Rear sits noticeably higher than stock.

So this has been present for a couple of months now without issues but it's still an eyesore and not the best for handling.

My car sat for a while while I did work on it, so I didn't notice the ride-height issue until after I completed the work I was doing.

Suspension related:

Rear heim-jointed trailing links.
Rear heim-jointed toe-control links.
New pillow ***** (6 total) for rear upper and lower control arms
Rear solid differential "bushings."
Completition of the non-sequential work (which resulted in weight reduction. Total weight reduc. tally: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=274469)

Now the car is obviously still in need of an alignment but currently the rear ride height seems to sit about .5-1.0" higher than stock for reasons that escape me. The suspension does not bind, and I know I reinstalled everything correctly (upper a-arms aligned properly, etc.).

I can imagine weight reduction resulting in an increase in ride height obviously, but it seems abnormally high.

Here are some pictures of the "Rancho-Spec" ride-height:




Here are some pictures of my rear tires just for fun (Yes I have new ones sitting in the garage. No, this car is not driven in the rain presently):






Damon, Jeff, Sleep?

 

When you put in the new bushings, you had to remove & reinstall the upper A-arms, correct? Is it possible to install the upper A-arms upside down, so that the shock's lower mounting point is effectively raised?

Edit: I found one of jimlab's rear suspension pictures (off the car), where he had the arms installed upside down. In his "monstrosity" thread, see one of his posts dated 12-31-03.

 

As I said, I explicitly made sure to not fall into that trap.

Besides, one would have to REALLY be trying to do it that way.

Edit:

Thanks I'll check out the JL thread again.

 

It seems to me that with the arms upside down it would be tough to get the shock/spring back in, but unless you made some really thick top plates, I can't see anything that you listed causing such a difference.

 

Assume you have verified that the springs are centered up correctly and that the rubber noise isolation pads are in the correct position?

Also, some shocks can be ‘pumped up’ if they are exercised (or maybe just laid down for an extended period?) while on their side; oil doesn’t flow correctly, trap air, etc. It this is the case they would drop down to normal ride height once the car is driven a few miles.

 

Just went out and shoved the camera under the fenders to triple-verify. Everything seems normal:

 

Not necessarily. If you're just throwing the suspension together to take a couple pictures and not paying attention, it's quite easy, actually.

However, the distance from the rear knuckle pillow bushing to the rear upper control arm mounting points is identical whether the rear upper control arm is mounted right side up or not, so for the purpose of measurements, there's no difference. If installed on the car in that configuration (which yours is obviously not), though, the ride height would obviously be affected.

If you've just had the rear end up in the air and haven't driven the car since letting it back down to the pavement, the weight of the car alone will not compress the springs and shocks sufficiently to sit at actual ride height. You have to drive it and hit a few decent bumps.

 

Yea, it's been driven for over 4 months now. No change. Still Rancho-spec.

 

Time to get out the chop saw and take off a coil or two.

Did you have the front shocks off at the same time, by any chance?

 

When did you tighten up the control arm bolts? They need to be torqued after the car is sat on it's weight. That way you don't have any binding or elastic effect.

I like to use the rack you can drive onto and lift the car up when i do suspension work. Makes this procedure easier.

 

if you change all these old rubber bushings with new stiff ones, the car isint going to sag on the suspension, your car is original height in the rear now

michael

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=753595

 

Did you disassemble the struts? If so...

Did you replace the spring seats? That can add 1/2" or so. If not, are the coils seated in their old indentations?

Did you get the springs back on right-side up? I think they are smaller diameter at one end, but I forget.

Were you certain to torque the seats to fully pre-load the springs?

If you didn't disassemble the struts, you are certain you have the arms on correctly, and you have apparently normal suspension travel, then probably it is just paranoia and the fact that your tires are 1/4" or more smaller diameter than normal due to wear...

 

Actually it's most likely what BigIsland pointed out. I had torqued everything to spec with the car still on jackstands.

 

clayne, did you resolve the problem yet? Was BigIslandSevens correct?

 

Yeah was I?( sun has to shine on a dog's *** once in a while eh?) There have been a couple others asking a similar question. lately. I think one was suspected to be the rubber bushings the springs sit in. I am curious as well what you found out.

 

Still driving with the offroad option?

 

bump up an old thread.

I recently changed out all my bushings with SuperPro and now my rear is 2.5 inches taller than it used to be.

I did torque all bolts while the car was on jacks... thinking that was the problem I loosened them a bit and dropped it down again...no change.

The bushings in the front end were also changed but no problem there.

Anyone else experience this after doing a bushing swap?