Front end grounding issue - Spit 1500

[Papa Smurf]

Hi all, next issue is that the front end of my Spit 1500 seems to be quite low.  With two adults on board every bump in the road triggers a holding of breath awaiting a nasty scraping sound.  The u bolts holding the front anti roll bar seem to be taking the brunt of the impact (see pic) and probably need replacing before they fail as they look perilously thin…. I think the front suspension is adjustable (see pic), and seems to have been set low to give some camber on the front end.  So is it just a matter of screwing the rings so they compress the spring and push the front end up a bit?  Anyone got a good reference setting of how high off ground it should sit?  At the same time the back end looks a bit high and I’m toying with fitting a 1/2 inch lowering block.  Any thoughts on this?

[NonMember]

How do the front wheels look in the arches with the bonnet closed?

I'd say you probably want to raise the front somewhat, and yes, probably lower the rear. I had the opposite problem with mine - the rear spring is worn out and the (new) front ones were too strong so I had to change them. You want a fraction more tyre-to-arch clearance at the front than the back but probably only a fat finger's width in each. Lower than that may appeal to boy racers but doesn't work on British roads. Fortunately you have the adjustable ride height front shocks so it's an easy fix at that end.

[johny]

Unfortunately adjusting your front shocks isnt quite so simple as the height has to be set to leave the damper in the right position. In other words the damper should sit about 25% of the way off being fully extended so that it wont hit the stops in either direction. Obviously youve got a bit of margin to play with depending on where they sit now but otherwise I believe you can install spacers on top of the damper to increase ground clearance... 

[Colin Lindsay]

Those spring coils look seriously compressed too. Are they lowered springs?

[Papa Smurf]

30 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Those spring coils look seriously compressed too. Are they lowered springs?

Colin, I’m not sure it’s as I bought it earlier this year.  Will take some better pictures

[Papa Smurf]

Some more pics of front suspension assembly and ride height

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Papa Smurf said:

Colin, I’m not sure it’s as I bought it earlier this year.  Will take some better pictures

Thanks, just had a look and they're not as bad as I had thought. Probably just the angle of the earlier photo.

[johny]

I think it looks like those dampers are set too low especially in the first pic where the top bump stop looks pretty close to the damper body. Thats good news as it means you should be able to adjust the bottom threaded rings to raise the car and also reduce the risk of reaching the end of damper travel, win, win!  

[DanMi]

You have height adjustable dampers simply turn the lower spring mounts until you get the height that yo want, though I agree those springs have the coils very tight together, adjusting the height will not affect this, you will need a c-spanner

 

[johny]

As I say theyre not really for adjusting the height of the car but for ensuring the damper can sit in the right position for different load weights and spring lengths. Its the same on motorbikes where the adjustment is just to keep the bike at the same ride height even with pillion and/or luggage.

Heres a true height adjustable shock with the bottom ring being the one to raise or lower where the car sits...

[Papa Smurf]

Thanks all, so I take from that that I could “unscrew” the adjustable rings on the dampers allow the spring to expand a bit (as it seems to be compressed), make the spring/damper component longer, which will raise ride height a little bit.  But should be careful when doing this that the spring expands as anticipated and the damper does not reach last 25% of its travel.

[johny]

No sorry thats a common misconception - the springs are compressed by the weight of the car so unless you change that their length is fixed. What you need to do is do-up the adjustment rings so that the base of the springs moves upwards. Then, as the springs length must stay the same, the top mounting plate will be moved higher ie the car will be raised👍

[Clive]

^^^^ what he said. Move the bottom pans up the shock.

Springs looks std, which is not clever a with lowered car. As you have discovered!

[johny]

Clive I suppose those shocks come shorter than standard and thats how the car is lowered?

[NonMember]

10 hours ago, johny said:

theyre not really for adjusting the height of the car

What the design intent is tells us very little about what a previous owner has done with them. It looks likely they've been used to lower the ride height, and using them to raise it again would actually put the shocks back closer to where they want to be.

[Papa Smurf]

Thanks again, got it now…. Screw up the threads to put the whole geometry closer to normal, but watch am not over extending shock.  Longer term, if want to run low (although I’m not planning to go racing and some of the country lanes near me are quite bumpy) would need shorter and stiffer springs.  Plus a lowering block on the back would rotate the whole car a little bit about the front axle (to sit it’s backside down) and assist in lifting the front anti roll bar a bit

[chrishawley]

Just had a measure on my 1500 (which I consider to be reasonably sorted as regard front suspension).

Apex of wheel arch to ground is approx 600mm.

Distance from the lowest points of the antiroll bar U-bolts to ground  is 5 1/2 inches.

Not reference values by any means but might provide a context for you. Worth measuring pre-post any changes.

For myself I'd proceed experimentally: hoik the spring pan up by a goodly ammount and see what happens.

While you're in the area possibly just worth a check that the anti roll bar is firmly, upwardly, seated, and not been left 'dangly' by PO.