front wishbone rebuild

[johngosnell]

Hi chaps
Thanks for the info and picture, I went strait out and measured the gap and it is 4 " inches at the moment. I am sure that the springs came from SNG Barratt' and spacers were fitted. So firstly should I allow the suspension to settle and how long for? or should I aske the garage to remove the packing spacers, when I spoke to the garage he did say that he would remove them. The other issue that makes it look even worse is, while the car was serviced at the same time and he told me that the car was low on the back to an extent it was hard to get the rear wheels off. He commented that the packing spacers appeared to be missing off the rear shocks. any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6

[NigelW]

I don't think it will settle any lower with poly bushes fitted. If it was mine I'd get the gararge to remove the spacers and fit rear packing rings to the rear shocks and take it from there. Getting good front springs are a nightmare! The only place that I have found so far that has come up with the best for ride height are WatJag who have commissioned their own springs.

[cass3958]

John it is always hard to get the rear wheels off because of the design of the rear wing, more so now I have changed to wire wheels and the wheel has to come out horizontally to get it off the splines first before you can tilt it back. The profile of the tyres does not help either as I have a slightly wider tyre on my S Type than was originally on it but they do come off. Getting the ride height at the back can be difficult as there is only the twin spring and shocker on each side and the shockers should all be the same size but I have seen some very low S Type rear ends. The bottom of my rear wheel arch is about the same height of the top of the wire wheel maybe a little lower when I have people sat in the back. Under normal load the stance of the car is slightly dropped forward so if you measure from the bottom of the jacking points to the floor I have a 16 cm (6 1/4 inch) gap at the front and a 23 cm (9 inch) gap at the back.

[johngosnell]

Hi rob ,
As soon as I read your post I went out and measured the rear of the car. Firstly the rear wheel arch is at least an 1"inch possibly 2"inches lower than you said your car is, as I can't get on the floor I measured from the edge of the rear wheel arch to the floor and it is 17"inches approximately. So is it just the shocks/spring that can cause a lower back end or is there more?

Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6

[cass3958]

John I am away from my car for a week as I am working up country but when I get back I will measure the height from the wheel arch to the ground for you. As for the height difference this can be caused by worn rear springs or possibly by worn rear subframe mounts. It can also be due to the profile of the tyres. The original tyre for the S Type was a 185R15 but it did not give the side wall size. I think the side wall should be about 75 and this means 75% of the 185 width. So by changing the width of the tyre from 185 to 195 or even 205 means that the 75% will be greater and the ride height will be greater. so if you have wider tyres you need to go down on the size of the side wall to 70 or even 65 to get the right ride height and to allow space to get the tyres off your car from under the wheel arch.

[johngosnell]

Hi Rob
Thanks for the extra info, i will have to be a bit political as I have spent a lot this year and living on a pension. I will try and get the tyre sizes and post them as I am not that up on tyre size and the affect.The garage as I said in a previouse post said that they would add the spacers for me, but it may work out cheeper to by 4 new shocks/spring already built by RGK Barretts @ £119 compared to the labour cost of stripping each shock/spring then adding the spacers @ £11.90 each plus labour.

Regards John

1B127BW
1972 Rover P6

[johngosnell]

Ok tyre size ( I Think) is 185 80RS 98 or 3 with a letter T at the end

Regards John

1B1257BW
1972 Rover P6

[cass3958]

John I am back with my car. Measuring from the centre of the wheel arch to the ground in a direct vertical line through the centre of the wheel from the lowest part of the wheel arch I have 21 inches or 53cm to the ground. This means the top edge of the wire wheel is inline with the lowest point of the wheel arch and all the tyre rubber is hidden. 17 inches if measured at the same point as mine is quite a difference and no wonder they had problems getting the back tyres off.
You mentioned packing spacers on the back shockers but I do not have these as you can see from the photo of two of my rear shockers with springs. You might just have very worn springs on the back causing the back to sink lower. New springs from SNG Barratt part number C23167 are £25.32 and rear shocks part number C22847 are £46.36. Problem is you will need a set of four which will cost £286.72 including VAT. These old cars can become a bit of a Money pit which is why I make mine work for a living.

[johngosnell]

Hi Rob, The measurement I took was exactly how you measured your car, I had a chat with garage and he is going to have the car back and investigate. I normally purchase the parts before the car goes to the garage but this time I have asked the garage to get the parts as I don't want to waist money on parts that may not be the problems. The car is as high at the front as it is low at the back 4 "inches compared to your car.

regards john

1B1257BW
1972 rover P6

[cass3958]

I don't know if the stance of my car is correct john compared to how they came out of the factory. It would be nice if others could post side profile views of their cars so you can compare and get the best stance to suit your taste as Stan rightly stated in another post "I'm happy to report that the principle of personal choice in our cars still applies. It's your car and your preference. Simples!
I quite like the forward drop stance my car has but there are others if you look in the members gallery of photos of cars that have the same stance as yours at the moment with the back dropped low and front up. With the size of some of the brides I have in the back of my S Type if it was any lower I would be hitting the bump stops over every small lump in the road. Once you see a photo of the stance you would like print the photo off and take that with you to the garage and get them to replicate it.
Here's mine side profile.