Hi Folks, this is my first post on this Forum. Just installed new stock 5 leaf front spring on my 1965 Autobianchi Bianchina Cabrio (Fiat 500 L platform) Spring appears to be dimensionally identical to the original, however the front end sits about 1 1/4 inch higher than before, measuring from the floor to the bottom of the spring to body clamp as per Fiat Manual. Can I expect the spring to settle if I drive it a bit before doing the final alignment. I have searched the Forum , but cannot find anyone who has had a similar issue.
Your thought would be appreciated!!

Yes, the spring WILL settle down---you will be surprised by how much. When I refitted my front spring after all the work I had done to re-build the front, I was surprised as to how high the suspension initially sat---to the point that I initially thought that I had done something wrong! It eventually settled to how it was prior to being taken off to do the work---it was off the car for about 4 months.

Thanks for the quick reply!! Since I have installed a new spring I was worried that it might have a stiffer rate than the original. Based on what you are telling me , I am going to set the alignment up at the present rideheight and torque down all of the metalastic ushings and drive the car for a while and when it settles down I will take the tension off the bushings and recheck camber caster and toe! When I reassembled the upper A arms with new inboard metalastic bushings, I had to make and install .300 inch bushings on both sides of the upper knuckle metslastic bushing. This was because the inner a arm bushes were wider than the originals even when fuller compressed. This meant that without these spacers I would have to put the inner bushes in a bind when I tried to tighten them on the upper knuckle metalastic bushing!! Have you ever run into this problem?? Doing this does not affect the operation of the upper A arm in any way, but I did have to use a longer 10 mm 10.9 bolt.

I decided to replace the front spring because the car was sitting low at on side. After reading up on the subject I realised that a lot of people experience ride-height issues after doing this job, so I tried to bring together all the advice available and to tackle it in a way that is possibly a bit different from standard.

Removing and replacing the spring is easy as long as you undo and tighten things gradually and evenly at each side. I think Haynes covers it well. The old spring is the original and was easy to compress by hand but had a greater curvature than the new one, which worried me at first since I expected the old spring to have flattened with use and therefore the shape of the new one looked wrong.

The spring is supposed to be preloaded to the extent that the bottom of the spring clamps ends up 173mm above the ground. I filled the car with about 150kg weight in concrete blocks, left just slightly more than finger-tight the nuts for the top and bottom king-pin housing rubber-bushes and for the spring-clamps and went for a short drive. I then found the spring had settled to the extent that it sat lower than 173mm. With a few trials which entailed gradually removing weight, I ended up with the equivalent of about 50kg in the boot with the car just resting on a piece of timber cut to 173mm. At this stage I tightened all of the nuts, without moving the car, removed the remaining weight and then I had a car which sat at a proper stance and was ready for the toe-in to be re-checked.

Since it's now all tightened-up I've had a short drive; the cars sits correctly and is slightly softer and more springy at the front than it was with the tired, old spring. It seems a bit more sure on the corners, which is good because I did previously feel it was getting a little flighty at times.

You forgot add that it took you 3 hours to empty the bonnet of its usual contents, in order to put the rocks in Mind you, on further inspection of the pictures, it doesn’t actually look like you managed to remove all of it. It might have been quicker to leave the original contents in situ as it probably weighs more than the rocks, sorry ballast.:idea:

That's brilliant, well done. Have visions of an upset partner wondering why the bathroom scales are scratched and covered with fine concrete dust...

andydiver said:

Have visions of an upset partner wondering why the bathroom scales are scratched and covered with fine concrete dust...

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.... we've been there with that sort of thing, mainly involving blunted scissors and garden-tables covered with paint.

I'm smart enough to consult the internet for an average weight for concrete blocks. Ideally I would have used bags of sand, but none in stock just now.

My approximate weightings are just a guide. But the principle of preloading is very important. Once secured it means that the metalastick bushes are predetermined to be in a relatively neutral position once the car is loaded, which leads to a ride that is more as the designer intended.

Vitesse said:

You forgot add that it took you 3 hours to empty the bonnet of its usual contents, in order to put the rocks in Mind you, on further inspection of the pictures, it doesn’t actually look like you managed to remove all of it. It might have been quicker to leave the original contents in situ as it probably weighs more than the rocks, sorry ballast.:idea:

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...true. But since I replaced the porcelain, Belfast kitchen-sink with a lightweight, pressed steel one, the weight up front has diminished somewhat.