Mikewazowski Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Okay, so I've lowered my 180B (610) wagon around 90 mm and I'm now having a few issues with my rear driveshaft flange (by the diff) connecting with the floor underneath the rear seat. It's lowered using 50 mm lowering blocks and the main leaves have had the eyes reversed (40 mm). It looks like I'm possibly going to have to raise the rear a little (10mm?) and/or cut and raise the floor. I'm thinking I'll need to stiffen the rear suspension to stop the floor coming down and contacting anything when I put stuff in the back/people hop in the car. What is the best way to go about this? Would I want to get and extra leaf added to the pack, or could I potentially use some of the coil-over shocks that I see listed for leaf-sprung cars that carry loads? Keen to hear people's thoughts since I'm quite new to leaf springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mekemelorry Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 adding an extra leaf would help, but also raise the height by 20mm or so. you could maybe add overload spring onto the bottom of the spring pack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 I'm not sure whether an overload spring would help in my case since I don't think the spring flattens out completely before the floor makes contact. I was under the impression that an overload spring would only affect the spring rate once the spring pack had flattened out and touched the overload spring along its length. It is very possible that I'm not sure what I'm talking about though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 If they have round shims between the leaves at the ends remove them as they increase friction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemi Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 short story is if you want it that low get springs reset and maybe added leaf . or 'massage' the floor . or cut section of floor out and make a new tunnel that will require cert though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 You can pull the springs apart and re-arch them yourself if you want to. A couple of ways: Easy Hard: Put the leaf down on a couple of steel blocks with a gap between them, and smack with a heavy hammer on the leaf above the gap. Work along the spring from front to back. Make sure you mark out the starting curve with chalk or something on the floor first. I need to do the rear leafs in my Holden, getting saggy after 40 years. One day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemi Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 i will in no way shape or form reccommend doing that at all . just saiyan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedy Al Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I think its golden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 i lold, spend the ~100 get them properly reset and RE TEMPERED and maybe at a leaf, i need to do this too at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 It's just steel. What do you think the spring shops do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phr34kr Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Surely the spring shops re temper the leaves. Bending them in multiple places like that will play havoc with the harness at each of those bend points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Thanks for all the feedback. short story is if you want it that low get springs reset and maybe added leaf . or 'massage' the floor . or cut section of floor out and make a new tunnel that will require cert though . I'm not really sure why I'd need to reset the springs since it is already low enough, or is that to compensate for the extra height gained by adding a leaf. On that note, why does adding a leaf raise the car? My front crossmember is around 80 - 85 mm ground clearance so I'm going to need a cert at this height regardless. I'd say no matter what I do I'm probably going to need to either massage the floor, or more likely, cut the floor and have a new section welded in. If I can do this and still run my original rear seat then that shouldn't be an issue. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaver Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 adding a leaf makes it stiffer, so they will drop less when the weight of the car is put on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Ah gotcha. Does the extra leaf increase the stiffness of the pack by increasing the unloaded curvature? Or is it simply that there is more material in the pack (an extra spring) which reduces deformation when the load is applied? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaver Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 the second one. same reason as to why you can break one stick, but if you have 7 it will be harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Sweet. That makes sense. So it looks as if adding another leaf and getting the springs reset (again) may well be my next port of call. Hopefully combining this with new shocks and tunnel mods should result in my driveshaft not clipping the floor. Which would be an improvement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaver Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 ye that, and/or possibly jam some bump stops in so the diff/dshaft cant hit the floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 ye that, and/or possibly jam some bump stops in so the diff/dshaft cant hit the floor? Yeah the bumpstop above the diff is just (a couple of mm) shy of connecting with the diff as it sits currently. The dshaft flange only hits on the corners as it rotates so I wouldn't need much clearance and then the bumpstop would actually stop any metal to metal contact as far as I can tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaver Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 ah I see. perhaps a gentle massage of the floor with an appropriately sized hammer (ie big one) will be the best idea. save all the hassle of pissing about with springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikewazowski Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Yeah I think that + new shocks (which I need anyway) might be my first port of call. Although I'm picking that 5 mm travel until it hits the bumpstop is probably not going to fly, especially since it'll sit on the bumpstop with 3 people in the car I'm pretty sure. Tempting to raise it by 15 - 20 mm, not require a cert and most of the issues will probably disappear...but it just looks so good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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