Hey guys,
With nothing to do on the weekend with the car at the shop I will looking into some of the down the road things my son wants to try and do on his car.
He wants to have the back end up a little because he thinks it will look cool and make seeing past that mile long hood easier. Is slightly bigger rear end tires the best way to go or should we get longer shackles to replace the current ones. We need to replace the bushing regardless. I looked on Ohio Mustang Supply and he has shackle kits, but didn't see any extended ones so maybe that isn't a good option or else more people would make them for availability.
Thanks for the input.
T
Ford designed the Mach 1 to sit lower in the rear for handling purposes. It is also the "look" of our current day for the car to squat.
Of course "back in the day" it was the rage to jack up the rear and put those big 50 series tires on it that stuck out a couple of inches. That's the "cool" look.
Extended shackles can make that happen and I imagine that no one offers them because the look is not in (that and it is not technically how to do it). Back in the day most used air shocks but that is definitely not the way to do it (the shock brace was never designed to take the weight of the car).
Basically re-arched springs would be what you are looking for. A hot rodders secret is to look for a spring in a junk yard with the same width but a higher arch and add it to your stack. Of course every modification has a consequence.
I personally am all for keeping it the way it is because in my mind everything but family has a price and I would want any vehicle I had to be of value to as many people possible while still making myself happy with it because you never know when something horrible can happen and you need to sell off everything you can. I wouldn't sell my son's car, but I hope that he learns some of that.
There is an el camino here in town that has like 30 inch wheels on it and painted the Texas Longhorns colors and has "Texas" in 2 foot letters down both sides for sale for over a year. No matter how great that El Camino may be inside etc not many will look at it besides to laugh (We are in Oklahoma btw)
So I am all in for arguments about why it shouldn't be done I just promised my wife and son that I wouldn't say no to how he wanted the car to look, but I will sure try to talk him out of it.
I deleted my original post because I guess I do not know how to read that you want to raise the back of the car. In addition to Steve's recommendations, you may want to check if the previous owner installed lowering springs (i.e., mid eye or reverse eye) on the car. It is pretty easy to check this. To do this, just look at the position of the eye (where the bushing is) on leaf spring. If you have factory type leaf springs, the eye will be on top.
Great info Mike I will check it out. The car is at the shop getting the motor pulled and rebuilt renewed reawesomed. Hopefully anyway told him to fix it and call me if what I left him wasn't enough. That way once I get the cowling replaced and the rest put back together it can drop back in and then we don't have to mess with engine stuff anymore and can move on the body stuff and such so I will have to wait till I go pick it back up this week to use your knowledge.
Thanks again
T
Hey that is great...I bet you are excited to get your motor rebuilt!! Please keep us updated on how that goes as well as the cowl panel. Did you say you were going to try and do some of the work yourself?
Yes, my son and I are going to do all the tear down to see what all needs to be done. I want to see what is what before I decide on what we will do and what we will have done. From the amount of junk I found in the cowl when we took the vents off I fear the drain ends may have gotten plugged up and if so I want to see how much other damage there is. Not to mention if I do have someone else replace the cowl it will be that much less I wont have to pay in labor.
T.
Wouldn't surprise me that there is a mouse nest in there too. Mice love the condominium lifestyle inside of cowls. Keep us updated.
Mine sits up a little in the back. That is due to having the springs re-set as they had sagged and when they did it they put in a extra leaf (but thicker then the original springs by mistake)