Thought you might like to see what the underside of my car looks like after the new 9-leaf spring was installed and longer bolts were required to lower the rear end. The end of the spring is about as low as it can go and still be adjacent to the open end of the wheel. An inch lower and it would be seeing rubber. Even with the longer bolts, the nut is at/near the bottom of the bolt. Thought I would have more play room than that. I'm thinking now since the bolt has so many more threads, I may have been able to lift the old spring up a bit and not had to replace it. Lesson: If you go with a new steel spring vs the fiberglass one, make sure it dosen't have an excessive amount of arch. Not sure though who makes the best one.

 

Was this photo taken with the wheels on the ground and the Vette's weight on the spring ??

i don't see jacks in the background - is there one hidden by the wheel ???

that looks like a huge arch to me...... what's the ride height in the rear ??

 

In my limited experience, when I R & R the spring, the arch is always exaggerated until the car is driven a few feet and then everything settles in the way it should be. My guess is he just lowered the car and it hasn't been driven.
Gary

 

Kalaway - Did you install new upper cups ? Did you peen them, and is that necessary for no movement? Seems like weight would hold them down. Old one's are curled over inside.

 

Are those 8 or 10 inch bolts

 

When you took the pic..was this right after lowering..reason being the tire still looks like it is still kicking out on top..like right after you lower them and not move them...also look at the angle on your halfshafts..the seem to be angled up higher than normal. They should be close to perpindicular (sp) to the ground. Pull it back then forward to let the suspension settle and shoot another shot like this one..and see if the angles don't change..thanks Joe!

 

I'll try to answer everyone's questions now that I"ve had time to digest them all. Everyone made very good points. I've concluded that the corvette shops in my area do not know as much about setting up this rear end as the folks on this forum. I've read a lot of threads regarding rear ends on these cars and listened to a lot of opinions but still can't seem to get the rear end exactly right. Half shafts, trailing arms, strut rods, springs . . . they all have an effect on each other depending on their adjustment. But I'll keep trying. So far it hasn't cost a lot of money, just time/energy.

As for your questions, the pic was taken with the wheels on the ground, no jacks. The car has been driven about 200 miles since the new spring was installed and about 50 miles since the new bolts were put in. A four wheel alignment has not been done. The rear height measured from the floor to the edge of the fenderwell is 28.5 inches. It drops down about another inch when the transmission is put into "drive". The photo angle kinda makes the tire look like it is topped out, but it is not. The back tires are much more vertical than they were before but straigten up even more if the car goes from reverse into park vs forward into park. As for the bolts, they have new upper and lower cups. They were not peened, just put in place as is. They are the 8" bolts, purchased from Ecklers.

 

OK, it's probably the angle in which the photo was taken... it just looks like a huge arch... you say it's sitting at about 28.5" - that's exactly where mine is at, I also have the 9leaf spring (very likely re-arched or aftermarket) - I also needed the 8" bolts to get it down to 28.5"

 

There's still an arch in the spring. That's probably why I had to go to the end of the bolt to get the height down. I'm hopeing it will settle some over the winter and go a bit lower.