Coil Spring Height

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   I may be better off than I thought I was. The measured height is 8 7/8" from the floor to the bottom of the rocker panels, front AND rear. The car still looks higher in the front but it may be me since I've only seen it lower. I've got a full tank of gas too. Anyway, the front of the car still bounces pretty good when you push up and down on it, so hopefully I won't have too hard a ride. I've got the new ball joints, steering cylinder and tie rods in so I'm going to get it aligned and run it like this for awile.
   Does anyone know where you're suppose to measure a 57 ford to check level. As far as the rear shackle goes, I like where the fender is on the wheel now so I think I'll leave the shackle where it is. Jim

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   Got the front end aligned today. The right side took a whole lot of shims to push the A-arm out at the top. The Left side took more shims but not anything like the right side. In fact, the guy said it still wasn't perfect but he ran out of adjustment on the length of the bolt. That don't sound right. Could I have the wrong upper or lower A-arm on the right side. Has anyone ran into this before. I realize raising the front of the car would place the top A-arm farther into the frame but it looks like both sides would be the same anyway.
   As far as steering goes with the car jacked up I've got two words for it, HAH-HAH. As in funny. The front end feels as if there's no weight on it and you would call the steering touchy as hell, not steering play, just fast. This could take some getting used to. It might be all right without power steering but I've got power steering. I really like the stance of the car. It's ever so slightly raised in front but it looks really good. Overall height with the rear shackles flipped is about 1.75" higher than stock. The original specs was to have 7.1" ground clearance and my rocker panels are 8 7/8" front and back from the ground. I realize most people nowadays use dropped spindles and try to get the car close to the ground. I gotta be different I guess. The ride of the car feels about the same, it's a comfortable ride leaning toward the soft to medium side, not a rough ride at all.
   If anyone has an idea why the right side took more shimes than the left, let me hear it. Jim

[bossguy]

I don't know if your ears were ringing yesterday Jim. I told my son in Fla your saga of changing the springs 4 times. We put the 429 C-6 in his 59 Edsel wagon over thanksgiving and this weekend he was going to put the 69 Mercury Marquis front disc spindles on it. We decided to try the 69 merc springs to compensate for the weight of the engine. The 69 wire diameter is slightly less than the 59 but 2 coils higher. Spindle overall height is the same 69 and 59. What we DIDN'T figure on is the 69 lower arm is longer, mounts lower. After tightening the 69 springs almost to the point of coil bind he was able to get the spindle in and tightened. Releasing tension on the spring compressor bowed the spring to the outside and jammed the compressor arm against the lower arm. After carpet bombing his yard with the F-bomb he resigned himself to putting the Edsel springs back in. He was NOT in a good mood when we spoke last nite! I told him how you've done the same job 4 times to his 2. I don't think it cheered him up that much

[JimNolan]

Bossguy,
   I've driven my car about 200 miles since I got the bright idea to raise the front of my car. I wasn't going to post anything more about it but since you wrote I'll tell you this. I ain't going to drive this car another mile with the suspension the way it is now. I'm putting the original springs in the front and turning the rear shackles back the way they suppose to be. I'm fed up. The steering is funny as hell, every time you hit a big bump the top A-arm hits the frame on the way down and you think you broke something, the alignment isn't worth s_ _ _ , I had good alignment before I started this mess and the ride isn't as comfortable.
   I've come to the conclusion Ford is smarter than me and I'm going back to the way they had the suspension. Raising the car isn't worth the headache. I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that lowering the car does the same thing.
   Now I don't think my conclusion applies to a car you don't drive that much. But to use a car as a daily driver as well as every trip you take you need more than what I have now. Looks aren't everything. Tell your son I hope he has better luck than I did. Also tell your son that playing with the rear suspension is a whole lot less fustrating. The geometry of the front end was designed, I learned that the hard way. Jim

[shopratwoody]

It'll look a whole lot better with the rear shackles flipped back
over and better on the springs.

