RE: ride height

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> > Lore is that spring length (or ride height, presumably altered by
> > spring length) was raised by 1" for US spec spiders in 75 or so.
>
> The ride height was definitely raised between my original '71 1750 Spider
> and the '76 versions onwards to accomodate bumper height regulations. I
> don't know about '75, but probably so. Exactly what was changed I'm not

the ride height was changed sometime between '72 and '74.

> sure ... seems to me my '78 and '79 cars had spacers in the front spring
> seats and longer rear springs, the front springs were probably different
> as well. The upper control arm on the raised cars is also different, to
> keep the geometry of the front end constant.

this is the first i've heard of different upper control arms.  i'd bet money
that the ones in the '72 are the same as the ones in the later cars.  when
you order new control arms you don't have to specify which model year
they're for.

not sure about the springs changing, but alfa certainly added thicker
spacers as the years went by - partly to raise the bumper height, partly to
offset the additional weight of the later cars.  you should see how thick
the spacers are on a mid-80's spider.

bs

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