Noticed something strange when lowering my car
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 105
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From: Zanesville OH
Noticed something strange when lowering my car
I spent the afternoon today lowering my car. It's a '99 FRC so it has the Z51 suspension. I measured the ride height first and wrote down the numbers for all 4 corners. Both fronts were at the same height, the passanger rear was a just little higher than the driver side..
I did the front first. I started on the driver side and found that I could turn the bolt 3 1/2 turns before bottoming out on the bushing.
I went to the passanger side and noticed the bolt didn't stick out nearly as far above the leaf spring. Hmm. I turned the bolt the same 3 1/2 turns and there was still a LOT of room before things would bottom out. I left it at 3 1/2 and went to the rear, which I also only went 3 1/2 turns on.
Is it normal for there to be that bid a difference from one side to the other in the front. I have not taken final measurements yet because I want to let things settle first.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Tim
I did the front first. I started on the driver side and found that I could turn the bolt 3 1/2 turns before bottoming out on the bushing.
I went to the passanger side and noticed the bolt didn't stick out nearly as far above the leaf spring. Hmm. I turned the bolt the same 3 1/2 turns and there was still a LOT of room before things would bottom out. I left it at 3 1/2 and went to the rear, which I also only went 3 1/2 turns on.
Is it normal for there to be that bid a difference from one side to the other in the front. I have not taken final measurements yet because I want to let things settle first.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Tim
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 19,965
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From: Bonneville Salt Flats
Speaking in general about suspensions, it is typical to have different adjustments side to side to produce similar settings. There was once a time when factory settings were intentionally different left to right due to the degree of "crowning" on many highways.
Bottom line, set it as you want it, give it some driving time to settle in and check how it sets. Adjust as necessary and don't worry that you have to adjust one side more or less than the other.
All the best.
Bottom line, set it as you want it, give it some driving time to settle in and check how it sets. Adjust as necessary and don't worry that you have to adjust one side more or less than the other.
All the best.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 105
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From: Zanesville OH
I did a bunch of driving yesterday and today and took some measurements. I found that the car has dropped between 1/4" and 3/8". I'd like to go lower than that so I am thinking about removing the front adjuster bolts. Here's the thing, though. Based on the large gap that is still left on the passanger side bolt, if I take out both bolts the car will sit lower on the passanger side. This is probably a dumb question, but what problems would come up from taking out only the driver side bolt and adjusting th passanger side to match? Thanks for the help!
Team Owner
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 26,345
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From: SoCal
Originally Posted by D.Brawl
I did a bunch of driving yesterday and today and took some measurements. I found that the car has dropped between 1/4" and 3/8". I'd like to go lower than that so I am thinking about removing the front adjuster bolts. Here's the thing, though. Based on the large gap that is still left on the passanger side bolt, if I take out both bolts the car will sit lower on the passanger side. This is probably a dumb question, but what problems would come up from taking out only the driver side bolt and adjusting th passanger side to match? Thanks for the help!
How about some before and after measurements. And also if tank is full..this can make a difference. On my car there is a 1/8 difference in front and a 1/4 inch in back depending on whether the tank is full or nearly empty.
You should cut the front bushing and use longer bolts in the back to see if that lowers it enough for you. Otherwize there are some threads if you search about totally removing the front adjuster bolts.
I'm at 26 3/8 Front and 27 Rear with full tank.
26 1/2 Front and 27 1/4 Rear with nearly empty tank.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
Just lowered mine last weekend. '99 coupe, Z51 also. I did not find any noticable differences in the amount of threads/turns from side to side. Lowered the front as low as it would go without cutting and lowered the back until ~2 threads showed. After a short jaunt, measuring showed that the rear dropped 3 CM and the front 2.5 CM or roughly just shy of 1" in front and just over 1" on back. I have a 1/2 CM rake from front to back. This is measuring thactual underside of the car to the ground. I measured this using some spring loaded t-bar's. I don't think measuring rake using the tops of the fender wells is accurate.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 105
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From: Zanesville OH
Thanks for the input everyone. It really helps.
With about 3/4 tank of fuel, my stock measurements were 27 11/16 on both sides in front and 28 11/16 (L) and 28 9/16 (R) in the rear. After I bottomed out the driver side front bolt and did the rest I came up with:
LF - 27 7/16 ------ RF - 27 3/8
LR - 28 3/8 ------- RR - 28 3/16
I know I have a lot of room left to lower the rear, so that's not an issue. I could only get the front to come down about 1/4", as that's all the adjustment I could get on front driver side. I have about 4 more threads I could go on the passanger side. So what am I doing wrong?
I was outside just now trying to take the front bolts out to either cut the bushings or remove them completely just to see what it would do, but I can't get the lower a-arm to come loose. Grr
With about 3/4 tank of fuel, my stock measurements were 27 11/16 on both sides in front and 28 11/16 (L) and 28 9/16 (R) in the rear. After I bottomed out the driver side front bolt and did the rest I came up with:
LF - 27 7/16 ------ RF - 27 3/8
LR - 28 3/8 ------- RR - 28 3/16
I know I have a lot of room left to lower the rear, so that's not an issue. I could only get the front to come down about 1/4", as that's all the adjustment I could get on front driver side. I have about 4 more threads I could go on the passanger side. So what am I doing wrong?
I was outside just now trying to take the front bolts out to either cut the bushings or remove them completely just to see what it would do, but I can't get the lower a-arm to come loose. Grr
