de-crashing the suspension

[dbfc]

I'm trying to work out how to sweeten the suspension on my '59 FC Station Sedan a bit.  It cruises well, and takes the turns fine, but if I hit a railway crossing at any speed it tends to knock everyones fillings
out.  And dealing with the 17 speed bumps on our suburban street without spilling my coffee is quite difficult.

I'm getting some conflicting advice on this.  On the one hand I'm told to just get new or stiffer shock absorbers.  And then I've also been told that these are just band-aids, and that I should get my leaf springs
"re-tempered" (and probably get new shocks too).  I don't know if coil springs can get similarly revived.

I've always been pretty terrible at judging running gear problems and usually just lived with the ride I got, but my wife would like to do without some of the road surface drama.

If anyone has any advice on the best way to smooth out the ride of an FC wagon, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,
Dave
Hampton, Vic.


PS, the car is a recent arrival, and the first order of business has been to get it waterproof.  Many thanks to all of the helpful folks who've posted about door seals, windlacing, and similar topics on these forums. They've really helped me get that part sorted out!

[normd]

Hi Dave
    I can't help with the ride , mines as rough as ... but I'm sure the guys here will be able to help in some way.

  Welcome to "The Family"  good to see you here

   Norm  

[Sarge]

Dave
        Firstly welcome to the forum.
As for your ride, mine has been lowered 2" all round new spring's and shockers along with all new rubers and bushes, drives like a new car and rides real smooth. Hope this helps.

Cheers
Sarge

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Welcome to the forum Dave.
You may need to describe what is happening a little better, but unless the car has been restored/modified recently, your shocks at least probably need replacement. I am no expert so take an expert's advice over mine if you get it.

Shocks are really Dampers, the springs absorb the "shock" and the dampers stop the car bouncing all over the place.

While the car is parked, "bounce" it, ie push with full weight (carefully) on a front guard and release. If the car rebounds a few times, that is keeps bouncing after you stop your Shocks/Dampers are shot. Good dampers would allow the car to come back up and settle fairly quickly.

[mcl1959]

My advice would be to have the suspension totally checked.
shackle rubbers could be a problem causing a thumping sound, worn shockers will give a lot of bounce over speed bumps.  I would not bother with retempering or getting new or lowered springs as these will stiffen the ride giving better road handling but not better bump absorbtion.

Why not come down to the Vic state titles this weekend and we can give you some advice

Regards   Ken

[dbfc]

Sorry for the vague "crashy" description.

When stationary, pressing down at the corners and letting go
sees the care come back up promptly, but without any
"boingboing" sustained bouncing.  The front drivers side has
a lot more give than the other corners, it seems a bit soft.
But none of the corners bounce more than just a little.

From my limited understanding of suspensions, this might
mean that the springs (coil & leaf) are being properly damped
by the shocks, but that they don't have enough strength
to fight off a sudden jarring road event (like a train track
or a speed bump)  and  so they give too much.

It seems that regardless, I should put some new shocks in.
But I'm worried that this won't be enough, so I'm fishing with
stories of people who have gotten their Holden to an acceptable
ride quality and how they ended up doing it.

Sarge, I'm not sure I'm up to lowering the car, though it
would be pretty cool!

Ken, thanks for the advice, I'll get it checked out.

Thanks again for your help.

Dave

PS. Searching around got me some additional info on FC suspensions
http://www.hoppers.com.au/stoppin%20holden.htm