Re: early vs. late spring height thread from Tuesday

[MichaelP]

Mike S, your post about early (thru '72) vs. late spring height got me thinkingthat when our 1600 was restored (renovated really) by a PO, late springs might have been installed. Two things sustain this idea. 1) the car sits awfully high for a '71, and 2), a lot of later parts were used in the renovation such as '73 front bumper supports. I've been replacing these parts as I figure out what they are.

I should note that the upper rear spring pads appear to be the thickest available, but up front, upper and lower pads are one of the thinner flavors.

Soooo, the questions are:

Is there a way to ID early vs. late springs without removing them?

If removed, how to tell which is which? Mike stated that they're ~1" different, but does anyone here know the height of either?

Are early springs still available? From the ETK, it seems that the green and white dot springs are still available, but they come up as the same part numbers when you query for a '68 or a '75. Any idea what you get? Taller or shorter?

[Mike Self]

The "early" springs of which I spoke were (presumably) carried onto the later Euro and non USA markets 'cause they didn't have the bumper height requirements that drove the taller springs. I would suspect that unloaded, the later springs are about the same inch taller than the earlier ones, as none are progressive. I know some of the factory springs are still available from BMW; Blunt can probably advise as to which ones they are; if they're Euro, they're probably the shorter ones.

I found this out after I wondered out loud at a CCA Ofest why my '69 sat an inch lower than my 73, both with stock suspension, wheels and the same tires. That was the answer.

I know the factory springs are usually marked with paint dabs that mean something; hopefully someone on the board (or perhaps the parts book) can decode the color codes...

cheers

mike

[Bill_Riblett]

The color codes are in the shop manual:

Green stiffest, White in the middle, Red are softest.

The second color is front or rear.

I think Fronts are Blue, Rear are brown.

[Paul7002]

(nt)

[colorobo2002]

Under history and reference:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/content/view/47/32/