Adjusting The Height Of Front And Rear

[mentalward]

As you can see in this pic of our car, the front is quite a bit higher than the rear. Based on other peoples photos of their cars, it looks like my front is higher than it should be, and the rear is lower than it should be.

When we are done, we actually want the rear to be pretty much where it is now, and the front to match it. In a restoration book I'm reading, it only offers one suggestion for lowering the front by about 3/4". That method is to "drill a new pair of holes in the inner fender for the upper A-arm mounting bolts, exactly 1 inch below the stock ones." But I think I need to lower it by more than 3/4".

I see car heights adjusted radically all the time, but I'm clueless how it's normally done. Can anyone share some norms on this topic?

Thx.

 

[horse sence]

Drilling the upper control arm down 1 inch will lower the front slightly but that is not the reason for doing so .drilling the holes changes the geometry and the handling of the front end ...for the better .If that does not get you where you want to be cutting the coils may be needed ..The leafs may need to be changed to get the rear higher .Taller shackles is not the way to go because it can cause the rear to sway from the shackles trying to lay over because of the extra height . Coil over shocks or air shocks will raise the rear but that can cause damage to the under floor bracket and the floor because it removes the weight from the leafs and places the load on the bracket and the floor instead of the leafs .

 

[mentalward]

Ok, I got off my butt and measured the heights. The front is only 1/2" higher than the back (from fender to top of tire), so drilling new holes for the A-arm would probably work well. However, I found new coils that might lower the front by an inch or so,
http://www.mustangsplus.com/1965-1966-Mustang-Coil-Springs-Grab-A-Trak-R-620s-SF1504.html

The problem, now that I've measured, is that 1" might be a little too much, AND the actual change in height depends on the condition of my current coils, so no way to know the effect of change in advance.

 

[mentalward]

Drilling the upper control arm down 1 inch will lower the front slightly but that is not the reason for doing so .drilling the holes changes the geometry and the handling of the front end ...for the better .If that does not get you where you want to be cutting the coils may be needed ..The leafs may need to be changed to get the rear higher .Taller shackles is not the way to go because it can cause the rear to sway from the shackles trying to lay over because of the extra height . Coil over shocks or air shocks will raise the rear but that can cause damage to the under floor bracket and the floor because it removes the weight from the leafs and places the load on the bracket and the floor instead of the leafs .

So you would suggest drilling new holes before replacing the coils with 1" shorter ones?

 

[tos]

The drilling of holes 1 inch lower is known as the "Shelby drop" and was done to early Shelbys for racing/handling purposes.
You'll want to buy a template to do it properly. Nothing worse than getting one hole off location a little. If you are just going to be doing normal driving then its not really necessary but then 90 oercent of the mods we all do here are probly unnecessary too I have the 620 springs that are also a 1 inch drop and I love them (also did the Shelby drop). If your coils are old and the insulators are worn out you may not get a full inch drop cause your old springs and insulators are drooping from age and wear.

 

[mentalward]

Thank you. We'll go with the 620s and see where that leaves us.
Have you posted any pics of your car, other than the thumbnail in your profile? It looks inspirational

 

[tos]

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-for...-classic-mustang-currently-sits.873021/page-4

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/whats-a-good-interior-for-my-66-red-2-2.888407/

 

[DBegley]

I have been on this path with my 68 GT 350. Before you start cutting or drilling, if you haven't solved this issue allow me to tell about what I experienced and did. First off, those rear leaf springs get tired after 20 or 30 years or more. And the leafs hold up the rear end. New leaf springs in the rear. I put mid eye leafs which dropped my rear end a full inch. I also did 4.5 leafs to make it more stiff. Next thing I did was rebuild the entire front end. John at Open Tracker Racing suggested I go with performance coil springs which dropped the car an inch. Although in my case the rear end turned out to be an inch lower than the front end. Kind a looked like your car. I called John at OTR and he suggested cutting half a coil off the front springs. My local tire shop does that kind of work so I talked to the owner and he said bring it out, they do that kind of cutting often. So he cut half a coil off and it dropped the front an inch. Easy and cost effective solution. Except I had 245 60R15's on all four wheels. These tires are an inch wider than stock. So the front tires rubbed the fender the first time I put it on the road to a car show. Took it back to the shop and he swapped out my NEW 245 60's in the front with 215/65R15's. This size is real close to the stock tire size. An inch narrower and 1/2 an inch smaller diameter than the 245's. So what did I end up with? First off the suspension is real tight. Handles unbelievably well now. Those 215 65's do not rub the front fenders. The car looks great lowered like it is. Last week I had the same shop install a set of Wilwood 4 piston discs and some Porterfield racing shoes in the rear. This car handles and stops far better than stock.

 

[DBegley]

I happened across a conversation on this topic recently. The one author said the Shelby drop is for handling and does not lower the car like you are wanting to do. You need to use performance coil springs that are shorter. That is what hold the car up in the front. Same on the rear leaf springs. Mid eye shackles lower the back end a good inch. I might add that lowering my car gives it a pretty attractive stance. Plus I have inch wider tires in the back than the front. It's real subtle but attractive. People who have seen my car since the change have all made great comments about how aggressive & attractive my Mustang is. One friend said that is what a muscle car should look like. Not that I didn't get good comments before, but it's different now with the lowered suspension.