Sorry, been off list for a week, just getting caught up.
I think the someone referred to here is me. No argument from me, a
compressed spring has a lot of stored energy -- even the ones on our Spits.
As with any work being done on a car, safty is rule #1.
I got the idea from an old car restoration magazine. If my memory serves me
correctly, the author was rebuilding a mid-sixties 'vette, in which the
front suspension is of the same basic design as ours, only with much larger
components. Being curios (and some might say "fool-hardy"), I thought I'd
try to use the same technique on my car since I had a jack but didn't have a
spring compressor. BTW, mines a 64 Spitfire4 w/ the original (best I can
tell) springs. (Aside- I think it had the original shocks, trunions,
bushings, etc. as well, but that's a story for another time.) Other year
models will probably differ somewhat as several other spring heights and
spring rates were used during the ~20 years of production. So, even though
it worked for me, it may not work for you.
Anyway, here's how I did it:
- Placed the car on 4 jack stands. This takes the car off the suspension so
that it's stable.
- Remove the front tires, disconnect the sway bar & tie-rods, and remove the
brake calipers & rotors. At this point you should have the front suspension
stripped down to A-arms, knuckle, spring & shock.
- Place a hydraulic floor jack under the lower knuckle and lift it just
until the tension is off of the shock.
- Unbolt the top end of the shock. I just removed the center nut as the
smaller nuts hold the top spring perch in place.
- *CAREFULLY* lower the jack. The top spring perch should hold the top of
the spring in place, the perch welded to the shock should hold the lower end
of the spring. Bottom of the shock is still attached to the lower A-arm. I
found that when the spring was fully extended, it was loose in the perches.
If this hadn't been the case, my plan was to jack it back up, bolt it back
together and get a spring compressor. Recall "rule #1".
- Unbolt the bottom end of the shock and the spring is out.
- As my favorite author is fond of saying, "Refitting is a reversal of
removal, but tighten components only to the specified torque." (--Gospel
according to Haynes)
It worked for me without any slipping or shifting. I felt comfortable with
the technique and I believe I took proper care and precautions. I
originally pinged the list after the fact because I thought it *wasn't*
supposed to work and I was surprised with my success. I was afraid that I
might have had problems w/ collapsed springs or something. But, the ride
height seems to be right and everything seems to have worked for the 4,000
or so miles I've put on it since I did this so I think I'm ok.
As I and several others have stated, springs are dangerous and *EXTREME*
care should be taken. I claim no responsibility for cuts, bruises, or loss
of life, teeth, blood, eyesight, etc.
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: spitfires-owner@autox.team.net
[mailto:spitfires-owner@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Nolan Penney
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 5:13 AM
To: spitfires@autox.team.net; angel@webwizzards.com
Subject: Re: Front Shock (Damper) coil removal?
Someone posted once that they could do it in the car, unbolting
and then jacking the car. I haven't tried it, and have my doubts
about it. I don't like to jury rig things when it comes to coil springs, I
watched a vans coil spring blast right through the cinderblock wall once
when it broke free from its compressor. Granted an american full size van
uses larger springs then a Spitfire, but if it were to go through your face,
size wouldn't matter much.
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