I just got done installing heads on my car which necessitated the car being up on jack stands at all four corners for about 1 week. I let it down and everything was ok. I had the car flat bedded to Midas to have the new cat-back welded in (it was towed because I didn't want to go 20 miles with open headers and because I had not had a chance to tune it after the head install). They welded everything up and I drove the car home.

Once home I noticed a brutal oil leak from the back of the engine (@#*&@%!!!!!) so I decided to jack the car up and see where it was coming from. The jack no longer fits under the car, at any point where it used to. I managed to get the jack under the mounting point for the right rear control arm, but WTF?! Why is my car about 1/2" - 1" lower to the ground than it was a week ago?

 

Your car isn't shrinking.... the ground is growing

 

Well, if you had the car jacked up with no exhaust, and then had probably 60 pounds of exhaust tubing/cat welded to your car, you'd be able to see a difference in ground clearance. My guess is, that it came from the added weight of the cat-back.

 

60lbs of metal making the car drop that much? no way. Are you sure you were trying on the same surface?

 

Totally. I was jacking the car up in the garage, the same garage where I had done all of the work. As for the extra weight, the cat back replaced a stock exhaust system. I doubt the cat back actually weighs that much more than the stock system. I appreciate the commet, but I don't think that's it.

I wonder if the old springs and struts got looser or weaker while they were sitting there without weight put on them.

 

Actually..When you leave your suspension hanging, which I don't advise doing. The car usually ends up looking like a 4X4. Hard to say why the car is lower. HMMMMM

 

Did you remove aluminum heads and install iron? Leave about 200 pounds of tools under the hood? Change tires/wheels? That's a pretty good mystery.

Cruzin Kaz is right. Usually the suspension will sit a little higher until the car is moved and the pressure is taken off the tire sidewalls. I would suspect that the springs would tend to sit a little higher if anything after a week of relaxing on stands.

You might want to take a close look at the spring perches to see if anything has moved, although the front struts and rear shocks usually limit the travel and hold at least a little tension on the springs. Odd.

Does it seem low at both ends or just the front?

EDIT: Where did you place the stands? Do the doors still close and line up correctly?

 

I had the stock heads reworked and replaced.

I placed the jack stands under the rear axle tube in the rear and under the subframe in the front. The doors and everything still close correctly.

It seems low at both ends, but more so in the front. I was able to get the jack under the rear control arm pivot to jack the car up last night.

If I think of anything else I did while I had it up I'll let y'all know. I didn't do anything that I can think of that would have adjusted the suspension. Maybe I will call the guys at Midas to see of they did anything. Or, see of the tow truck driver did anything. I wonder if having the car ratcheted down to the flat bed might have done anything to the suspension?

 

Tire pressure?

 

How old are the shocks and struts?

I replaced mine about 2 yrs ago and it lifted my car ~1" all the way around. The old ones didn't even expand after they were taken out.

If he did have your car pulled down on the flat bed, and your struts and shocks are old (~2-3 yrs) they may not be decompressing like they should.

Just a thought.

 

Hmmm, I suppose I could consider replacing the shocks/struts. I'm about to replace my 15x7 stock wheels with 16x8 TTIIs and I don't want to have clearance problems, or, I don't want to buy tires that look good now, but leave a lot of empty wheel well once I rebuild the suspension. I guess I could go ahead with that so that it's done before I get my new-tire alignment.

One thing I failed to mention, I did rotate my tires while I had them off. They're stock wheels, though, so they should be the same no matter which corner I put them on.

 

Things that make ya go hmmmm...

 

the jack grew

 

Welcome to the Twilight Zone ...

 

Flatbed Towing Company - The poor mans's answer to Jamex....

 

I wasn't poor until I paid the $78 tow bill. Those thieving bastards!

 

It is possible that they were a little too aggressive with the hold down straps and shortened your springs. How long was the car on the flatbed?

 

I can't say exactly how long the car was tied to the flat bed, but, I know that they picked the car up and did not deliver it to Midas until two hours later. The guy driving the tow truck was not too bright either. My pucker facter went wayyy up watching him unload my car nose first from the flatbed.

At this point I am operating under the assumption that the struts are compressed and not releasing. I have emailed shox.com for a price on some KYB's. I'll just throw some new shocks and struts at the car and see if that helps.

Vader: Are you suggesting that I might need new coil springs in addition to/instead of struts?

 

Did you try pushing the jack down? After you loosen the screw of course. Just a shot in the dark. I know mine wont go all the way down until I press down on it.

 

Yeah, I actually picked it up and flipped it over and examined it. I was a little confused. The car is visibly lower, though.

 

Probably cranked the car down too tightly on the rollback. How old were the springs?

 

As old as the car, as far as I know. Same goes for the struts. I've had the car for two years and I have not replaced them.

 

If they cranked the car down hard they may have perminantly deformed the springs and messed up the shocks/struts.
Start with what is cheapest and replace it, see if it fixes the problem.

 

wait for the tide to come in and try again..