[JimNolan]

Shoprat,
    Just got back from the hanger. I took the coil springs out and as soon as I sandblast and paint the ORIGINAL coil springs it goes back together. AND, the rear shackles gets flipped back the way they suppose to be. I could have lost functioning body parts and not be as upset as I am with this ordeal.
    But, I have learned this. The only time you need a spring compressor is when you install a spring. That's just so you can gradually raise the bottom control arm and be able to rotate the spring to correct position on assembly. The floor jack method is great to take springs out. I was out at the hanger about two hours and had the springs out. I'll put it back together and reverse the rear shackles tomorrow. Jim

[Ford Blue blood]

      I've come to the conclusion Ford is smarter than me and I'm going back to the way they had the suspension. Raising the car isn't worth the headache. I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that lowering the car does the same thing.
   

Jim I have come to the same conclusion you have with respect to the engineers, Ford pays them a lot of good money to figure that stuff out.  Many of my street rod buddies give me cr## for digging around to find factory parts for the brakes and the drive train etc....but....the ol 36 street rod has 136K on it with only one break down in all those miles and that was my fault (rear u-joint that was judged to be OK and not replaced).  That happened on the way to the Street Rod Nationals from Norfolk, VA in 1982 on I-80 just outside of Southbend, IN at 5PM on a Sunday evening.  Did you know they roll up the side walks on Sundays there (at least in 82).

Lowering doesn't bother them as much as raising.  As long as you still have some suspension travel.  Dropped spindles are the best way to drop the front and re-arching the springs in the rear is the best back there.  2" can be done and not hurt a thing, more then that and the travel thing gets to be an issue.

[JPotter57]

My last one was plenty low and it drove like a Lincoln.  I only hope this one rides as well.  As long as you dont get silly trying to look mini-truck low, they work well.  The 57 has about the most well thought out design.

[JimNolan]

Guys,
    I'm done. Finished today around 2:00pm. The car sits level and lower. The front bumper height is 13 1/4" to the center of the license plate braket holes. That's  bringing it down 3 1/2". I have no idea what I thought I was doing to begin with. Putting the rear shackles back where they suppose to be brought down the rear about 3".
    I took it down the road about 10 miles and the ride was great. I could feel the wheels again. It didn't act like it wanted to dart somewhere. There's no noise coming from the front end when you turn sharp or hit the railroad tracks. I'm happy. I made an appointment to have the front end realigned on Thursday.
   Now I've got a question. When they realign the front end and position the steering wheel, does the engine need to be running to make sure the power steering directional control valve doesn't have slop in it. When he got through the last time the steering wheel wasn't in the correct position. Jim  PS. Can you believe I had the (X&*%$#)!@)  jacked up 3 1/2 inches. I don't even go mudding.

[Ford Blue blood]

I have long held that if they were intended to be up in the air they would have wings.

[JimNolan]

BlueBlood,
    When I get the front end aligned Thursday I'm going to bring it home and take a picture just like the one I took last week. I'll post them on this thread just to give you an idea of how high it was. Jim 
   PS. I want to personally thank you for pointing out to me that my rear shackles were flipped. I installed new rear springs right after I got the car in 2004. All this time I've been fighting with Detroit Eaton and installing new springs to try and make the car level again. I didn't realize I had raised the rear, I just thought the old springs had worn that much. As I get older I need to pay more attention to how I take things apart. I'm beginning to believe that the body isn't the only thing that goes with age. Jim

[JPotter57]

When I did alignments at the Ford shop, we had the engines running on cars when we set the steering wheel to center, not always though.  The front wheels are on turn tables, so they should center correctly.  If they know what they're diing, the wheels will be centered.

[JimNolan]

James,
   I read the repair manual and at the front it says to have the engine running when doing Toe-in and Steering wheel alignment. The guy that did the wheel alignment was able to do a better job this time without using 2 pounds of shims. It drives great and doesn't have any noises.
   I'm including two pictures, one last week when it was 3.5" / 3.0" higher and one today that is using the 54 year old front springs and newer rear stock springs. Jim

[Ford Blue blood]

Very nice!  Yup, that 4 X 4 look had to go.....

[bossguy]

I agree, it looks great now Jim