Uneven corner height. Suspension issue ?

I've noticed that my '88's "arch" openings don't look machine perfect either. I gather that these machines were still hand assembled, so there may be variations. The gaps on these machines aren't all that precise.

If you're worried about your suspension, check your bumper heights.

In the '80s, the US had a regulation requiring all bumpers to sit at 18 inches (about 46 cm) off the road surface. The insurance companies pushed this standard bumper height to assure bumper to bumper contacts. (SUVs blew that standard away.)

But on my US edition '88, the indentation notch line on both the front and rear bumpers are at 18" off the ground.

Since the bodywork doesn't vary all that much between US and other markets on the 328s, I'd guess that all market versions were built to this spec.

A sharp impact to a spring can cause it to sag. I had a rim break apart on my old Celica GT-Four, tossing the car off the road, and afterwards, the front bumper was below 17 inches. Even though the shops wrote this off as "normal", this had a surprisingly large effect on handling and ABS function. (Of course, most of the Toyota shops in the 'States had never even seen an "AllTrac Turbo", so how would they know what was "normal"? ) I replaced the stock springs with DMS coil-overs myself, returning the car to a normal ride height, and it completely transformed the machine.

If your '89 is an ABS model, do you note the ABS cutting in more aggressively than before? That would be another indication of a suspension issue, as the weight distribution would be out of balance.

If your bumper heights are spot on, then fender gap variation may just be from slop in the fender mountings (or possibly sag in the attachments).

 

My 1988.5 also has a difference between left and right fender arch height. My car is in absolute top condition and I know that this is common (cosmetical) for most 328 (and I guess 308 and Mondial). My questions is if there are ideas of how to correct this.

 

Would you believe... they all do that? That is because ... they all do that, including mine. I even swapped shocks and springs left to right and ... it is still the same. So, yes, they all do that.

 

So question remains how to compensate the difference between left and right. The bottom of the car and suspension has zero difference (left versus rights) so the difference comes from the body panels that were likely handmade with poor templates.

 

Speculating here but after 30 some odd years of these cars being jacked up properly or improperly more likely wouldn't one expect a little body warp here and there?


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Cerainly some bits of the suspension suffered from age like bushings, coil spring and ? but not that much and left and right is of same age. I must assume that most 3x8 and Mondial had this when at the day they left the factory.

as one can read above even when swapping several from left to right and vv it changed nothing.

Hope someone found a way to compensate this.

 

Dear 3x8 owners, I guess we are familiair with this issue, some have hardly and some have larger differences between left and right fender arch height.

Would much appreciate your comments here.

thanks in advance

 

I doubt very much that the panels are not symmetrical between one side and the other. They would have been pressed out by machine - the days of an Italian artisan using a jig and a hammer were long gone by the time 308's were built. I think that Ferrari would have managed to get the left wing template the same shape as the right wing template.

I would check the outriggers positioned ahead of the front wheels, to my knowledge these are solely there to support the front spoiler and the front wings. As such they are not made of 2" of oval steel tubing. A knock in this area could have pushed these up or down.
Checking the panel gaps around the bonnet, pop up lights and the louvers behind them may give an indication of possible movement (although the panel gaps may could been corrected at a later point)

 

I think the panels are different left-right.

For example have a look at the location of the door latch striker plate on the body. I can only speak for the 328s (all RHD) cars I have seen but the left-right height of the striker plate is around 1/2 inch different. Thats such a big difference that it infers the left and right panels were not simply designed by flipping one to the other in a CAD model.

 

Hi Andy,

I don't doubt you but when they did a test pressing, surely someone took a left hand panel and a right hand panel and stood them next to each other... (if this was a British Leyland forum I wouldn't be questioning this).

I had heard stories about Ferrari back in the panel beating days, where the chassis were so lop sided that one door could be significantly longer than the other.

 

Thanks for your input.
My 328 has a difference between left and right of some 9 mm and that is at the front wheel fender arch as well as at rear wheel dender arch. There is only a very little difference between the LH and RH fenders but certainly.

best regards

 

yesterday I visited an event at the circuit of Assen in the Netherlands and took some rough measurements of 2 308 and 2 328 cars and noted that all have substantial Left versus Right height differences. Surprisingly had the 328 were worst with 20 mm difference between front left and front right. I also took some measurements of the Front fenders and noted left and right show differences up to roughly 5 mm.

 

The best way to tell if your suspension is off is to have the car weighed at each tire, also known as having the car corner weighted.

If you have the original suspension bushings, it is possible that one or more of them have gave way after 25 years.

My car had a noticeable lean that went away after I replaced all the suspension bushings a couple years ago.

I would even go so far as to say you shouldnt buy a 328 unless you have made sure that these bushings are still in good shape. Any evidence of cracking should result in a careful review of the state of the suspension.

 

Unevenly worn springs,
one old shock "stickier" than the others,
worn suspension bushings,
uneven camber settings,
warped body from repeated "single corner" jacking,
imperfect panel fitting from the factory (Scaglietti) / simply built that way

...... All are possible.

 

thanks for all input. I wonder why not more people like to share their experiences and good advise here as most 3x8 I have seen have a substantial uneven left to right height. It is true that the panels left to right show easy 5 mm difference (checked at various cars, most 328). Still the total difference in height is more and wear in the various parts will be involved but not that much I would expect, also because my 328 is still driving great and yes I have also driven others.

 

Left one out;

Taking pictures of females sitting on the fenders or laying across the bonnet or .....

 

Alfer my 308 has has the suspension reconditioned and she now sits a little higher on the rears than the front, her stance now looks prefect.
BUT yes there is a difference in height from left to right. My left rear is 10mm higher than the right rear, the front left is 2 mm lower than the front right.
No one notices these differences, only I do as I know what I am looking at.
But it really doesn't bother me as I know the springs are correct and the shocks are all freshly re gassed and she drives and handles like a dream.
The suspension specialist did tell me (after I questioned him on these differences) that the car is a GTS and the frame is tubular (flexible). take into account the age and also the drivers side (constantly weighted as opposed to the passenger side)....

 

Thanks a lot for your contribution, this is very informative.