battmann

iTrader: (9)

Started putting the front end of my car back together and there’s a huge gap above the front tire. I still don’t have all the PW stuff in the doors, interior or hood on yet but I would think adding that stuff wouldn’t drop the car down enough to look right.




I currently have Eibach pro lowering springs and an older design UMI a-arms. They were a real PITA to get installed back then. I’m thinking the springs aren’t seated / clocked properly. I’m reading here it seems the OTC 7045B is the best tool for spring install.
Cheapest I can find that tool for is like $235. Ground Control weight jacks are about $630 and those will let you raise / lower the car.
Would you guys buy the better tool and fix the current setup or put that money toward weight jacks?

soloc4

Definitely weight jacks. Brand doesn't matter, Ground Control, UMI, etc. they will fix the problem you have and offer infinite adjustability to your ride height. Go too far and you can easily raise it, you can't do that with just lowering springs. They also offer the opportunity to balance the suspension if you install a set in the rear. Your car is coming along great, so close to summer cruising.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

That looks like a combination of issues.

Have you rolled the car forward and backward a few times after setting it back on the ground? Because the tires look like they're sitting in a severe positive camber position after having been hanging in the air, which would indicate that the suspension geometry (not the springs) hasn't been given the chance to settle back into place. And until you do that, then you can't do any calculating for heights and adjustments.

Also, your new engine is, what, 80 to 100 pounds lighter than the engine that was in the car previously? Any new lightweight structural parts?

It's also possible that the springs aren't indexed properly, as you suggested, as if maybe they moved while raising the a-arms back into position. But even that isn't likely to make the car look like it's had its engine removed.

Rather than guessing which lowering springs might give you the stance you want, an adjustable height suspension would probably be the way to go. And between GC and UMI, if the UMI products had been available when I got my GC, then I'd have gone with UMI. Just looking at the UMI design inspires more confidence than GC, to me. No issues with GC, and I don't think many other members have either, but they just look like an accident waiting to happen, IMO. I don't see that in the UMI design.

Edit: And I meant to ask, will your hood close with that strut tower brace?

battmann

iTrader: (9)

the car has been off jackstands since last fall and i've driven the car about 50 miles so far. i've been driving the car without the front end assembled to troubleshoot mechanical issues. i didn't realize the front end was so high until i installed the fenders this past weekend. ground to wheel well lip on front is 30". rear is just over 28".
no lightweight structural parts have been added. the car has a turbo LS engine with 4L80E tranny. i would think overall weight would still be in the ballpark of what the car was before but like i mentioned the doors are still gutted, there's really no interior and the hood and front bumper aren't installed yet. i was going to wait until it's fully together to get the car aligned at a shop. thought i could set the alignment close for now but sounds like it's off. all of the suspension parts are brand new: shocks, struts, tie rods, center link, bushings, end links, etc...
i loosened the a-arm bolts on the ground and tried bouncing the car to make sure bushings weren't binding. that didn't do anything. then i looking up into the k-member and i think the top of the spring isn't in the groove correctly. i can see the isolator kind of bunched up too. these springs were a huge PITA to install years ago. the bottom of the spring kept sliding out of the UMI a-arm. i had to weld a little tab on the arm to hold the spring in (there's a picture in THIS POST of my build thread).
my UMI caster / camber plates are set in towards the engine. i thought by doing this, the tire would have negative camber. the DS can only go in so far because of the Wilwood master cylinder. i measured where the DS one was and then set the PS to be the same. both plates are also more towards the front of the car. i'm not sure which way to move these to make adjustments. maybe someone can give me general rules of thumb on where the plates should be - in towards the engine vs out towards the fender and towards the firewall vs towards the front of the car.
not sure if any of that helps your assessment of my situation. i did a lot of searching and reading here before making this thread. it seems the likely answer is springs aren't installed properly, but not sure unless i redo them. that would require a the better OTC spring compressor tool. i'd be happy if just purchasing that tool and redoing the springs fixes the problem because that's the cheaper option but does it make more sense to put that money towards the adjustable weight jack setup? it looks like you don't need a spring compressor tool to install weight jacks.

to answer your last question - not sure if my hood will fit yet with the UMI strut tower brace. i started a thread (HERE) asking if anyone has this piece to let me know. QwkTrip said basically no strut tower braces fit Firebirds. i'll eventually install the hood and see how close it is. if it only requires minimal underhood trimming i *may* do that. i'll see and will post my findings.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Here's a thread I remembered from last year. It's brief but to the point and was solved quickly. Same problem as yours, where everything seemed to have done correctly, but the height was too tall. Tops of the springs weren't fully seated.
Spring install questions - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Installed front UMI weight jacks and that fixed the issues. Not sure why the Eibach pro springs weren’t working right for me. Fender lip is 27” off the ground. Still got the Eibach pro springs in the back and rear fender lip is 28-3/8” off the ground. Everything looks a million times better.