Front suspension height
- Thread starter ajarofclay
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Yikes. Explains why the top of that bump stop is nice and clean.
Travel distance at the factory bump stop is roughly half of the travel at the wheel. So less than an inch of wheel travel on compression puts you on the bump stops. If you’ve got factory torsion bars, that means at best it only takes about 100 pounds of force to put the bump stop on the frame.
So you’re using that bump stop constantly.
Looks like a low speed drive on smooth (ish) roads with no hard braking to me, under those circumstances you shouldn’t be on the bump stops at all. And yet most of the decent pot holes resulted in contact.
You’re lower than stock, which is fine, trust me I know what these cars look like even at factory height and I’m not a fan. Which is why my car is lowered almost 2” from stock. But I still run almost 1” of clearance between my bump stop and frame, and even with 1.12” bars the number of times I touch the bump stops on a spirited drive on mountain roads is not 0. Of course to maintain that amount of clearance I run tubular LCA’s and shortened bump stops.
Do what you want, but I know if I took that car on my favorite backroads drive the suspension would be bottomed out on every bump and every corner. If the video represents the most exciting driving you do, then it won’t really be an issue unless you have to slam on the brakes and steer to avoid something.
ajarofclay
Well-Known Member
Yeah, with everything set to the heights you guys supplied from the manual, my bump stops are are about a fingers width also. Or should I say bump STOP since I just discovered the passenger side is missing! Ha, I'll bet it was gone some 40 plus years ago. Glad that became part of the discussion.
There's even more clearance now that I fine tuned everything so I think I'm all good with that size tire but now I fear this thing will sag in back which I know is pretty normal for these cars. Anybody have input on how much lift can be gained with different springs? As I said before, I don't want to do the air shock thing like I did as a young lad.
There's even more clearance now that I fine tuned everything so I think I'm all good with that size tire but now I fear this thing will sag in back which I know is pretty normal for these cars. Anybody have input on how much lift can be gained with different springs? As I said before, I don't want to do the air shock thing like I did as a young lad.
ajarofclay
Well-Known Member
Interesting, 72. I was debating lowering the nose myself as I'm sure I did back in the day but how do you get that clearance if you lower the nose? Doesn't that close the gap even more or is there something I'm not understanding? I don't think I'd want to drop it more than an inch though to compensate for the taller tire. I don't expect to drive it on any back roads per se, just want to do some cruising is all.
pretty much
I suspect the design of the bump stop is such that it is intended to slowly absorb the impact then increase its surface area till it is at full bump. SOMEDAY ill get my saggy old rear springs replaced then I can raise the front a tad. BTW I am not aware (my dads car) that the front torsion bars have ever been adjusted and the are the HD bars 892/893 not the 383 bars
You are correct, lowering the nose reduces that clearance to the bump stop.
The change in clearance at the bump stop is between 50% and 60% of the travel at the wheel- if you lower the car 1", you lose about a 1/2" at the bump stop, little bit less.
A bunch of things go into how I got the clearance. First, I run 1.12" torsion bars which have a 300 lb/in rate. Compared to the stock 100 lb/in bars, my suspension uses about 1/3 the travel with the same force input from the road. I run QA1 tubular LCA's, the kind before they added a bump stop (I have on the frame). Because of their tubular construction, they have a shorter profile, which adds about 1" of suspension travel (at the wheel). I also run 3/8" polyurethane bump stops, which are a full 1" shorter than the factory LCA bump stops.
After all of that, my car is lowered almost 2", but retains the same suspension travel as factory. If you keep all the stock parts, you lose suspension travel as you lower the front of the car.
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