1988 front suspension riding high (Page 2/2)
cvxjet JUN 10, 06:57 PM
Two possibilities for ride-height change; A) The KYB Gas-A-just shocks have very high gas pressure, so that will definitely increase ride height a bit. B) The A-arm has a spiral cavity that the end of the spring fits into....If you do not have the spring properly seated in that spiral indentation, that will raise the car up substantially. I actually did this once- I learn-ed from mi Me-stake.....

[This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 06-10-2025).]

cartercarbaficionado JUN 10, 07:07 PM

quote
Originally posted by Riney:

I have the same issue with my 1984 that i just rebuilt the entire front suspension on and my ride height looks similar to yours. I used rubber bushings and did get the springs clocked correctly. Part of my problem could be i added the 84 to 87 front upper spring pads from the Fiero store before I figured out the pads were not used on the 84 model and that the 85 to 87 cars have different lower control arms. I figured the pads may add a 1/4 of an inch but currently the front looks just like yours. I have not driven the car yet to see if it will settle because i need to pull the engine and fix a slight oil leak. I plan on replacing the upper and lower spring pads on the rear struts with replacements from the Fiero store as well, however they are currently out of the lower pads. I am hoping this will raise the rear of the car some to match the front.

I hate to have to pull the springs to remove the front spring pads but i do want the car to set level.

Does anyone have another suggestion for raising the rear suspension around 1/2 inch on the 1984?


the 87s do sit slightly higher in the front than the rear. and 84s are the oddballs and settle massively. when we saved ours from the forest and redid the bushings the front sat a full 1.5 higher than before and it took a few bumpy roads to have it settle out to normal. never cut springs until you know for sure its settled first
Patrick JUN 10, 09:01 PM

quote
Originally posted by cartercarbaficionado:

the 87s do sit slightly higher in the front than the rear.



I suspect that's a typo as it's the 88's that sit higher in the front (from the factory).
Riney JUN 11, 03:20 PM
Yes, i did use KYB shocks so that could be part of the issue. I did clock the springs correctly to get them and the rubber spacers set correctly, I re-did one side twice because it was a 1/4" off and i wanted it as close to perfect as possible. I did leave the components loose, put the weight of the car on them, bounced the care up and down multiple times, before I torqued everything down.

I do not intend to cut springs but thought that new upper and lower rear rubber spring pads may help getting things closer to level. The rear struts only have a few thousand miles on them, I think they are Monroe, so I do not intend to replace the strut, it was just when they were changed the old rubber pads were reused.

Thanks for this

"84s are the oddballs and settle massively. when we saved ours from the forest and redid the bushings the front sat a full 1.5 higher than before and it took a few bumpy roads to have it settle out to normal. never cut springs until you know for sure its settled first"

I will get the alignment as close as i can, put on a set of "junk tires" and run it a few miles to see if the front will settle. If it still looks bad then i will go to the effort of removing the front upper rubber isolator that was installed before going to the alignment shop.
cartercarbaficionado JUN 11, 03:52 PM

quote
Originally posted by Riney:
I will get the alignment as close as i can, put on a set of "junk tires" and run it a few miles to see if the front will settle. If it still looks bad then i will go to the effort of removing the front upper rubber isolator that was installed before going to the alignment shop.


a race alignment / jackstand and string method works very well on these. just make sure to drive it around before checking again

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

I suspect that's a typo as it's the 88's that sit higher in the front (from the factory).


i got my years mixed up so technically yes.
hunter29 JUN 11, 04:43 PM
Make sure the springs are in correctly, if they are just wait, it will settle down, same thing happened to me when I rebuilt the suspension.
lightning_slow JUN 13, 06:03 PM
Thanks for the replies all.

From what I can tell the bottoms of the springs are properly seated in the LCA's. I think I'll live with the squatted look for a while and drive it around to see if it'll settle.
fieroguru JUN 13, 08:40 PM
Verifying the end of the spring is in the lower control arm is just 1 spot. The upper part of the spring can also hang up on the lip inside the front crossmember spring pocket, which will cause it to ride high as well.

You can raise the front and use a pry bar (not your hands/fingers) to try and slide the top of the spring side to side and front to back. If you hear a loud slam, that is the spring being properly seated.