big problem varishocks

[el-camino]

today i will do my first testdriving with the new suspension in my camino.
lower a arms from spohn and varishock coil overs 575lbs.
the first problem when i will move out of my garage: steering ! i can not steering easy
back on the car lift and i can see the tie-rods both side scrups on the chassis.
the next what i see and feel: no damping and absorbing, and i see the problem.
the lower a arm bumps on the chassis.
this pic is shot with the jack under the front end




what is the problem ? is the spring rate too low ? or is the spring not long enough ?
when i install the new parts, the camino comes 2" lower than before

[Marcus SC&C]

The car is obviously way too low. Where do you have the lower spring seats set? There`s lots of room between the coils yet in that pic so you should have plenty of adj. left in with the lower seat. That`s what it`s there for.
This is all part of putting a really adjustable suspension in a car. You need to adjust it. The motion ratio of the coil over is such that 1/2" of coil over travel equals about 1" of wheel travel. On a lowered car we don`t have much jounce travel left so the coil over shows even less. That looks funny to people at first but as long as the coils aren`t actually touching at any point (coil bind) you`re fine. Using a longer spring would mean that it`s compressed height is also higher and it would coil bind before the shock has used it`s full travel. It`s permissible to use a 1" coil spring preload spacer and it`s sometimes a handy tuning aid but it shouldn`t be necessary with 575lb/in springs on a small block G body. We can`t help without enough information though. We need more info as far as where the lower seat is (can`t see it in the pic). Posting threads like this before the client has even spoken to the vendor is almost always counter productive because you end up with a lot of wild speculation from (well meaning) people who have never worked with the system before. It just muddys the water and makes it harder to get things done. It`s best done after the tuning is done,then it can be a help to others. Mark SC&C

[el-camino]

yeep, here is the problem
first pic, under the car, springs fully compressed.
messurement from centerbolt to a-arm


second pic
old a-arm, messurement from a-arm to centerbolt


difference 0.7"

[andrewb70]

What brand of control arms are those?

Andrew

[MrQuick]

Doh!!!!! Bmr?

[s10cyncrvr]

I had the same clearance issues with the Spohns. A little trimming on the mounts free'd up a lot of room.
















I can now bring the tire up to the innerfender if I wanted to.

[el-camino]

spohn arms.

[Marcus SC&C]

Klaus and I have been working this over and the primary issue is that the car is simply set much too low. He raised the ride height some and the arms had a lot more clearance. At this point the pivot axis of the lower ball joints was still above the inner pivot axis where the arms bolt to the frame. That`s too low. You want the inner pivot far enough above that you allow for some brake dive before the geometry goes south. See pic. The orange line is level. The red line shows where a line between the pivot axis is now (at the "raised ride height") and the blue shows where it really should be for best geometry and performance.



At that height the car is still about 1.5" or so lower than stock and everything has plenty of clearance and travel. If you want the car lower for cosmetic reasons simply use tall lower ball joints (in this application) or spindles with some additional drop like AFXs and you can have lots of travel,great geometry and the stance you want. Coil overs aren`t the end all be all of lowering a car and making it handle,they`re just another useful tool in the box. Like any tool they have to be used properly for best performance. A new option BTW are the SPC Performance tubular lower arms which offer 1" of additional drop and more clearance as well as enhanced geometry. We`ll have them up on the site as soon as our web guy gets off his butt. Mark SC&C

[el-camino]

hi markus,
i will send you new pics.
for order the tall ball- joints, you today at the office ?

[Gbodyolds]

Marcus are those the Spohn or SPC pictured ? will they be available for the A body as well ?

[Marcus SC&C]

The ones on Klaus`s ElCamino are Spohn. The ones in the other pic are SPC Performance and yes,they`re available for A body. In fact we`ve already sold about a tractor trailer load of them! We`re currently updating the site so they`ll be on there soon. We also have them for 1st Gen Camaro, 2nd Gen Camaro,`78-`88 G body ,`73-`77 A Body, `78-`96 B body !!! We`ve been busy! Mark SC&C