Front Springs

[toonmagpies]

Help,
I am trying to source a pair of front springs for my 4.o celebration convertible. Can any one advise of possible suppliers? My loacal Jaguar dealer and JDHT say they are no longer available.
Any help/advise appreciated as my MOT date looms!

[almcl]

Bit of a challenge this.

There are several after market suppliers but so far I've not heard from anyone who has used them and got the result they were hoping for. In several cases the springs were fitted to cure a car that was sitting too low, only to find that in a very short space of time the car had sagged back down to the same position.

It's not clear if this is because after market springs are generally of inferior quality or if there was some other cause of the sag and replacing the springs was never going to cure this. One fairly knowledgeable restorer commented recently that most of the non original springs he had encountered were not up to the job. (Last sentence here:http://forums.jag-lovers.org/avsn.php?1036477i13

Are your springs actually broken, or just saggy?

[Brakebuster]

i have just fitted brand new ' sports-pack ' front springs on my 1989 V12 , these were NOS ( new old stock ) that i got from the internet , in original Jaguar box's with the correct part numbers on,

i fitted spax dampers all round ( six of them ) and spax springs on the back , these have 14 point adjustment on them all...

apart from going direct to Jag, or finding rare items on the internet , then i'm afraid your into a bit of trial and error , as to whether these aftermarket parts actually meet original spec

there are a few advertisers in the JEC mag that claim original specification springs ( and dampers ) ,

pays your money and takes your choice it seems

BB

[toonmagpies]

Update on front springs.
Alan Carr Jaguar Services, North Shields 0191 2708110, were able to source and fit new springs. Car passed MOT.
The only issue is the car is sitting high, can any one advise as to the correct "ride height" for front of 4.o celebration?
Robin Smith

[Brakebuster]

Update on front springs.
Alan Carr Jaguar Services, North Shields 0191 2708110, were able to source and fit new springs. Car passed MOT.
The only issue is the car is sitting high, can any one advise as to the correct "ride height" for front of 4.o celebration?
Robin Smith

the car isnt sitting ' high ' its sitting correctly, as the old springs would have been sagging and effectively lowering the ride height ,
so the new springs have now put your car at the correct ride height,

you will probably now find that the rear springs feel and may even look low,

thats Jags for you

BB

[ptjs1]

Robin,

How much space above the tyre to the wheel arch?

Are you sure that your guy put the correct springs in? There are quite a few variations for facelift XJSs with differing springs for early cars and late cars, 4 litres and 6 litres, sports suspension and "touring" suspension. If he hasn't put in the right ones for your car - late 4 litre "touring", then it may sit at the wrong height.

there again, it may just as BB says, its now riding at the right height!

Let me know the measurement and I'll tell you if they equal a few well-known cars.

Paul

[toonmagpies]

Update on the front springs. The space between top of tyre and wheel arch is 4 inches. It has not changed since springs were fitted.
It does not look "right"
Can any one advise on correct spacing?
Robin

[Brakebuster]

now didnt mention it was riding 4" high ,

but that is way too high

i would suspect either the wrong springs have been supplied, or that they have not been installed correctly, pretty impossible really

get the part number of the suppliers springs, and confirm with the supplier that they were meant for your car

BB

[barryjagman]

Hello,

Not sure about your exact model, but i have had four xjs's and they all have packing pieces at the top and bottom of the sprigs to adjust the ride height. Perhaps your garage put them back in the wrong place?

The ride hieght is normall measured from the bottom face of the front x-member to the ground and should be 6ins at each side. Each packing piece is 1/8 ins thick and adjusts the hieght by 5/16 ins

Hope this is of some help

Best regards, Barry

[dhdove]

toonmagpies

"The space between top of tyre and wheel arch is 4 inches."

Don't suppose somebody's nicked the engine?

DH Dove

[Brakebuster]

Hello,

Not sure about your exact model, but i have had four xjs's and they all have packing pieces at the top and bottom of the sprigs to adjust the ride height. Perhaps your garage put them back in the wrong place?

The ride hieght is normall measured from the bottom face of the front x-member to the ground and should be 6ins at each side. Each packing piece is 1/8 ins thick and adjusts the hieght by 5/16 ins

Hope this is of some help

Best regards, Barry

Jaguar actually say the ride height is measured from the centre of the wheel to the lip of the arch,

mine probably only has about 25mm over the tyre to the arch , if that.....

BB

[ptjs1]

I think the ride height on 93 cars is also measured from the sub-frame to ground and is quoted at 7" +/- 3/8". I would expect a Celebration to be broadly the same?

You really need to find out what part number springs they have fitted. As I mentioned, there are a variety of different numbes for facelift cars - differences between early and late facelift springs , differences between 4 litre and 6 litre springs and differences between touring and sports suspension springs. The gap will also be affected by what tyres you have fitted. Your car would probably originally have had Pirelli P4000 /60 section tyres, but many people change to P6000 / 55 section tyres.

In case it's any help, although I'm not near my car at the moment, I remember that I can put 2-3 fingers in horizontally between top of tyre and wheelarch lip on the front of mine (slim fingers!)

Good luck

Paul

[toonmagpies]

Final update;
Wrong springs were fitted, 6.0 instead of 4.0, car now sits and drives much better. Gap between tyre and arch is down to 2/3 fingers.
Thanks for all help and advice, it was appreciated.
Best wishes to all emailers,
Robin.
PS Any one need a pair of slightly used front springs for a 6.0 XJS???