"for countrys with rough roads"

[wolf_walker]

Or something to that effect. It's mentioned several times in the FSM chassis book as a specific type of suspension. What does it include? From reading I'm guessing a higher ride height for one thing, there is mention of shock spacers in a few spots.

And there is a heck of a selection of springs for these cars listed in there..

Last one, what's the deal with the two different shocks, one seems to be constructed reversed of the other, and I forget the term they use(and the books in the car). Reminds me of when offroad bikes went to the inverted front forks years ago.

I have exactly a zillion other questions after reading the chassis section, but I'll leave it at that for now.

[leathermang]

That section of the FSM is not easy to read so I am going to tell you what I THINK....
The lengths of the springs are either ' long or short' and painted with a red or blue mark to designate which they are....
The long or short springs have matching rubber deals they fit into.
There is a huge section of other rubber deals which are used to level the car left to right (on the front) depending on the accessories included on the car.
They make the springs, then test and give them a part number. That is the big chart listing spring rate,compression at a certain number of NM's and their wire thickness...
These are helpful particularly with Wagons ( called Touring Sedans in some countries)...where the wagons were also used by police and as ambulances.... the self leveling system and the springs SHARE the load at the rear ... so the springs are the way which variables can be fitted to help tune the car to your needs...

[wolf_walker]

That sounds about like what I was getting out of reading it. The FSM can sometimes be a little, eh, cryptic...

[R Leo]

FWIW, the oil pan on SWMBOs 84 300D sits almost an inch closer to the ground than my wagon's pan (also called Kombis in some other countries).