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My 64 is low to the ground, and it likes to show every bump crack etc in the road.

The shocks seem to be in decent shape, but I would like a smoother ride.

As for handling what can I do as well, I want to take corners as quick as possible(and safe) but don't want to feel like it's going to roll.

Thanks for the advice

How is your car lowered & what else have you done to the suspension so far?

Front beam has adjusters and rear has lowered via the spring plates

At first glance(haven't had a chance to raise it and really look) the beam looks worn, as does the front sway bar, but the shocks look newer(KYB Gas adjust I believe)

The person I purchased the car from did not know much about it, and locating the owner before him is nigh impossible.

This could be easy, or it could get involved.
Let's start at the front & work one end at a time.
Take off the shocks & anti-sway bar. Drive it down the street. How does it feel? Bouncy gone? It's the shocks.
Bouncy not gone? Park it & jack up the front solidly & not by the suspension.
Loosen both adjusters so the leaves are free. Grab a long 2x4 or something to use to "pry" a tire up. It should move easily with the only resistance being the weight of the wheels & tires (both, they are connected by the springs). If you get good feeling movement, tighten the adjusters together so that there is no pre-load bind between them. Drive it around. Hopefully you'll be in good shape at this point. If you are, adjust the height to what you want & put the shocks & sway bar back on.

A stiff front end can be achieved by tightening one adjuster & then jacking up on a tire and then tightening the other adjuster. It creates a bunch of pre-load. That's what you want to make sure you don't have.

If all this does not do it for you, pull the trailing arms & take a picture of the end of the springs. Post it so we can see it. You might have the fat springs from Sway-A-Way. When you are pulling the trailing arm, see how it slides out. It could be binding on a tight bushing or bad bearing.

Get to work.

I will try it out, once the wind and cold disappear

Usually funny handling is caused by something being loose, or something being out of alignment. Doing a full rebuild is fun, but it might be unnecessary... Aligning the suspension might help.

ozzie wrote:A stiff front end can be achieved by tightening one adjuster & then jacking up on a tire and then tightening the other adjuster. It creates a bunch of pre-load.

I agree that there will be preload in the springs, but how much preload will there be in the suspension? Even if the top and bottom springs are of different spring rate, it won't make a difference as I understand it.

If you put 10lb/in preload in the other leaf spring pack, it will ofcourse generate a 10lb/in preload in the other spring pack, thus the preload in the front suspension will be 10lb/in - 10lb/in = 0lb/in. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right... if the springrates in the torsionleaves are proportional, then the preload will do nothing.
But if the springrates are progressive, then the preload will change the total springrate to a higher value. I belive the springrate is progressive, but I dont know how to calculate the rates(so i dont know for sure)...

Duus

kdf, I agree 100% with your logic. However, it just works that way. Put something in a bind, and then put more energy into it (the weight of the front end) you get more bind.

I'll have to look more deeply into this.

If I remember correctly torsion bars are linear, not progressive. And I'm feeling a bit sick so I can't visualize how two different springs with different load/deflection curves would interact... Also, not being an expert in this matter doesn't help.

The front spring is a torsion/multi-leaf design, so maybe preload increases the friction between the leaves, so could the stiffness come from friction instead of preload?

yes, solid torsion bars are linear. But that doesnt nessesary be true for the torsion leaf setup.

Duus

Oh this is easy. Forget theory & graph paper, come on over to the house & I'll give you an example of practical application. You might even get to drive a cool Ghia & get a free beer.

allright... then I just need to check if there is a plane leaving tonight

Duus