Knerf

i have had my 68 for almost a year now, after getting the major issues squashed out i am on to the smaller things.

my question here is on my cars stance, i know getting a longer bolt for the rear leaf will bring her down some but the PO did this to the car

now with cranking down on the leaf that hard do you think that has caused any issues with the spring its self that i may have issues with if i remove the spacers? i inspected the leaf the best i can without removing it and there are no cracks or visible issues other than it being laid out almost straight.

(dont mind the small leak, that has been addressed)



i feel this needs to be lower all the way around is why i am asking, you be the judge.





thank you all for your input in advance.

Knerf

another angle of the amount of room there is in the rear

Dynra Rockets

You can remove that spacer and put the bolt/washer/bushing package back to stock configuration. I assume they did that because the old original spring was shot and the rear was lowered too much for their taste. That spacer arrangement raised the rear about 2".

See Three

Here is a quote from Alan in another post and the measurement is from ground to top of arch in fender:

I believe the original ride height ride height for 68-72 cars with F70 tires was 27.9" both front and rear.
Remember the size of the tire has a direct impact on these dimensions, and in addition, it has an impact on the distance seen between the top of the tire and the wheel arch.
Regards,
Alan

Alan 71

Hi K,
Here's an example of the more typical placement of the bushings, washers, and bolt/nut.
I think you need to follow DR's suggestion… return the hardware to the normal configuration, see what the ride height is, and proceed from there.
The typical dimention from the ground to the center of the fender arch is about 28" when the tires being used are about 27" tall.
What does the car ride like with that configuration?
Regards,
Alan

69Vett

you got something strange under there, those spacers should not be there.
also are these your final tire size, tires make a big difference on ride height also.

Knerf

i have 245/60/15's on there and will stay that way more than likely

the peak of the fender well to the ground is 29 3/4''
the front is at 27 7/8''
and the tires are at 25 3/4''

it rides a bit stiff it seems, but no worse than i would have expected really.

Knerf

im going to order one of these and put it in, from what i have been reading on here removing the spacers should make front and rear almost even as 1 inch spring movement roughly translates to 3/4'' car height?

https://willcoxcorvette.com/corvette...nger-kit-63-82

flyeri

I can't tell from the picture if all the correct parts are there or not. Look at your parts, look at the parts that Willcox shows and see if you have all the correct ones. If you don't, order them. In any case make it look like Alan's picture.

Rescue Rogers

We all want it to look like Alans pictures, our cars would be right off the showroom floor. We need to start a crowd fund to get all his pictures published in a book!!!

Grahamred70

When I fitted my composite spring the rear ended up quite high but it only took 1/2" longer on the bolts to bring it back down, i.e. a little change of spring bolts makes a greater change to the ride height, I made some temporary ones with stud bar(all thread) and then bought bolts once I'd arrived at the required length.
Graham

rmgny44

The peak of the fender well on my '72 is 26.5" front and 28" rear.
Tires are 245 60 R15

Knerf

i'm going out to remove the spacers on the bolts today, then will let you all know how it looks before i do get new bolts and bushings

just in case the spring has been weakened to the point it also needs replacing...

hopefully i can get this done before the sun goes down and it gets below freezing

JBrooke825

I am afraid you will find out you need a new spring. I am taking my
Composite spring out and going back to a leaf spring . Mine is to high also.

Knerf

ok, so the car dropped about an inch on the pass side and almost 2 on the drivers side. the bolt on the driver side is longer and the bushings are also shot over there so i am going to need to get some new ones.

i tried running the nut up further on the driver side but where that spacer was riding for so long it took the threads off the bolt and made it impossible.

it was quite interesting removing these parts, one side looked like it was a piece of hollow bar stock where the other side was definitely a piece of black pipe for running gas line, had the threads and everything on it still

took it on a small drive and didnt seemed alot softer in the rear as well, small burnout test provided no wheel hop and didnt try to squirrel around unless instructed to.

here is a pic of the after and a shot of the hanger bolts




pretty sure alan is jealous of how clean this is



long bolt side, not sure why there are rubber bushings on the tops of the springs though...





seems to be the proper height on this side



still i bit high on this side

Alan 71

Hi K,
The extra rubber bushings aren't doing anything at this point.
Depending on the condition of the bushings that in their typical locations on the left side you 'might' put them there. (They look pretty worn out.)
A better look of the spring seems to show it's at least the original configuration…. leafs tapered and curled slight up at their ends.
Regards,
Alan

Knerf

new bolts and bushings on order, still alot of snow on the ground here so wont be driven in the next couple weeks anyway.

thanks for all the help fellas!

Rescue Rogers

If putting the new bushings on it raises it up higher that you want , you can consider longer bolts

theandies

Just make sure the spring/bolt combination doesn't interfere with your tires.