Anyone know the uncompressed length of Centerline's rear performance springs for a Spider? I just completed installing their springs on the front and rear and the rear end sits bottomed out on the rubber axle bumpers. The front actually sits 1" higher measured at the wheel arch than it did with the old springs. I guess my old front springs have seen better days. The uncompressed length of the rears that they sent me are 11 3/4" long. They looked really short compared to the originals, much more so than the shortness of the front springs compared to the originals.
I can't find any specs. anywhere other than compression rate. They obviously sent me the wrong springs, the ones they sent have 6 coils as shown in their catalog that I have, but on their website they show to have 14 coils.
Have you modified the rear spring cups to use these springs? The springs that I have seen advertised are a different diameter from the ones used in Alfa Spiders.
Joe at Centerline has sent me replacement springs which will arrive on Friday. The springs that I originally received had 6 coils and the correct ones should have 8 coils. I'll post about how they feel after I install them this weekend. Joe was real easy to work with, mistakes happen. I'm really curious to see how high the car will sit seeing as the new front springs raised the front of my car 1" instead of lowering it 1".
the speedway front springs that you want are 5.5" dia.not to put centerline down but speedway have many more options on spring,, and they spring the spring rate. I found that 1150"/lbs on the front and 180"/lbs work really well not a harsh ride. but great control.
I know about the front springs but it is the rears that I am interested in. It looks to me that Speedway Motors do not sell a spring that is the same diameter as the Alfa rear. How did you install the Speedway springs in the rear?
I have a set of the 8 coil yellow Centerline rear springs and they make great boat anchors. When I put them on my 74 spider the rear end looked like I had the trunk full of sakcrete, the 80lb bags. They are in my junk pile which is why it was so easy to go out to the shop and count the # of coils. All I can say is I hope they work better for you than they did me.
just in case anyone is interested , it would probably help to buy the right springs if you actually knew what you had and what you are buying....
if you have access to a spring tester then thats pretty easy , obviously but if you don't the math works like this :
(G x D x D x D x D ) ( thats D to the 4th ) / ( 8 x N x M x M x M)
G is the the torsional modulous of the material is presumed to be 11.25 x 10 to the 6th or 11,250,000
D is the wire diameter measured with a micrometer to three decimal places
N is the number of ACTIVE coils ... the coils that touch the seat on flat end springs don't count
M is the center line diameter of the spring called the mean. arrived at by subtracting one wire dia from the overall dia.
"8" is a derived constant
so... its 11,250,000 times wire dia to the 4th divided by the quantity 8 times the number of active coils times the mean dia cubed .
so this gives you the actual spring rate, known as K , in pounds per inch for what is actually on your car. now... nothing keeps you from doing that same calculation on your new springs and determining is they are stiffer softer or what. if the rate calculates the same and they are the same free height then the ride height must be the same... stiffer and same free height and the car will be higher, softer and it will be lower.
now... a word about the number of coils and why it matters...
a spring is nothing more than a sway bar that has been wound into a spiral . the " spring " action comes from each " section " or slice of the wire twisting like a sway bar relative to the section next to it... so... a spring that has one coil gets its entire rate by twisting one section a long way while a spring with 10 coils twists 10 sections a much shorter way ( the same as a short sway bar of a given dia will be stiffer than a long bar of the same dia ) ... why is this important ?
elastic limit . all materials have a strain ( deflection ) limit to where it can be " bent or twisted " and still return undamaged to its original shape. once a material is deflected beyond its elastic limit it permanently deforms ( yields ) and never goes back. a spring with too few coils twists its sections beyond the elastic limit of the material and basically is killed as a spring at that point a spring with a lot of coils has more capability for large deflections. thats where all the design elements come into play ... only have room for a very short spring with only a few coils ? use big wire at a large dia. have a lot of room for a tall spring but no side clearence ? use smaller wire at a smaller dia with a lot of coils .
i read these posts and begin to onder if these cars had all manner of spring rates for different years and that centerline is trying a " one size fits all approach " it will be easy to know... either measure one and do the math or stick one on a spring checker along with the one you are taking off the car.
there shouldn't be as wildly varying results are as posted here . this is pretty basic stuff and hard quantifiable answers should be easy to find
Steve,
There is a post somewhere that lists the spring rate for standard Alfa springs and many aftermarket springs. I have a copy of it in an Excel file.
My standard rear springs are 70 lb/in, both calculated and measured with a bathroom scale and a yard stick. Most aftermarket "sport" springs are about 180 lb/in. Bianch1 has pointed out that there are more options with springs from Speedway Motors.
A friend who has a fast Giulia super race car uses rear springs from 125 to about 200. Shankle sold springs that were 114 and 134 lb/in.
there are lots of calculators online where you just dump in the data and they give you the rate... i have to say that i find those numbers staggeringly light. im not doubting them because i don't have shred of real data but with those kind of numbers the weight distribution of the car would have to be hugely forward... never the less , i find the bizzare results posted in the first three pages inconsistant with what should be a straight up deal. something is going on somewhere and i think some math might go a long way towards explaining it... i mean really... gigem took springs off , put new springs on that are supposed to be performance springs at the same free length and you lose 2" of ride height ? ... what can possibly do that except impossibly light rates ? i can't even imagine a street car with 80 lb rear springs. a full tank of gas would lower the car a 1/2 inch never mind passengers..... a spitfire that weighs 1400 lbs in street trim had transverse leaf spring that was 300 which is 150/side straight onto the uprights...
I had 125"/lbs on my rear from speedway too soft the rear would bottom out easy 180"/lbs work great no snap over steer... with the fronts at 1150"/lbs. and my qa1 shocks really nice, I can drive the rear or front in the corners with the throttle
if you can steer that car in the corners with throttle with as little power as these have the you either have horrible tires or absolutely no pitch control or platform control from your shocks...
what ever..it's fun, I can keep up with porshes, some 308's on a really twisty roads here..new tyres 16/7 rims goodyear eagle gt tyres only 6 months old..
you don't know my car, nor drivin it.. fast shifting, short throw, aluiumn d/shaft big friggin brakes. polly mount sway bars, rod ends at the end,, the fron sway bar has a total re-enforcement under the rad. side to side. very stiff mount,, the rear bar is mounted a-la' mustand type mount....not done yet
steve.. I am not even close to those great drivesr.. I just know those road really... well. even some of friends chase me at night for fun, but I get away from them because I know that road well
I installed my rear springs yesterday and am very pleased with the results. The ride is not at all harsh and the car remains unbelievably level going around sharp curves. They definitely put a smile on your face! After the springs "settled in" the front is 1/2" higher than the original springs measured at the top of the wheel arch. The rear springs are at the exact same height as the originals. The driver's side rear wheel arch measurement is 1/2' higher than the passenger side without me in the car. With me in the drivers seat the rear arch measurement is equal on both sides. (160 lbs). I performed the front suspension measurement as well as the measurement between the rear axle tube and the rubber bumper and every thing was right on spec. Using a 6 foot level held at the upper line of the "scoop" that runs the length of the car the line was within 1/8" of being dead on level. My only question is how much clearance should there be between the limit strap and the bottom of the axle tube? I cut 2" off of the limit straps because of the shortness of the wrong springs originally sent to me. I currently have about 2 3/8" of slack. Is that enough? The new correct springs measure 14 1/2" high, 4 1/4" dia., and a thickness of 0.473 including paint.
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