Back of spitfire looks low and large gap above front wheel

[Chris Bracey]

Hi another question . Do spitfire 1500 rear springs weaken and cause the rear end to sit down. What is the normal gap between top of  wheel to front and rear wheel arches?

Is it easy to centre the rear spring on the diff?

 

THANKS

 

[JohnD]

All Triumoh transverse springs have a peg in the middle of the lowest leaf that engages with a recess on the diff housing.     You can't easily not have it central!

Others who know the swing spring better than I, can answer your other Q.

John

[Pete Lewis]

The base leaf on a swinger has a dowel to locate in the diff  so again not possible to shift left to right 

Pete

There area good few front spring lengths , the fitted lengths  are in the manual  also spurious front shockers with incorrectly positioned spring pads

 

[NonMember]

The other issue, which affected my Mk3 Spitfire until very recently, is that some suppliers have tended to sell the same front springs for Spitfire and GT6. Obviously there's a bit of difference in the weight, so these springs make a Spitfire sit way high and a GT6 a bit low.

[dougbgt6]

NM,

I got new springs from the club shop. I've seen them there all lined up, a dab of paint on each to tell which goes with what. A secret code known only to Bern and Ange.

Chris,

Might you have a lowering block installed? More seriously I had a broken leaf in the spring which certainly lowered the rear end! But rear spring easy to replace on a 1500, I think.

Doug

[Badwolf]

Chris - I am having terrible trouble with my rear spring as it appears that the garage that fitted it has made a right mess of it. It started with an MOT fail due to a broken spring which turned out to be a Mk3 spring on a MkIV Spitfire. It had been running like that for a long time, so it may be worth stripping down the rear suspension to have a look at exactly what is in there. You may just find that the wrong parts have been fitting way back!

[Pete Lewis]

tip  removing any rear spring on any  H V S GT6   if in a garage make sure you have enough spare width to extract the  length of spring or........

you need a hole in the wall  !!!!

[JohnD]

Does this help?  Might tell you what you have fitted.

 

From, “Suspensions sussed” by John Thomason

The Courier, No.158, August 1993, p31  (TSSC magazine) 

Plus some data from John’s “Guide to originality”                                                                                                                                                                                       

					Eye	distance
Model	No.blades	Blade  Thick- Ness(ins)	Spring Rate  Lbs/in	Free Arc ht(mm)	Free	Fitted
GT6Mk 1	8	0.250	305	?	?	?
Mk2-3	6.	0.234	185	116	1022	1048
Vit Mk.1	11	0.219	270	123	1012	1048
Conv.	11	0.219	270	131	1017	?
Vit2 all	11	0.203	215	165	1012	1064
SpitI,II,III	7	0.219	166	135	1035	1048
Spit  IV, 1500	5	0.38 (bottom two 0,25)	110	?	?	?
Herald Sal	11	0.219	270	136	1012	1048
Conv.	11	0.219	270	?	?	?
Coupe	8	0.219	202	?	?	?
Estate	7	0.313	510	88	1036	1051
CourierVan	8	0.313	552	?	?	?
Lowered, Or ‘cambered’	?	?	?	95	1035	1048

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

? = Not known.   Can anyone add these?

Regret, no spring height data for Spit Mk4/1500

 

Free arc is height of spring centre above ground when stood upright, off car.

Eye distance: “Free” is with spring in as above condition.

                        “Fitted” is on car                                            

NB: Fitted height:  For every 8mm increase, wheel camber goes 1 degree negative.

 

 

Plus, also from John’s series, Camber angles.

NB all unladen (Exc. Herald)

       All in degrees, all +/- 1 degree

 

Model	Front	Rear
Spitfire (all)	+3	-1
GT6 Mk1	+3.5	0
MkII-III to KC20,000	+2.75	0
Mk III from KC20001	+2.75	-1
Herald (all) (NB laden)	+2	-2
Vitesse 1600/2l MkI to HC 1419	+3.25	+5
2l MkI from Hc 1419 & Conv.	+3.25	+3
MkII Saloon	+3.25	+2
MkII Conv.	+3.25	+2.25

 

[Chris Bracey]

Thank you for all the input.

Front shocks - How can i check the front shocker / spring mount distance . Does the club shop stock the correct scocks 

Sorry to ask again but is there a simple measure from top of wheel to arch?  Are the 1500 prone to weakening springs. 

Thank you all 

 

[Clive]

If the springs are original, they are over 40 years old, so may well sag. 

The problems are many with what is currently available, a lack of specification of what is being sold (buy spitfire springs, most sell the same for all models which is wrong)

My I suggest at the front you measure the distance between the middle shock bottom fixing bolt and the bottom spring pan (the cheap shocks are way out of spec on this) PLUS the length of the front springs when the car is on the ground and settled.

From an old catalogue the std front springs should have a fitted length of 8" on a 1500. Afraid I don't have a measurement for the OEM front pan height, but my Konis are 3 1/4" (and I would suggest that may well be correct)

 

As to the rear. Good luck! My experience of rear springs is less than satisfactory, I bought one new spring and returned it after a single weekend/1000miles as it sagged and the bushes disintegrated. That was a respected trader...(refund was no problem)