 

If you change the springs dont get the heavy duty ones, my car looks like a 4X4 (but it fits over curbs without the air dam hitting, which is a good thing and I can slide my entire body under it without putting it on jacks)

where you stationed and what's your AFSC and rank
I'm an E-3 (soon to be E-4) and stationed at Nellis and my AFSC is 2A634- aircraft fuels system mantance, but only til I finish colage- than off to OTS

 

To learn how to spell college!!!...

 

I'm no longer in the Air Force. I got out in 1996 as an E-4 (Senior Airman, for those who don't know what that means). My AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code, again for the uninitiated) was 2T451, General Purpose Vehicle Mechanic. I worked on all of the cars, trucks, busses, M-series, Hummers and such. Anything with a B or M in the reg number was mine. I finished college in my first enlistment and considered reenlisting and making SSgt. (which I would have done the next testing cycle) and then applying for OTS. But, I figured with a college degree I would have the civilian world at my feet. No such luck though.

If you want my advice, finish your degree and then study your butt off for promotion. It'll look better on your application. Also get to know as many officers as you can and talk to them about how they got their commissions. It will be important for you to win Airman of the Quarter and to join the Quality of Life Council, or something similar. The more involved you are with the Air Force, the more you make it your life, the more likely you will be to get that commission. Oh, and make sure your education officer proof reads your app. And, if your education officer is not that interested in helping you put together the application package - I know mine wasn't - don't be afraid to talk to the local officer recruiter and get his/her help.

Good luck!

 

I was in the USAF 80- 84....Made E-3 twice... I didnt fix airplanes I worked on people..medic..90250. Good luck with your goals and dont let buttheads like me discourage you!..

 

mes done be gonna go to collliggge aftttir my caah starps shrinkin!

 

is it only on one side??? Did you break a coil spring??? Maybe someone at the muffler shop traded your car for a different one,,,or they got it mixd up with another one the same??? Or someone thought theyd put a free set of lowering springs in your car for you,,,ahaaaaahhhhh how nice!

 

ive noticed this on several 3rdgens.

take a jack or somthing that sits on the ground close to a solid point on the car.

push down hard on the car, dont bounce it, but press it for a min. (sit on the fender)

now look how low the car is..... go inside watch TV or somthing come out a hour later.... its still low. it will stay that way until someone moves it. either by driving it or pulling up on it.


now pull up on the fender lip... if you lift it high enough, you can get a 1/4"diff up and it will do the same thing.


kinda neat eh?

 

I got out of the Air Force in 1991 as an E4 Seargent, with no AFSC, just a reporting identifier: RI 99105.

Cool job, too.

As for the Spring question, try moving the car back and forth a few feet to unload the suspension. You might have the front tires spread apart causing the struts to bind. Just moving the car a couple feet should correct this.

I've done it a few times on my own Trans Am.

 

By the time I got to E-4, Buck Sergeant was a distant memory. We had two guys in our shop whose service dates were within a month of each other. One was a Sergeant and the other was a Senior Airman. He had just missed the cut off for making Sergeant before they quit giving it out.

I ended up changing all four springs and struts. It sits level, albeit 1" inch lower!

 

Maybe it's the time of night or something, but OMG is that F'in funny to me right now!! :lala: :lala:

SGT Matt .

 

It's El Niño.

 

Do you put the jack on the body seam or the subframe? If you put it on the subframe, the new pipe is probably a 3 in. pipe and is coming down in the way.. thats what mine does. But, its only on the pass. side, so i go to the drivers...

 

ok lol definatly wierd. well ive had my babies ( firebird especially) flatbedded all the time and never had that problem, so i doubt it was a bad hookup on that flatbed. but yea try what these guys suggested and if that still didnt fix the prob take it back to midas and start asking questions.

 

I had this problem also.

Flat bed towed my car away. My car sat on the flat bed for about 3 hours before it was dropped off, the guy had a family emergency and parked the flatbed outside my house.

Once I got my car back, I realized the flatbed ride totally compressed the suspension and it took a few days for it to unsettle and go back to the stock ride height.

A good trick I learned is, drive your front tires up onto a thin piece of wood to give you another inch or so to fit a jack underneath the car. Get the suspension up in the air and let it unload and drop her back down and see what happens. Also, keep that block of wood under the tire when you drop it just incase the suspension decides to settle on your jack lol.

 

Ah hello fellow Airmen. I'm an E-4 (Senior Airman) and my AFSC is 2A656 - Aircraft Electrical and Environmental Systems. I work on F-16s (tiny little bastards, hehe). In response to the topic here. You said they didn't deliver the car until two hours later right? Maybe they took it back to their shop and stole your shocks and struts to replace them with some other crappy ones. Just a thought. Have you checked to make sure they're the same ones you had to begin with? I know I changed my shocks and struts and now I have all the ground clearance I need to pull up into my driveway. It used to scrape all the time unless I came in at a weird angle.

 

Start it and give it a good forward lurch (stamp the gas quickly) and that should raise it a little. Worked for me when i had to get the jack under and couldn't.