I’m replacing my rear springs and shocks.The car I’m working on is a 89 xjs conv, I’ve been told that on the rear spring they put packers on them to raise to height of the rear due to the added weight of the convertible top.I’ replacing the shocks with KYB’s. My question is has anyone use the Packers with the KYB shocks with new springs on a conv ?
I never saw any stock Jaguar come into the shop with shock packers.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t, just not as likely.
I can give you a partial answer. New KYB shocks, original springs, Cabriolet.After replacing front springs, the back of the car needed a little help. I wound up removing one of the spacers.
How is the height and ride ?
I did mine with Bilstein on 94 coupe 4.0. During disassembly I found 2 packers on each Boge shock which were completely dead. 2 packers on new shocks raised the back end to nearly 8" of ground clearance and the car had an ugly rake.
After some trial and error I settled on no packers which gave me 7" of ground clearance per the manual.
Gordon
The car looked a bit “heavy” at the back end. Adding a spacer brought it up just enough to look right. Ride is fine, but then I am not a Boy Racer anymore. From what I have read, replacing rear springs can have very mixed results, as far as height goes… It’s all trial and error!