Originally Posted by Driven97 (Post 8353770)

Three completely separate notes:

1) Did you measure the angles of the spring plates with an inclinometer?

No

If the car is jacked up level, it should be a pretty reliable way to get close. What torsion bars do you have?

Don't know. Good possibility they are stock.

If they're soft ones, you'll have to take out that bottom bolt and spacer on the spring plate cover to get it to full droop.

"That bottom bolt" ...not sure which bottom you're referring to. And when I said "raise the right spring plate," I realize that may be confusing. For clarity, the goal is to raise the ride height on the right side slightly---so not looking for more droop on that side. Actually less droop.

2) Another note: getting the plates looking even is not going to be the trick if you're a spline off on the torsion bar. IIRC, the spline counts are different on each side so that you can fine tune. I don't think early cars even had adjustable spring plates.

Wanted to avoid messing with torsion bars. Car is '80.

3) Do you have the spring plate unbolted from the trailing arm while you do this?

No. Only sway bar is disconnected.

If it's loaded with spring force, you'll have a hard time. Also, did you try going the other way with the cam adjuster? Sometimes one way gives you a little better leverage than the other.

No. Did not touch cam adjustment.

Originally Posted by Driven97 (Post 8354014)

By cam I meant the eccentric adjuster.

I think to do it right you might have to get a little deeper. I'm thinking you can't turn the cam because of the tension on there. The bottom rear bolt on each spring plate cover should come out. That will let the little spacer come out.

You may be able to get away with just undoing the rear shock, or you may have to unbolt the spring plate from the trailing arm to let all the tension off. Note if you unbolt it from the arm, you'll lose your rear alignment settings.

Once you get there, you should be able to use the spring plate calculator to find the right spring plate angle. Set them to what the calculator says, and your height should come out perfect. It was spot on for my car.

Originally Posted by Driven97 (Post 8354727)

This may be obvious but don't forget to jack up the end of the suspension so that the spring plate is not touching that sleeve before you pull the bolt. There can be a lot of potential energy there.

Originally Posted by Bob930slant (Post 8355342)

hey discseven

the wrench was cut out of a sheet of 18 gauge sheet with a standard jigsaw. the bulk of the grinding was with a bench grinder to ensure it was kept square. last was a shot of tremclad flat black paint.

Originally Posted by Driven97 (Post 8354014)

By cam I meant the eccentric adjuster.

I think to do it right you might have to get a little deeper. I'm thinking you can't turn the cam because of the tension on there. The bottom rear bolt on each spring plate cover should come out. That will let the little spacer come out.

You may be able to get away with just undoing the rear shock, or you may have to unbolt the spring plate from the trailing arm to let all the tension off. Note if you unbolt it from the arm, you'll lose your rear alignment settings.

Once you get there, you should be able to use the spring plate calculator to find the right spring plate angle. Set them to what the calculator says, and your height should come out perfect. It was spot on for my car.

Originally Posted by Driven97 (Post 8358310)

Cool, glad that helped. You can probably snag a free app that turns your smartphone into an inclinometer.

Looks like the Will Ferch spring plate calculator is down right now, maybe someone has a copy up.