professional. however, over the years i've seen all sorts of dodgy body repairs and even this problem wouldn't suprise me too much.

in my part of the world panels for fiat are harder to get than panels for lada. given that, and the fact that lada was fiat 124 made under licence in sssr, i've done some measuring on couple 124 spiders, 124 coupe i own, a friend's 124 sedan and my 1979 lada and have concluded that shock towers and frame rails are exactly the same on all 4 cars. only diference seems to be that lada parts are made of thicker gauge steel, which at least in this case can't be bad thing, apart from adding a couple lbs to a car. also, keep in mind that measuring thickness of a 40 year old material can give false readings since it's more than likely that steel on a 1970 124's has been thinned out by corossion over decades.

now, russkies wouldn't be what they are if everything was perfect. spot welds aren't equally spaced or alligned properly. definately there was someone doing this by hand in factory. ok, no big deal. just add a spot weld in between factory ones and viola!

now the spider is ready to be prepped fpr paint. engine is not yet back in. gearbox and front and rear suspension are in. ride height is ok, and i expect it all to be lower by about an inch when everything is back in.
axis lenght on left and right side is diferent by 4milimeters, which is well within what can be corrected in the end, when car gets to wheel allignment.

[jronon]

in response to questions about the location of the towers - #1 the replaced towers match up to the reinforced hole for the horizontal bolt to the cross member. #2 the upper spring perch of the replaced towers is (reasonably) the same height from the lower edge of the frame rail seam edge as is the stock perch on the pictured '73.


here are measurements of the replaced tower (pass side)



here are measurements of a stock '73 tower (driver side)



Thanks.

[azruss]

so you have 1/8" difference. With the replaced tower showing the longer dimensions, your suspension should be biased to lower, not higher. Measure the distance to the lower a-arm pivots to make sure they are the same. I didnt see anything drastic in the photos, but hard to tell. what is critical here in the measurement between the upper spring cup and the lower spring cup. Also the horizontal distance between the upper and lower cup come in to play and a little change here makes a big difference in spring angle. If you have CAD experience, you could lay it out and see how things move. If you dont, get some thin cardboard, a piece of plywood and some push pins. Measure the location of the upper and lower pivots and ball joints along the centerline vertical plane and make full scale arms out of the cardboard with push pins in the proper location. from this, can you can actually measure the distance between the upper and lower spring pocket as you move your pieces up and down. This will tell you how sensitive all this is to what you are seeing in real life. My guess is the 1/8" will make very little difference.

[htchevyii]

The part that shows 6 7/8 is not where the spring rides, it is just inside the spring.the 3-1/2 and 3-3/4 is the more important measurement. The important part is where the spring mounts. Due to the angle of the control arm, a 1/2" spacer on top of the spring could raise the car 2 or 3 times the spacer thickness. I put a 1/2 spring spacer in my Nova and raised the car 1" . I wish I could explain it better, but I didn't pay much attention in geometry.

This is Nova geometry, but they say the spacer raises the car twice it's height. Even if the geometry on the Spider is different, I doubt that 1/2" difference would be more than a 3/4" in ride height?
http://www.globalwest.net/1106.html

[DanD]

You know that sometimes when you lower a car, the springs stay jacked up because the tires would have to slide out on the pavement as the a arms swing up and out. If you roll the car forward, this will allow the tires to move out, and let the suspension settle.

Having said that, did you try driving the car around the block ? Worth a try if you haven't.