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Any thoughts as to the best way to Jack up a HB, I may wish to raise the ride height of my HB estate an inch or two and would appreciate any suggestions

Oddly enough I pondered about this a while back, I would suggest lifting the shell off the subframe/axles etc so the steering geometry stays the same. fabricate mounts to lower the rear arms and front subframe rear outriggers, and fit blocks to the upper mounts...something like that anyway. you'd have to raise the engine off the subframe the same amount also, to keep all the necessary gubbins in the right place, gear stick etc, and extend the steering column a tad. Why are you considering this? what have you got planned, my idea was to fit a bigger engine without cutting the shell, I decided against it in the end though... seemed a lot of work for not much benefit.

Some HC's had a 3/4" spacer fitted to the top of the rear springs. You could also fit some slightly longer springs from another car. I know of one HC fitted with BMW E36 springs to raise it about 1". They are progressive rate too so the ride isn't any harsher when lightly loaded but stiffens up when weight is added.

My HB Estate back in the 80's had forest rally springs on the front and inch spacers between chassis and spring on the rear....looked pretty high

Saw a Peugeot 305 combi van the other day that had raised suspension & I liked the stance, thought that the HB estate would be better to look at as well as being more practical for me, I'm 6'2, at the moment the front suspension is apart for rebuilding & I intend to remove & rebuild the rear as well, so best time to consider any changes, like the idea of the BMW E36 rear springs so will look into that, maybe if anyone knows of any springs that fits the front that are longer & also progressive that suit the weight of an ohv that may be the way forward, I've considered maybe using ohc springs on the front but don't want to make the suspension too hard, or perhaps using spacers between the top mounts & chassis rails. All opinions welcome

That's the look I'm after BobbyMel, do you remember if it was a hard ride or not

Pretty hard....it had the OHC engine in too, and still sat high. It was a stiff ride though, but I didnt mind then.

Standard Snoot (HPF) front springs are export spec OHV springs. They are longer than standard OHV springs but the OHC engine weight reduced the ride height on the Snoot by about 1". Vauxhall 'parts bin engineering' at it's best

I remember those Forest rally springs very well. My mate had them on his Viva GT , made it look big and bold. Strange how "back in the good old days" we tended to raise up the cars, where nowadays the trend is to lower them. To my (old) eyes, lowered Vivas always look as if the springs are old & sagging and there is something wrong with the car. Even genuine Vauxhall springs which were supposed to be made to exacting specs could be strange. The common Vauxhall Dealer mechanic trick when new springs were fitted to a car that then leans to one side, the spacer would be used on that one side, - then over time after it had settled down, the car may start to lean to the other side and the spacer was swapped over! Until eventually, the car settled on a level keel. Springs can be strange sometimes, because of the metal wire composition. The Steel used in modern car springs is thinner and poorer quality, - made from steel from re-cycled Vivas from Chinese foundries no doubt !
Adrian

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