Aloha everybody! Last year I took a job and moved out to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. I've only seen one other C3 on the island that was non-functioning, and the time has come to bring my project out!

I’ve arranged transport for it in a few weeks, but I have to fly back and make sure everything on the transport checklist is good to go. The only thing I’m a little worried about is they said they need at least 5 inches of clearance to load it onto the boat. I’ve rebuilt the front and rear suspensions and lowered the car with the 550 drop springs in front, and longer bolts on the rear composite monoleaf spring to reduce the wheel well gaps. It’s got Bilstein shocks all around, Poly bushings, and the gymkhana swaybars. Since I’m not currently there to measure, I want to ensure my front end makes the clearance. I’m not too worried about the back end, as I can tighten the bolts further and raise it, but the front is close. I intend to remove the air dam and want to make sure I can bump up the front a little higher.

I was thinking for the front to temporarily put in the “twist in spring boosters” and think they might be enough to bump it up an extra 1-1.5 inches to ensure I’ve got plenty of clearance. What do you all think?

attached is the last pic I had of the car sitting at ride height after the suspension upgrade. I think it’ll be enough, but want to have some options since I’ll have a few days to work on it before transport.

 

I shipped mine from L.A. To Brisbane Australia. No issues whatsoever with ride height.
Are they not putting your car in a shipping container?
Why the concern over ride height? Your not having your car shipped in the open air at sea are you?
If so, and driving it onto the ship makes me wonder.
I'm thinking you have a lot more to worry about than ride height.

 

The ride height concern because I have lowered the vehicle with the new suspension however the shipping company requires a minimum clearance of 5 inches. I've shipped my last two vehicles the same way with no issues, but they were a lifted truck and an SUV so clearance wasn't a concern.

No the car won't be in a container, it will be in the birthing of the transport ship and fully out of the elements, however i believe the concern is both with loading onto the transport vehicle to get it to the port, as well as loading onto the ship itself. once it arrives on Oahu it will be open air transport on the barge, but its only a 3 hour transit, I'm not concerned with that. I contracted through a professional veteran owned vehicle shipping company, and this is literally what they have been doing for the last dozen or so years, so i assume when the say it needs a minimum 5 inches of clearance, they know what they're talking about to ensure no damage occurs, they have been fantastic to work with.

The ride height isn't my only concern, however the question asked is if using the spring spacers would be adequate enough to provide me some additional clearance.

 

You can certainly try it. The twist on spring spacers, if you use like 4 on each front spring may lift it up a bit. I'm thinking once the shock is topped out. Your done.
unless you lossen up the top shock nuts on the front.
You can run up your rear bolts easy enough. If you have enough thread to get it high enough. If not some shorter bolts would be available at most hardware stores. Needed be special just for transport.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I ordered the Mr. Gasket aluminum twist in spring spacers that should give me the 1" standard height increase, but I agree once I'm topped out on my shocks, it'll be as high as it is, so I'm hoping its enough.

 

Well, fingers crossed Mr. Rocketnerd.

 

Disconnect the shocks....you won't need them.