1986 328 GTS Front Ride Height Too High After Full Rebuild

scratching my head on this one here, did all new bushings, ball joints etc and also a brand new set of KONI red shocks. the rear of the car sits perfectly normal however the front is all jacked up looking and looks awful. I confirmed the front shocks and springs are correct but no idea why this is happening. Could this have anything to do with the new KONI and is there some sort of manual adjustment on them to soften them up? It looks as if the front springs are too stiff but even if you swap springs it should not do this since the rates are so similar front to rear on these cars.

anyone else have this happen with the new KONI shocks after a rebuild?

pic below


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Unlikely to be the shocks unless they really messed up the rebuild. Shocks do not hold up the car, they only dampen movement.

Did you tighten all the pivot bolts with the car in the air? How much has the car been driven at this point?

 

Not sure that I'd agree with this 100%. I don't have this same data for a 328, but, on a 308, the rear spring is slightly stiffer, and, maybe more importantly, slightly longer free length:
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Do agree that what you've got now is unacceptable, and, if it isn't just due to the A-arm bolts being wrongly tightened at full droop, at Steve suggested, you've got to do something else to rectify the situation. From that chart, you maybe could just measure the wire diameter of each spring to determine if they've been swapped.

 

I am not sure of the 328 but our Dinos suspension bushings are set under tension.
This is not how many others interpret suspension use bushing but if is the same as the Dino then all 8 bolts must be released tension, use a jack to set the risen wheel position and final tighten all down.
Apologies if different, but I almost think this may have happened here.

Did you have the wheel alignment recently?
Just a guess that someone reased teh tension....

 

I have not driven and will not drive it like this but I will have the wishbones checked tomorrow or Wed to see if they were over torqued at full droop at the alignment shop. The car was towed there on a flatbed and I noticed this front lift afterwards which you guys may have given me the answer. We will see tomorrow and Il report back on here.if they did impact gun tighten the bolts for the upper and lower wishbones then the arms are stuck in a droop static state and the shocks wont even matter i guess. stay tuned and thanks for the replies.

 

YES! I had the EXACT same problem with new Koni's and the other bits that you mention on the front of my 308. Sits roughly 20 mm too high when measured from the fender lip to tire top.

I have a pair of front coil lowering spacers to try, awaiting my available spare time to install them. Likely late spring.

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Thanks for sharing who makes these lower spring perches i would like to buy them just in case, anyone have any explanation to this issue with the new Koni sjocks?

 

How much did it go up or how many inches from how it was before?

 

It appears to be 12-15cm

 

I cannot remember what the front end looks like on 328 but it could be both free end coilovers or one end fixed coil with one end free. Two end free coilovers you can adjust ride height with both spring perches. One end fixed you have to increase spring preload to lower the ride height. Finally, a arms need to be torqued while full corner weight is on the arms because rubber bushing that do not rotate like Delrin bush or spherical bushing both found on race cars.

 

wanted to update everyone on this matter. the alignment shop did over torque the bolts without preload so they loosened them and did them correctly and the car height dropped 1/8 inch only but the nose is still off kilter and sky high. Now according to the chart Steve posted in this thread even thought it references data for 308 models I had them measure the spring coil diameter. The front springs in the car now measure 13mm thick and the rears 12.5mm now if Steve chart cross over to a 328 this should mean they put the rear springs in the front of my car by mistake. The shop also has a 308 QV GTS on hand and the front and rear springs on that car measure 12.5mm thick so now this really is confusing me. The shop is going to swap the front springs with another set of original front springs they have in stock I am just waiting for them to get back from powder coat so I hope by next week I will have this done and will post an update here to share the results of the spring swap.

if anyone here can confirm the coil wire thickness of these 328 GTS springs that would be great and just another source of data for us to know.

 

The springs (unsprung) are shorter for the front than the rear.

 

I just happened to have my car on the lift. It's an '89, so may not apply.
Here's what I measured.
Original Koni shocks.

Front springs: 13.0mm (measured with calipers), 30cm top to bottom of spring (mounted, but no load)

Rear springs: 12.75mm, 28cm top to bottom (mounted, but no load)

 

I ment when not mounted on the shock.

 

Just comparing notes, I can 100% confirm that my front coils were not accidentally swapped with the rears (I know this because I have not yet worked on my rears - instead doing the front pair first, with the rear pair yet to be addressed sometime in the near future).

 

The only time I've seen anything like that was if the arms were torqued and the car wasn't level. This would be for other cars I've worked on (Mustang, VW, etc.)

The a-arms on the 308 (not sure about the 328) would be a right pain in the ass to get to if you attempt it with the wheel on, otherwise that's how I would have done it when I did mine.

So if using a lift (which I assume they were) you have to use a stand and lift the suspension that way, but it has a specification in the 308 manual (again not sure about the 328) that provides an angle the arms need to be at before torquing the bolts.

I suspect they don't have the manual for your car and didn't raise the arms up enough to allow for it to sit correctly.

Is this a Ferrari shop or just a random shop?

 

This shop is learning on your dollar

 

Good guess, but in my case, yes, the weight of the car was fully on the A-arms before and during the time that I was tightening them. Just as it should be, as you noted.

Reread the first couple of lines of Post no. 11.

Thus making this situation all the more puzzling.

 

Post 11 states "loosened them and did them correctly."

Which is why I asked if it was a Ferrari shop. Did that actually do them correctly? I don't know that they could actually torque those arms with the wheels in place... I sure couldn't.

So that means they would have had to do them with a stand (as I stated) and that measurement may not be doing it "correctly" if they didn't put them at the correct angle.

 

Every time I've jacked the front end of my '89 328 GTS up off the ground for any period of time, and then lowered it back down later, the front wheel arch gap has always looked like a Paris/Dakar racer initially - Pretty much like the gap shown in the posted picture (which had me panicking the first time I saw it!)

Take the car for a good long drive and she lowers herself back down again to normal again.

I'm not saying that that is what has happened in this case. but I would now always drive the car first to see to see if the suspension settles back down, before I started looking for issues with the suspension.

 

Dave, respectfully, the fender gap on Jerry458’s car is a bit more than 20mm too high.
- Dave

 

Well the obvious is now evident in the issue they put the wrong springs front and rear. to get the springs off the front shock was an absolute disaster because the coils were so bound to each other so closely the shop could not get the jaws out of multiple spring compressors on hand. It is all sorted now just waiting to reinstall sometime this week.
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My goodness, I'd forgotten how long the stock springs are visually. Mine fit nicely in a 6in vise.
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Yeah, but yours (with huge wire diameter and few coils) don't deflect much .

 

So did your local shop get the springs backward, or was it the shop that rebuilt the Koni's?