RE: Spider rear spring boosters, stock? (Fwd)

["charles.slayman" <Charles.Slayman@domain.elided>]

Jeffrey,
	Yes.  There are three different rear shim thicknesses - 3, 11 and 24mm
(roughly).  Your's are probably 11mm.  You probably have the 5mm shims on the
front.  They are used to trim the ride height between front and rear from the
factory.  
	They can also serve to compensate for sagging springs, but since they don't
come in fine enough increments (and aren't much cheaper than new springs
anyway), this really isn't a practical solution.  If you've got sagging
springs, just buy new ones.
	If you remove the front shims, you might be able to reduce the rear shims
from 11mm to 3mm.  But ask yourself if you can live with lower ground
clearance.  If you can and you are rebuilding the front suspension, then
remove the front shims too.  If not, keep both sets in since it sounds like
you have even balance on ride height from front to rear right now.

Cheers,
Charlie
'89 Spider

>----------------Begin Forwarded Message----------------<

Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 02:38:48 +0000
From: JeffreyOlson@domain.elided
Subject: Spider rear spring boosters, stock?
To: alfa@domain.elided

Not sure why I never noticed but the rear springs in my 
recently acquired '78 Spider have two coil boosters 
added to each side.

Are these to correct the ride height to US-specs or 
installed by the P.O. to compensate for sagging 
springs/shocks?

I would like to remove them but I don't want the car to 
appear nose-high.

The car seems to have the rear ride height slightly 
higher than the front when empty and slightly tail low 
with one just occupant.

Getting ready to rebuild the front suspension and wonder 
what I should do to improve the whole package while I'm 
at it without spending too much.

Thanks!

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