FIA question- wheel clearance

[peter]

Hi. I’m the new guy who went to New Mexico and drove my car back to Ohio. The car is fantastic and ooohhh fast -- having lots of fun getting a couple bugs sorted out. I have a problem with the back right wheel hitting the edge of the fender when I have a passenger-- the heavier the person the bigger the problem. It looks like only 3/4" in. clearance on the side of the fender. I have front coils that appear adjustable, but the backs are not. There is a shim on the right side of the rear suspension and not on the left. Do I need an additional shim? or can I adjust the left front coil-overs to bring the right rear up a bit? Will this effect the alignment? Any other suggestions? thanks again, peter

[GeorgiaSnake]

Peter the best solution is to buy a set of adjustable rear coil overs. I think you can do a search here and find some answers. What is your ride height?

I would also check to see if your car has wheel spacers installed on the rear which would put the wheel closer to the fender. I have never had any clearance issues with mine.

[nolastyankee]

Peter,
Do a search on this site for ride height, front suspension, and rear suspension. There has been lots of discussion on setting these cars up correctly. Rick Bagley (Eliminator) is one of the resident experts on shocks and springs.

One common theme you will see in nearly all threads is this...Set the suspension up based on ride height and corner weight, then move the body on the car. Adjusting the suspension to compensate for appearance may get the "look", but it will kill the handling. These cars, like the real 60's Cobra's, are not symmetrical nor exactly the same!

Building our car we literally took an entire day to set the rear end up square to the frame, then adjusting toe and camber without any reference to the body location. Good luck!