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Well, I finally got my 412 home last nite, barely slept & snuk out a couple a times and took a peak!! am sooo friggen haapy, BUT hey, wait a minute, this this has the poise of a DC-3 !!!. I've read a lot on the front end being set a bit higher and I think I know what y'all bin recommending, so i went ahead and put everything heavy that i have in the trunk and still. So my question is: is it possible that the rear is also sagging? the wheel wells do cover the top 1/3 of the rear tires while up front you got a good 8" of clearance. is that normal?

Well, as Ray has pointed out, the rebound damping being totally shot on the front struts can make the car sit higher than it should in the front, which was already high as you know. From what I can see, the rear sits pretty low on all of them.

Ok, but I thibk as a precautionary measure, once I get her started & running I will be getting new shocks put in all 4 corners. Any Idea what the status is on Ray's much anticipated lowering hardware?

Great getting her home! Congrates on the 412! Hope you find lots of good stuff and she comes together easy! Enjoy! Bill
p.s. Have you looked at pics on the samba of 412's? It seem they sit low in the rear! I guess it might vary alittle froma sedan to wagen.

Thanks for your well wishing, I appreciate it. we are going through the mutual intoductory period and my first priority right now is to get her started (ref. my other posts) as I go through Rays troubleshooting procedure. I think if I install KYB gas shocks in back it will bring it up a bit and will wait till Ray & the rest of you folks materialize the lowering kit for the front. The combination should make her level. But for now I am just trying to get the starter to budge. BTW, she's got 37K original but fairly neglected. Cheers & stay tuned!

I'm working on it. I should have drawings available soon. Its easy to make top stubs to allow the use of the KYB GR2's for the audi...and make a one time lowering adjustment, but a droppable spring seat and raisable upper stop for the cartridge woule be more universal for those wanting to make different adjustments. Ray

I, for one, will be perfectly happy with the one time adjustment. I have no aspirations to tweek with the original set up anymore than I should

I think classic garage has some basic options for shocks. I think the shock only dampers the travel of the movement; the ride height would be from the coil springs and total lenght of the strut assembly. If you jump on the bumper does it rebound ok in the rear,lol! The front orig struts were a sweet machined item. I think the way to go is to use the stock tubes and work with that assembly and new strut insert but it would be the nicest to do the Ray setup if you have the ability and confidence or someone with that skill! I'm a stock setup kinda guy but that isnt always the way you can go with these cars though! You have to work with parts available to get it on the road and so it will be safe again to drive at speed!!! WHen my front end did the 45mph shake thing I wanted to do it right so it isnt like that! Replace those parts!! Listen to Ray! She'll be great just do it right and save yourself in the end! Bill