Suspension help needed
Picked up this 76 Scamp last fall after missing a 72 Swinger I sold 15 years ago a bit too much... it's a 225 Slant 6 with about 60K miles... it had been fitted with air shocks and they kept leaking all the air out resulting in a very saggy back end - replumbed them and they still leaked, so the issue must've been in the shock... anyway, went ahead and replaced all 4 shocks with the KYB units and put the Hotchkis rear leaf springs on it... Honestly, I didn't read real well and didn't realize that the Hotchkis leaves lower the back of the car below stock....
At this point, I don't feel like the stance of the car is right and the back still seems too low in comparison to the front. I was considering cranking down the torsion bars to lower the front, but if I turn the wheel to the side the tires only clear the fender by maybe 1.5" now - lowering the front will surely result in hitting the fenders...
Other options I can potentially see:
1. Swap the front leaf hanger from the new Hotchkis one to the factory one I took off since it appears to have the pivot bolt a little lower and would raise the back end just a little bit.
2. Replace the brand new leafs I just put on with something different
3. Air shocks again? I'm really not excited about this option and don't really want to go that route...
Are there other stance correction ideas I'm not seeing?
Lastly - I was considering swapping the front to discs and see from my research that a lot of guys use the 2" drop spindles available - How do they do that without rubbing the fenders? Use smaller tires maybe?
Thanks for any tips/ideas....
Picked up this 76 Scamp last fall after missing a 72 Swinger I sold 15 years ago a bit too much... it's a 225 Slant 6 with about 60K miles... it had been fitted with air shocks and they kept leaking all the air out resulting in a very saggy back end - replumbed them and they still leaked, so the issue must've been in the shock... anyway, went ahead and replaced all 4 shocks with the KYB units and put the Hotchkis rear leaf springs on it... Honestly, I didn't read real well and didn't realize that the Hotchkis leaves lower the back of the car below stock....
At this point, I don't feel like the stance of the car is right and the back still seems too low in comparison to the front. I was considering cranking down the torsion bars to lower the front, but if I turn the wheel to the side the tires only clear the fender by maybe 1.5" now - lowering the front will surely result in hitting the fenders...
Other options I can potentially see:
1. Swap the front leaf hanger from the new Hotchkis one to the factory one I took off since it appears to have the pivot bolt a little lower and would raise the back end just a little bit.
2. Replace the brand new leafs I just put on with something different
3. Air shocks again? I'm really not excited about this option and don't really want to go that route...
Are there other stance correction ideas I'm not seeing?
Lastly - I was considering swapping the front to discs and see from my research that a lot of guys use the 2" drop spindles available - How do they do that without rubbing the fenders? Use smaller tires maybe?
Thanks for any tips/ideas....
