loosness in spring seats

[Guest Anonymous]

I installed new lowered racing springs in my 1977 280 Z. I noticed that while car is sitting on jack stands ( suspension off ground ) the springs in front have play ie I can turn them around 360 degrees easily by hand. Is this normal? I have installed spacers on the steering knuckle. I am thinking that as front wheels jump up and down off ground I would be causing damage or at least hearing bad suspension noises.

Steve

[gene_w]

Originally posted by steve325:

I installed new lowered racing springs in my 1977 280 Z. I noticed that while car is sitting on jack stands ( suspension off ground ) the springs in front have play ie I can turn them around 360 degrees easily by hand. Is this normal? I have installed spacers on the steering knuckle. I am thinking that as front wheels jump up and down off ground I would be causing damage or at least hearing bad suspension noises.

Steve

I also have lowering springs on my '75 280z that have play when at full travel on the suspension. I was concerned when I installed them that there would be problems and noise when driving. I am happy to say that I worried for nothing. I have not heard any strange noises, even coming over a hill at significant speeds. Seems the struts do a good job of preventing the suspension from stretching out all the way when driving.

 

One issue you might have, however, is bottoming out of the suspension. I have this problem. One solution, which I plan to do soon, is sectioning the struts. If you take out 1.5-2" of the struts and install shorter cartridges, you get back that amount of travel that you lost by lowering. An additional benefit of sectioning is the looseness of the springs goes away as the overall travel of the suspension has been decreased.

 

Gene