First ride on the Bilstein HD's
 

Well, I got to take my first ride in my 83 cab tonight after the Bilstein HD's were installed (front and rear). Interesting ride to me and left kind of perplexed - a little.

I drove the car on a fairly smooth country road back to insterstate. I have noticed at low speeds, the rear end almost feels like riding on a small farm tractor - almost springy like. But come up in speed and the car seems planted. Took a few clover leafs on the way home and the car seemed to have a BIG improvement over my stock Boges. Just wondering if this low speed "springiness" is normal.

mine too is bouncy at lower speeds, but in the front. As if I had two pogo sticks there. It resembles steering a front engine car with the engine removed. Or maybe a farm tractor. The pogo effect goes away at speed. The rear always feels good.

You will get used to it Shane, and once we get the rear end down at the proper ride hight it will be way better. The nine inch Fuchs on the back are presenting a prob. They are already cambered in to much to make em fit with those big tires. Read your email about the valve noise on drivers side. Valves are properly adjusted, but you might have timing chain/ten. noise. I would make my next project some carrera tensioners and new chain ramps. You are pushing it with that high mileage and old style tensioners. enjoyed working on the car, hope your cis is satisfactory now, warm press was a little low (47), raised to 54. 02 and all other systems where in spec and car ran great. see you later, Don

I think what you describe is the reason why people recommend HD's in the front and Sports in the rear. That is why I have on my '86 Coupe and it does not exhibit any of the "springy" ride you describe.

+1

BTW, Lu and I say Hi, Shane! :)

Hi back to you Jim (and Lu)! Planning any more trips soon through our area. Lots more restaurants to try out! I was supposed to be in Salem for the next 3 weeks but have to put the trip off to September now. Maybe we can get together then. Looks like a lot of nice roads to check out up there between Salem and DC!

Let me know... :)

If you have a springy ride at any speed it means you have the wrong shock valving for your spring rate.

Anotherwords you don't have enough rebound damping and without custom revalving the shocks to your torsion bar size or coil spring rates the best off the shelf shock would be the sport shock, not the HD shock.

check your tire pressure. I had same problem that was mostly fixed by lowering the tire pressure.

Well put. It's hard to understand that the spring rate has to be strong enough to pull the dampers back out to normal ride height. If the dampers are too aggressive, the car can actually jack itself down and stay there while driving.

Your springy rear end may be due to brand new shocks that need some break in time. At low speeds the shock is probably stiff enough not to allow the rear swing arm to move at all so your tires are absorbing all the bumps undamped. I'd try to give it some time and maybe find a bumpy raod to work the shocks in a little and see what happens.

Lindy

what torsion bars are in the car? is it stock??

how do the shocks feel after driving around for a while?

stock t-bars (as far as I know - would not suspect otherwise), seems to be the same after several different trips today. The tires on the rear are too tall (255 - 9x16 wheels), and new tires are in order tomorrow, so maybe that will help.