[89.5 Esprit SE]

Exactly which pieces are you looking for?
Springs? Used shocks? I do have springs from an 89

Randy

 

[Gallagher]

Exactly which pieces are you looking for?
Springs? Used shocks? I do have springs from an 89

Randy

The issue I'm having is that my car has the typical ride height imbalance where the passenger side sits noticeably higher than the drivers side....drives me f**king bonkers.

My SE is really clean and I don't want to do anything irreversible to it. I also have heard about 50/50 positive and negative about the "affordable" aftermarket adjustable coil overs, and the real lotus package is not going to happen. (The resulting divorce would make the suspension seem cheap!).

I'm sure most on here are familiar with Jan's cars and builds. In an old post he has on one of the forums he talked about cutting a hair off the springs.

There's been more than one car in our family that have had this done with good results depending on a bunch of factors, but I do not want to do it to the original suspension...I would want to lay that away if I went this route. I don't want to turn my car into a low rider, just level it out. Also want the option of putting the stock setup back in if I were ever to do a track day (unlikely) or a high performance driving school (more likely).

I also live in a part of the world where if you are caught speeding in excess of 40km/h (25mph) over the speed limit your car is confiscated for seven days, you get a ticket of around $500 plus an annual "dangerous driver premium". I received a ticket a while back for going 6km/h (4mph) over the limit in a school zone.

Sooooo.....not exactly the autobahn here, ultra high speed handling sacrifices are trumped by car appearance if you live on Vancouver island....

NOTE: I do not want this to turn into a spring cutting debate!!!

Randy, I'd be interested in your springs if you want to part with them, PM me please and thanks.

 

[Vulcan Grey]

Try swapping your springs frome side to side, or place a spacer under the driver side spring to raise that side. About 3mm worked in my case when I adjusted my spring perches to fix the lean..

 

[carbuff]

Try swapping your springs frome side to side,

I've done the swap on my own car and a friend's S4s. You just need a nice set of spring compressors for the rear.

If you want instructions I have a write-up in .Doc form. Let me know.

 

[maxvelocity]

You just need a nice set of spring compressors for the rear.

Tim and I use nylon straps to keep the springs compressed

 

[Gallagher]

Try swapping your springs frome side to side, or place a spacer under the driver side spring to raise that side. About 3mm worked in my case when I adjusted my spring perches to fix the lean..

I might give the side to side swap a try. Stupid question though, wouldn't the driver's side just be higher then? I know the idea was to balance it out with the additional weight of the column and controls set up for RHD...but.

I don't really want to do any spacer addition... don't really want to do anything that will increase the ride height.

 

[Gallagher]

I've done the swap on my own car and a friend's S4s. You just need a nice set of spring compressors for the rear.

If you want instructions I have a write-up in .Doc form. Let me know.

I'd love to get the write-up from you, thank you for the offer!


I have a spring guy that I'll get to pop the springs off the shocks. I have a set of compressors, but they are a pain to use and may not have enough travel for the amount of pre-load in these. I know we just ended up getting them popped off at a local spring shop when we did our Super 7 springs. Tons of preload with those too.

 

[Vulcan Grey]

The springs sag on the driver side (in the US) due to the driver's weight, plus the engine weight is greater on that side due to the slant 4 config.

The springs have sagged over time, and are usually shorter on the driver side because of that. If you switch the springs to the opposite side, then the car will be more even until the springs sag some more.

 

[Lotus Dave]

Travis: My car sags on the passenger side. I'll tell my wife your weight theory and give her your E-mail address so you guys can discuss this further. Ha Ha Ha Ha
Dave
90SE

 

[carbuff]

Travis: My car sags on the passenger side. I'll tell my wife your weight theory and give her your E-mail address so you guys can discuss this further. Ha Ha Ha Ha
Dave
90SE

OUCH! :facepalm




Cal, I've never used the Nylons (fishnet? LOL), preferring to use my spring compressors.



Gallagher, send me a PM email so I can attach the document.



The front shock/spring assemblies do not need to be compressed. It's Plug-n-play on that end.

On the rear, the frame is the upper spring seat, that's why I used the compressor. Just compress the spring a little, jack up the car, and swap them out.

++++++++++

PS, it's worth noting that you should be measuring side-to-side ride height at the front crossmember. Don't use the body to judge spring compression! It's different on each side. (I guess someone was leaning on the molds, LOL) rotfl