wrong shocks? 92 notchback

[Anti_Hero0932]

im onto my second car now, i bought it as a basket case and am slowly putting it back together. i got it off the cart it came with today and it sets way to high up in the rear. can anyone tell me what is going on? its got new tubular control arms. i used the same 4cyl springs out of my donor car. (it didnt set high) and i put new KYB shocks on it, im thinking the shocks are the problem but didnt know if anyone had ran into this before or not. the shocks are P/N 343161 KYB .

when you push down on the trunk there is like no give at all.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

i might add. this has a 94-95 rear end in it not sure why this would make a difference. but just adding that. should just be the width thats different.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Shocks don’t affect ride height, springs do.

unbolt then shock at the bottom on one side and see if the suspension moves then. If not, I bET soneone torqued the control arms with the rear end in full drop. Now it’s all bound up.

 

[Reddevil91]

Is it just bc it’s jacked up in the rear that it seems that the entire rear axle seems so far forward in the wheel well?

 

[junkyardwarrior]

had same problem. People all said shocks can't hold the car up, but I guarantee (and proved) that they can. I removed the rear springs and then bolted the shocks back to the axle (loosely I might add), then let the car down to the ground to find that they can and did hold the car up without the springs installed. So I cut the springs. Now it's a little low in the back end, 24,000 miles later. I guess the shocks are "wearing in" finally. 4 cylinder car, FWIW. Tokico blue shocks.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

Yeah I did tighten the bolts pretty hard when I put the control in. I can kisses them
And see what happens . They were are real pin to get all lined up

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

Also yeah it does look like the wheel is off center im hoping it’s just because of how high the rear of the car is up in the air

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

Well I loosened all the control arms but it still set up really high, took the shocks off and that didn’t seem to matter either. Hoping when I put my engine and trans in it will set a little lower but if I set in the trunk it goes down a little bit. I weight about 160 but that’s right over the rear wheels. Not sure if the tranny will make a big difference being that fat forward or not.

 

[General karthief]

I think you have an issue with that rear ride height, frankly I would not worry about it at this point, wait till you get it all together and then you'll have a better idea on ride height.
You could check for an obvious problem because that rear should not be that far forward in the wheel well regardless.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

I think you have an issue with that rear ride height, frankly I would not worry about it at this point, wait till you get it all together and then you'll have a better idea on ride height.
You could check for an obvious problem because that rear should not be that far forward in the wheel well regardless.

yeah im not sure whats going on. starting to get burned out on it already. ive put alot of rear ends in these cars and never ran into this before.

 

[TOOLOW91]

I swapped out tockico blues for strange 10 way singles front and rear and the car did sit about 1/4 inch lower . Just putting it out there .

 

[Ryuk]

Shocks don’t affect ride height, springs do.

unbolt then shock at the bottom on one side and see if the suspension moves then. If not, I bET soneone torqued the control arms with the rear end in full drop. Now it’s all bound up.

I think your explanation is the most likely cause.

Having said that, my totally badass (or so I thought) S10 back in 83 jacked with air shocks says that shocks can affect ride height.

 

[revhead347]

It's tough to judge the ride height on a car that doesn't even have an engine in it.

Kurt

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

I think your explanation is the most likely cause.

Having said that, my totally badass (or so I thought) S10 back in 83 jacked with air shocks says that shocks can affect ride height.

Already loosened the control arms.


I was also looking at the control arms . It looks like the lower spring perch is on top of the tube as where the stock ones have like a spring cup so there could be a few inches difference there? Just guessing

 

[Ryuk]

Already loosened the control arms.


I was also looking at the control arms . It looks like the lower spring perch is on top of the tube as where the stock ones have like a spring cup so there could be a few inches difference there? Just guessing

Any pics?

 

[General karthief]

Should not be any difference unless it has the wrong control arms, take the springs out, see if the rear articulates and at mid point sits in the middle of the wheel opening.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The position of the pigtail in the lower spring cup does play a role in ride height. You want the end of the loop to be at the 9 oclock position on both sides. The half-circle coil of the spring will be at the rear of the car

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

ill look at that tonight ill get some pictures of what it looks like as well.... just dont make fun of my brake lines.

 

[7991LXnSHO]

Ok, some spring damper tech info here. The amount of lift from regular or performance, non air lift, shocks will be limited to the amount from the pressurized gas inside. It’s function is to prevent oil bubbles, and preventing box blow out extensions in shipping what the long loop of plastic is for when new. And you should be able to compress the shocks slowly by hand even when fully charged. The amount of lift that gas provides is real, but minimal. if the car sits like a set of 1970’s High Jackers (Sky Jackers?) is on it, gas charged shocks are not the problem.

Add: if the shocks are too long, the suspension can bottom out on them. Adding weight will do nothing to lower ride height except smoosh the tires - until a shock mount or shock breaks.
You should be able to check the part number at the shock companies’ sites, Napa, Advance Auto or Rock Auto.

 

[KRUISR]

As said above, take the springs out and cycle the rear through full range of motion. When near normal (for a Foxbody) height the wheel should be better centered in wheel well.

Something to check, if you installed aftermarket rear control arms, could the uppers be in a bind? I know when I swapped my rear suspension bushings to polyurethane pieces (in stock arms at the time) I had to move the sleeves in the rear end ears toward the center of car 1/4-3/8 to allow the bushings to fit and seat right and not bind.