[DeTomaso] spring spacers

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/5/13 2 29 2, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:


> Bill, those springs are too short for the shock length, for whatever
> reason. Are they stock or aftermarket?
> 
>>>Since stock springs normally don't have any free space with stock 
shocks, even with the spacers removed, I would suspect they are Hall replacements 
for the stock springs, or factory GT5 springs (which is perhaps actually 
what Hall was selling).   They are stiffer and shorter than the stock (early) 
springs, by design.   I know the stock '71-74 springs are still in 
compression (at least slightly) with the stock spacers removed, so that leads me to 
believe your springs are shorter.   Maybe they are GT5 springs, but the other 
possibility is that somebody cut them to lower the car, which would be 
unfortunate as this also has the effect of increasing the spring rate, perhaps 
beyond where you would want it to be.

> > They can still be used but they will rattle
> on bumpy roads and give a jerky ride due to too much free-space.
> 
>>>True if you are driving your car in outer space.   But if you're using 
your car on earth, gravity will take care of your free space issue unless 
you're jumping your car, Dukes of Hazzard-style.   And if you're doing that, 
you have much bigger problems than excess spring free-space. :>)

> > You could
> make up custom spacers to barely fill the rattle-space without changing 
> ride
> height much.
> 
>>>On the contrary--the car could be raised a substantial amount, depending 
on how much free space you have.

As a datapoint, I have Koni aftermarket shocks with threaded adjusters from 
Pantera East, and before that I had Carrera shocks from Wilkinson.   Even 
with my car lowered about as much as one reasonably could, with both sets of 
shocks there is a half inch to an inch of free space when the car is in the 
air; at a stock ride height the free space would probably be at least an 
inch and a half or more.   This is not a problem, because once the car settles 
onto the ground, the suspension compresses and the free space naturally 
disappears.   The vendors supply the shocks with the springs zip-tied to the top 
of the shocks to keep them properly positioned.   So free space is standard 
issue with aftermarket setups (at least some of them).

If, say, you have an inch of free space at the moment, if you installed a 
one-inch spacer to eliminate that free space, you would probably raise the 
car almost two inches.   

This all started when you removed the factory spacers, didn't it?   That 
move was probably predicated on the notion that you had stock-height springs 
in the car.   If your springs are much shorter than stock (for whatever 
reason), then the stock spacers may be required to keep the car at a proper ride 
height.   That would be the concern I would be having with excess free 
space, not the potential for rattling etc. when jumping the car.   

Bottom line--what is the free length of your springs currently?   By 
comparing that, to the length of other people who have stock springs, spacers 
removed, you can roughly determine what your ride height will be.   If your 
springs are substantially shorter than some other guy's, it stands to reason 
that your car would be considerably lower than his would be, all other things 
being equal.   It's a good thing to find out before you put the car back on 
the ground.

Cheers!

Mike