I hope y'all can help point me in the right direction here. I've got a '73 1.7, and I have noticed that the car is leaning fairly significantly to the left. I have the Riviera wheels, with 195/60/15's all the way around. There is a pretty severe negative camber to the rear wheels to make them fit under the wheel wells.

I have measured from the floor to the rim of the fender all the way around, and here is what I've found:

Front Left = 23 15/16"
Rear Left = 21 3/8"
Front Right = 25"
Rear Right = 22 1/4"

Okay, so I honestly don't know squat about suspension geometry or terminology, but that can't be normal. I shouldn't have a nearly 4" difference in heights. I guess I just don't even know where to start. I'm sure that several rubber pieces need replacement, but I don't know what pieces determine ride height or anything like that.

This might exaggerate the point.......but the lean does exist.

Same tire pressure all way round? How bout shock condition and manufacture? Lots of things to consider. The front being high indicates maybe sagging springs or worn out shocks, or non stock springs. The front can be lowered. All that said, I don't think the fenders are the right place to be measuring. For one thing, the top of the fronts look higher than the rears anyway. I'm sure one of the racers will chime in shortly with specifics.

Oh, just saw second pic. Busted shock perhaps?

If you need "pretty severe negative camber" to fit 195s, you have the wrong wheels. Get some that are meant for 914s, and so have the 914 offset, and the 195s should fit with very little negative camber.

Your lean could be caused by a number of things. The two that leap to mind right away are a broken torsion bar in the left-front, or a broken coil spring on the left-rear.

Jack up the car and support it securely, and start looking at the coil springs on the back. They should be pretty much identical from side to side; if they are not then you have something wrong which ought to be fixed.

To check the torsion bars, you will probably have to slide them out of the A-arm. (Folks, please correct me if I'm wrong about this!) You remove the adjusting bolt from the adjuster at the back end of the torsion bar (count the number of turns), and then lever the adjuster out so you can try to pull the rest of the bar out. If the bar is stuck in place, that at least means it's not broken.

--DD

Bringing the left front up, will bring the right rear down.

I have 205/95 15's on the rear and they fit....barely, but they fit. Front can be lowered to the same height, there are numerous threads here on that,
but as DD said, you may have a more serious issue....

I have rivera (I think) wheels with street tires 195/60/15.
There is about 3/4" or less clearance on the rear fender lip and my lips are already rolled.

I also have stock 2L Fuchs with 205/50/R15s and there is a huge amount of space between the tire and the lip, but they rub in the back on the track.

So there are two extremes in fitment to consider.

Also, when I measure my ride height for consistency, I measure from the bottom lip of the jacking donuts to the concrete garage floor.
But they cant be all banged up for that to work.

(Oh, and you could have a broken rear spring as well.)

Okay, so I have removed the torsion bars, and I don't see any evidence of rust or breakage. I assume then that they are fine. In putting them back in, does the cover need to start at the top of rotation or on the bottom? I also don't quite understand the Haynes manual when it says to pry down on the control arm. Tips?

You are fully extending the suspension travel on the front when you lever down on the control arms. You then take the adjustor cap and place the arm as high up in the housing as possible. Thread the adjusting screw in until it touches the top of the housing. This procedure is called "indexing" the adjustor/torsion bars.

Drop the car and bounce the suspension to settle it. Car will be low .... screw adjustor bolt in to raise the ride height.

Ride height (stock) is measured from the bottom of the adjustor housing to the ground and the Haynes Manual will give you the dimension. You can lower it from there should you desire.

and realign the car thereafter,

Keith

Thanks all, I think I got it figure out. All four corners are pretty darn close to each other now!!! On to figuring out my idle issues......