Front & rear shock removal RESOLVED FINALLY

[Danno]

did ride height change? if so pics before/after?

[4uall]

no idea as it was night time once this is done tonight I will take her out tomorrow for a wash and take some nice pics...........................hopefully

[4uall]

while I think of it, is there a top & bottom to our coil springs? I have no visible markers on my springs (could be all the years of neglect & rust from po's)


VICTORY! Coil finally removed by itzebtze, on Flickr

[4uall]

Got the new old bolts out from the rear shocks, put the new correct size bolts in, checked all the fittings, tightened all the nuts, put away all the tools then took her out for a test drive. The drive was beautiful, the weather is great then all of a sudden while I was at a light just before getting on the highway

I realized I had not torqued my wheel bolts

turned around immediately and drove slowly back home, to find all bolts still on however, they were getting loose

Just got back from test drive #2 and man what a difference. The rear end seems tighter,stronger,firmer and overall better.

Thanks to all who assisted along the way. Also to the guys from Autoricambi

[RRoller123]

On a related note, I found after painting my wheels that the mounting bolts needed to be checked regularly (every week or so) to make sure they are tight. I have found a few to need some torquing up. The paint needs to be removed from the seats or it leads to the bolts loosening. Good idea to fully remove any paint from the seats if anyone is refurbishing their wheels.

[4uall]

[4uall]

did ride height change? if so pics before/after?

here are those before and after photos

Before

IMG_0932 by itzebtze, on Flickr

After

IMG_1140 by itzebtze, on Flickr

Before

IMG_0928 by itzebtze, on Flickr

After

IMG_1142 by itzebtze, on Flickr

[Danno]

Is it me, or does it look a hair lower in the after picture taken from the passenger side?

[giuliot60]

I think it's just the lighting danno. There is no definition on the left side.

Did you keep the stock height Jay?

The rears are so high on the later models. My 81 is almost an inch higher in the back.

[giuliot60]

See how nice the cars look when they're a little lower, not to mention the handling must be better.

Below are some shots from another post talking about wheel/tire size (http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 77#p161977)

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i49/f ... G_0689.jpg

http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o52 ... 312bc2.jpg

And these are 13" wheels.

[4uall]

Looks the same to me, I should have measured prior Will plan better for the project.

As far as ride height etc I have only replaced the shocks. I am hoping to take the coils out again over the winter to clean & paint.

[giuliot60]

That's right I forgot it was just shocks. But I still feel the same about the car height.