Adjustable Spring Plates

Tony is installing the Swayaway's on Penny this week along with new Bilsteins.

Short answer- no it's not an upgrade. Why-

Adjustable spring plates were originally built for the offroad crowd and are way heavier (quite literally!) than need be for a street car. And once you adjust them you'll probably never look at them again, so why bother a- spending the extra money and b- carrying around the extra weight for the rest of your days? You'll also find that when you eventually widen the rear rims 1" (to the inside) for wider tires that the inner sidewalls will clear everywhere but the adjuster blocks.

Save your money, Ted, and when we meet you'll buy the first 1/2 dozen... Al

PS- How's the 5 speed install going? _{(oh, I just kill myself sometimes!!!)}

Terry Nuckels posted:

Tony is installing the Swayaway's on Penny this week along with new Bilsteins.

 

Save your money on the spring plates, Terry. What are you going to do- change the ride height every weekend?

Good info. It's all part of the journey.  I need to raise the rear 1/2 inch on one side. 1" on the other. All the parts for the 5 speed are waiting. Just need the motivation.

The sway aways are sooooo expensive.

Which Bilstiens?

TRP posted:

The sway aways are sooooo expensive.

And they're not needed!

ALB posted:

Terry Nuckels posted:

Tony is installing the Swayaway's on Penny this week along with new Bilsteins.

 

Save your money on the spring plates, Terry. What are you going to do- change the ride height every weekend?

Al, I like to have the ability to change the ride height depending on the type of driving I'm doing or whether I have a right seater. The other little niggle is that I can't dial in my rear end perfectly - one side is always a bit off. 

Btw...when is your speedster going to be up and running? I think it's time to start a new thread with a wager as to who will be first - you or Greg. 

I guess I have a little different opinion than Al, I think they are nice to have.   I bought the Appletree Automotive set for about 100 bucks and am pleased with the quality.  

You can play with the torsion bars and adjust as close as possible, however after driving and settling there is always a little tweaking that you will want to do.  I have made fine adjustments on my torsion bars three times (good thing I have usable torsion bar holes!), but I still use the adjustable spring plates for final fine tuning.  I agree, once you get it where you want, you will probably never adjust again.  But I like fiddling with stuff and it’s one more way I have to make adjustments!   Lol. 

James

TRP posted:

Which Bilstiens?

I don't know, Ted. Tony knows how I drive. I leave the choice up to him.

 Touche Terry, touche...

Terry Nuckels posted:

ALB posted:

Terry Nuckels posted:

Tony is installing the Swayaway's on Penny this week along with new Bilsteins.

 

Save your money on the spring plates, Terry. What are you going to do- change the ride height every weekend?

Al, I like to have the ability to change the ride height depending on the type of driving I'm doing or whether I have a right seater. The other little niggle is that I can't dial in my rear end perfectly - one side is always a bit off. 

Btw...when is your speedster going to be up and running? I think it's time to start a new thread with a wager as to who will be first - you or Greg. 

It's your wallet on that side that is causing you an issue. 

If he buys the Sway-Aways, he won't have the wallet problem........  

When setting up the rear torsion bars on my Spyder, I would remove the shocks and pull the axels/housings from the arms and measure from the center of the bolt hole on the shock tower to the top of the arm while lifting the arm by hand removing the slack.....   The measurement I wound up with that worked for me was 11 3/4 in.           The car had adjustable plates, but after centering the screws and adjusting the ride height as above, I never touched them again....   My .02

Since getting my car on the road in 2000, I have adjusted the rear height exactly three times:  Originally when built, when it ended up a bit high and I later saw photos of other people's cars which were somewhat lower.   Next time in 2004 when it seemed a bit low (I went whole hog on resetting it and the tires were rubbing on the inside of the body when hitting rolling bumps).   The last time a few years back when I installed new torsion bar bushings.  Other than those times, I never look at the height, I just drive it.  It's probably a consistent 1/4" - 1/2" low, but so what?  Makes it look like the white, East Coast version of MUSBJIM's car, so I just drive it, and watch out for dips.

My 2 sense.......the spring plates are for  that tuning of the rear suspension ride height. Just like fine tuning the carbs or improving the drivability by installing a 5 speed......  i noticed several cars over the years with different rear ride heights. This gives one a chance to correct that along with adjusting corner weight.....but that's another subject 

the empi spring plates are junk. I found the bosses from left side to right welded slightly in different locations.  Again it's like building a high performance motor and buying olive oil for lubrication........

On a new build having them adjustable gives flexibilty not to mention that after some time settling can occur and you can move then up just a tad if you find them low.

Never used olive oil for lubrication but I did substitute paint thinner for gasoline once...

Terry Nuckels posted:

Never used olive oil for lubrication but I did substitute paint thinner for gasoline once...

 

 More details? And how did it burn?

Adjustable spring plates add weight, but honestly it's the only way to attempt to corner-balance the car. You can't balance it fully as you don't have the ability to independently adjust the front. Same way on my Vintage Spyder, with rear coilovers.

Have you made a decision about which set you're buying Ted?

ALB posted:

Terry Nuckels posted:

Never used olive oil for lubrication but I did substitute paint thinner for gasoline once...

 

 More details? And how did it burn?

In a '76 bug convertible. A little rough but it got me to the gas station.

Sway Aways are in. Tony had to bore out the faux torsion bar caps on the body to get the old spring plates out. New Bilsteins on all four corners - the shocks in front were totally dead. Front end lowered, rear end lowered and evened out. Penny is a lean, mean badass machine! Handles much better. All wheel alignment next week.

pictures or it didn't happen...

Robert M posted:

Have you made a decision about which set you're buying Ted?

I have not. I'm waiting to see pictures of Terry's install.  Plus then I'd need to commit to leaving the car 'down' for a while.  Not sure I'm ready, yet.

Terry - what was the issue with removing the old spring plates? What year is your car? I'm wondering if you have the 'long' collar version?  Now I'm nervous about trying to swap mine out. 

Long collar, Ted.

Kinda hard to take photos when one hand's on the wheel, the other on the shifter, heel and toeing and your right seater is hanging on for dear life...

Photo of the stance and installation once I get her back and cleaned up.

Ted, down time is minimal compared to the berg install. As for pictures, Terry's enthusiasm and the simile on his face is worth more than a picture. 

How is the five speed install coming along?

The 5 speed is off the floor and sitting on a 5 gallon bucket.  I have 2 complete sets of axle tubes.  New Axles. All the parts to make it happen.  Just no time or space. Maybe during the holiday shut down?

If anyone is looking for a 901 5-speed, I may have a line on one removed from a crashed, relatively low-mileage 912.  If you're interested, PM me.

I’m on the jobsite, Gordon. Can you shoot me an email?

It may not be an issue with a 5-speed with an aluminum case, but I left my 4-speed with a magnesium case on a concrete floor for an extended time. That resulted in some erosion of the magnesium around the drain outlet and front mount area.