Bizarre behavior when cornering.

MrDiggler

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Spicy MSP #1349, '88 323 GTX, '79 10th Ann. T/A, 462 ci 4-spd
To preface, the mods in my sig are for my original MSP. I now own another one and have yet to really figure out what the previous owner has done with the suspension. I know this much, it sits really low. Too low. Like my first MSP did with Goldline springs on it, which were replaced with Espilirs. I haven't had access to a garage and just got my floor jack and 2 jackstands out of storage. Waiting on 2 more so I can get the car up and really check out the suspension. I know this one handles like crap compared to my first MSP. Part of the problem is crappy tires, but something else is wrong besides being over-lowered. The only thing I found and fixed was a missing (!) rear sway bar bushing and bracket on the left (drivers) side. They were just gone. I had it in the shop for a turbo replacement this week and the mechanic said he noticed one of the rear sway bar endlinks was loose, and he couldn't tighten it because the nut was seized. I remember this being a known issue. He had never seen an MSP before and didn't offer up any more that he'd found in the suspension dept.

Here's what it's doing... Turning left in an average to long corner, at a cornering speed of say 60% of max or more, the car corners smoothly at first, then suddenly darts HARD to the left, to the inside of the curve. It almost caused me to wreck today. I was testing it out after the sway bar bracket got reinstalled. I thought that might have been causing it. That wasn't it. I don't notice this behavior turning right. The steering wheel does not jerk or twist when it does this. It's like a huge invisible hand just twists the car, turning it tighter. I don't know if the problem is in the front or the rear, but I suspect the rear because if it was the front wheels turning more, wouldn't I feel it in the steering wheel? Does anyone have any ideas?
 
How are the tires wearing? Evenly or are the inside edges of the tires more worn than the rest? I'd check alignment 1st. For a car that low it's tough to get the camber into spec and bad camber will make your car dart or wander around.
Throw some less aggressive springs - like teins or eibachs or those espilirs you had - on (hopefully with some new struts) and align that suckah. The MSP came stock on Tokico Blue struts and Racing Beat springs in case you wanna bring it back to its former glory. :)

Loose swaybar stuff will just clunk and be loud n s***. It won't make your car corner any different. Maybe lean a little more, but it wont change direction from anything swaybar related until you push it HARD..
 
Thanks Natey. I would give my left *** for a set of the Espilirs again. They were perfect. I do have the original Tokico blues in storage that were taken off my first MSP at 50k miles. Unfortunately it looks like I sold the factory springs years ago. The factory setup would be fine with me compared to this crap. The shop that I just had it at was going to check and do the alignment, but the car is too low to get up the ramps on their machine. I just found a set of my Pop's jack stands, so this weekend I can get it up and get under it. I will check the tire wear, and one more thing...the wheels are obviously too wide or the incorrect offset. They stick out too far and it rubs like hell with more than just me in the car. I don't think that's a factor, but thought I'd mention it.
 
It may have coil over sleeves like ground control on it, which are garbage but you can raise the height with them. Or it may have cut stock springs which can really mess with the handling.
 
Finally got up under it today, and here's what I found. The previous owner(s) were not car inclined or they let a total jack-leg work on it. The front springs and rear springs are different. The fronts are blue and the rears are green. The rears had some writing on them. I took a picture but my phone is in the other room. Here's what's really jacked up to me...the front struts appear to be factory blues, but the rears are different and are two different brands and types! After driving the car more the suspension feels like it dives just a bit on the right side right as the car darts to the left. I'm wondering if these mismatched struts could be the culprit. Also found that the front lower chassis tie brace is missing...just gone! The sub box/rear brace is gone, so this means only one of the factory braces is on the car. Also noticed that the j-pipe doesn't mate up properly with the aftermarket exhaust, leaving a gap and a nice exhaust leak. Plus, it's obvious the car spent some years in the snow belt. Quite a bit of rust under there. This sloppy ass crap really pisses me off. I should've either bought a bone stock Spicy MSP or checked this thing out a lot more carefully before buying. Thing was, there wasn't much to choose from at the time. Ugh...
 
fun times. at least the suspension bits on these cars are really easy to work with :)
 
I now have the factory struts, factory springs, factory rear endlinks, Duralast front endlinks (hope they work out), plus rear bump stops that aren't there now, etc. I'm going to do the swap soon, like maybe this weekend. I'll post my findings. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
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