Does your spider "lean over" ?

[124cso]

I've recently noticed that my 80 Spider 2000 sits lower on the lefthand side. By measuring from side marker lights to the floor, while in the garage, I find it is about 3/8" to 1/2" lower on the left. Are others like this ?
What I'm wondering is - were they set up like that to negate road camber ? or has years of driving with only a driver in it on lumpy roads caused left springs to settle ?

[jimincalif]

Mine is the same, about 3/4". When I changed the rear end I measured the rear springs and the drivers' side was maybe 1/8" shorter than the passenger side, so I swapped them side-to-side. But I've not taken the front end apart to measure and/or swap.

[georgeramos]

mine leans too. front is higher than rear and left front is lower than right...

[toyfiats]

I posted my findings / thoughts on this years ago on mirafiori, but can't find it, so am going from memory.

My '81 Spider was purchased from the original owners back when it had 33k miles. It always had a slight lean in the front left that wasn't too noticeable, but I could tell. Shortly before I restored it at 88k miles I tried to figure out why.

By that time I had installed IAP's lower performance springs, and the lean was still there, so it wasn’t worn out springs. I then did the following over several months:

- Swapped front springs side to side
- Swapped rear springs side to side (since it wasn't clear whether it was the left front that was low, or the right rear that was high)
- Swapped upper and lower spring perches from side to side
- Purchased and installed a new set of the "blue" performance springs to rule out a problem with the IAP ones.
- Swapped those side to side as well
- During this time, I had two different, well-respected frame/alignment shops align and inspect the front end. The car had never been in an accident, but I wanted to rule out all possibilities. Both shops found nothing wrong (but did notice the slight lean), and the car aligned fine and tracked straight (as it always had).

I've driven dozens of Spider, and looked at hundreds over the past 20+ years, and noticed many 80/81 Spider 2000's with this exact same slight but pronounced lean, almost like they were made that way. I can only speculate that there must have been some slight misalignment on the tooling at the time these cars were originally made to cause this, as accident damage and age / worn out parts were ruled out in my particular case, and I’ve seen other otherwise immaculate and restored Spiders with this same lean.

So if you’ve got an ‘80/’81 Spider that sags/leans a bit in the left front, it could very well be from accident damage or worn out parts. But it could also be something that’s always been there, and always will be.

My $0.02.

[Eastlight]

Don't want to sound like a smart-ass but has anyone considered that the left (driver) side sits a little lower because that is where the constant weight from the motorist is located? My '80 Spider sits slightly lower on the driver side but I figure for most of the vehicle's life, that is where the human cargo weight rests most of the time. Figure about a 200 pound man constantly sitting on one side of the car and rarely does anyone balance the weight by using the passenger seat. The driver's weight is also magnified by gravity every time the car hits a bump. Seems logical over 32 years that one-sided weight would cause a little extra wear on the driver side springs/suspension.

I wouldn't buy anything from IAP if every other parts supplier went out of business. I think they are A-Hs. I mainly buy from Auto Ricambi in Texas, DiFatta Brothers in Baltimore and sometimes Vick's. All their customer service is tops.
IAP is 300 miles from me and they shipped $7.00 worth of parts to me and 6-weeks later I hadn't received them. Then they argue with me when I ask what happened to my two brass wheel bearing nuts. I could have drove there and back, 12 hours each way. So IAP is off my parts supplier list forever because they treated me so poor.

[djape1977]

that's why front suspension allignment is done with two people of simmilar weight in the car. also, if your car leans to one side, check springs and shock towers.

[wikkid]

Has your Spider been drinking?

[124cso]

Don't want to sound like a smart-ass but ....

Well, you do !

If you had bothered to read the lead on this thread, you would have seen that was the actual question I asked.
Thread lead was - " is it design or wear / settlement ? "

Some car designers do allow for such things i.e. leaf springs have different re-setting specs for passenger to driver's side.

[fiat218]

i have a 80, i will have to measure and see, i do know my 69 was lower on the passanger side rear, now that could be a spring problem, i have no idea on that but for no i stuck knuckle spacer to fix that because the wheel would rub whne i had a passanger, i do plan on doing a whole suspension make over in a year

[MrWampus]

I just measured my 81 and it is nearly perfect left to right in both the front and back. There is about a 1/8 inch difference in the front between left and right with left being lower but that could be measurement system error, or uneven pavement. Maybe my car was built on a "good" day.

[burlybryan]

My drivers side front is 3/4" lower than the pass side. When rebuilding the suspension recently, I had hoped that fresh parts would correct it. What I did find was that the shock was toast on the drivers side and I'm surmising that the spring has fatigued. The PO of my car was a heavier guy, but the rear suspension shows no imbalance so I doubt this is purely due to an off centered load from the driver.

[opus10583]

I wouldn't buy anything from IAP if every other parts supplier went out of business. I think they are A-Hs. I mainly buy from Auto Ricambi in Texas, DiFatta Brothers in Baltimore and sometimes Vick's. All their customer service is tops.
IAP is 300 miles from me and they shipped $7.00 worth of parts to me and 6-weeks later I hadn't received them. Then they argue with me when I ask what happened to my two brass wheel bearing nuts. I could have drove there and back, 12 hours each way. So IAP is off my parts supplier list forever because they treated me so poor.

Hi,

Spider Lean aside, and mine does as well: I've had the 180deg vendor experience...


Vick's, after I'd spent $1,500 with them in four months, refused to acknowledge incorrect and defective BRAKE system parts (hoses and an MC), costing me about an extra thousand dollars in initial purchase and installation costs, futile repair attempts, and replacement parts and remedial repairs, while souring my relationship with a local shop via direct contact; casting aspersions to deflect from their own incompetence and insufficiency.

They offered me all of $60 as restitution.

I could really use one of their $2,000 performance short blocks right now, but it'll be a frozen day in Hell first.

IAP's service in my experience is exemplary; knowledgeable, courteous and fast, with a no-BS return policy to boot. I recently discovered something I'd bought on sale in the dead of winter had a defect, after it sat in the dark for over three months; they had a replacement at my door within 36hrs: No questions, no snark, no stupefying denials of responsibility.

Ciao,
Mark

[TulsaSpider]

IAP has cost me dearly. Never again. One place to look is where the engine cradle connect to the body making sure all is as it should be as it is simply bolted together and they do fail. Second inspect the inner fender firewall. It should be flat.Many years of potholes, rough roads etc can make the fenderwall begin to buckle in. A fellow enthusiast pointed this out to me recently. He's gonna fix his car then report back on his success.

[124spiderman]

Hi.
My car is right hand drive.
My spider has a lean on the right side (1cm). And I'm sure that this is due to me (weighing aroung 85kg) driving it and who knows previous owners.
Swapping springs helps sometimes. I swapped the front springs on my old 124 wagon and no change.
I solved this once in a 131 by replacing a rear spring with a stiffer one.
BTW, my '69 500 is the same, leans on the drivers side. Swapped the front leaf around and hoped it would help. No change. Unfortunately in the 500 it's more pronounced being a tiny car it's a bit embarrassing as people chuckle when I drive by and must think to themselves, "...Geez, check out that fat bastard in that poor little Fiat!"

I guess it's age. After all these cars are now nearing 40 years.