How do you think he achieved this rear drop?
- Thread starter J.B.
- Start date
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I know you posted them somewhere here but I think that was your other thread. I get tagged and PM’d a bunch by different members and see lots of wheel combos (which is great, I enjoy helping if I can) but it also means I can’t always keep them all straight.
So you’ve got a rear tire that’s 26.7” tall. For your stated goal of tucking the tire above the top of the wheel arch, you’re going to need the center of the axle to be less than half that distance from the quarter opening, so say roughly 13”. You could also measure the distance from the wheel arch to the ground, although that will include some sidewall bulge on the tire because that includes the loaded part. For you that measurement will have to be about 26” or so to have that tire even with the wheel arch. And that distance will also change with the wheel diameter, where the axle centerline to wheel arch only really changes with the spring.
Your current measurement is probably between 2-3” higher than stock because of the SS springs, although that will depend on how worn those springs are and on what you’ve done with your car.
You’ve already ordered springs, so at this point I don’t know how much getting other folks measurements will help you, you’re going to get what you get. On my car I’ve got just over 26” from the ground to the top of the wheel arch, with a roughly stock spring arch and 27.2” tall tires. And my spring sliders lower the car about 3/8” or so.
With the same rear suspension as me, your car would sit about a 1/4” lower with your wheels. Which would be enough to have the tires tucked just a little bit. I would think a 1” drop would be about sufficient for what you want.
The other thing is, I’m sure you want the car fairly level, and the limit for how low the front can sit actually depends a lot on the inner fenders. Like on my car I’m just under 25” to the wheel arch in the front, and with 25.6” tires and about 5” of total suspension travel my wheels just touch the inner fenders at full compression. So I can’t go lower without major bodywork modifications to the inner fenders (or losing suspension travel). Which means I wouldn’t want to go sub 25” on the rear wheel arch height, or I’d have a tail dragger.
Which is where my hesitation on the -2” springs comes from, if that’s the actually height drop it would be too much on my car to match it in the front. And really, unless you lose suspension travel, it would be too low regardless of your front suspension, you’d have to run a shorter front tire.
Hotchkiss 1" drop leaf springs. I hate them though. They wrap the pinion up, like they're made outta tin-foil. I also replaced their adjustable upper a-arms. I won't be buying anymore of their products.
michiganpat
Well-Known Member
for what it's worth, the rear stance of the car in the original post isnt' that far from my car with 32 year old 5 leaf replacements I put in when we first did the car in '91. I'd actually like to get my rear up about an inch.
Nice ! I'd actually like to OWN you car.
Exactly!
The factory, zero arch rear springs on these cars actually sat the rear of the car fairly low. And of course as the arch sags they get a bit lower.
Heck if you look at the factory advertising a lot of the images show the cars lower in the back than in the front.
The spring rate in the back also wasn’t that far off either, the front was dramatically undersprung but in the back another 30 lb/in or so is all you need for a good handling car.
michiganpat
Well-Known Member
yeah, I picked up some MP .92" T bars to replace the stock .85" (pretty close to the fleet/HD/Police .94" bars listed in my FSM).....I'm holding off on buying rear springs until I get the front done and see where the front feels/looks as far as ride height....
That's certainly an improvement but really with a decent set of shocks I wouldn't run anything less than 1" bars in the front. That's still only like a ~200 lb/in wheel rate, which is still less than the majority of newer cars. Unless of course you're planning on running bias ply tires.
michiganpat
Well-Known Member
not necessarily turning it into a corner carver, not sure what direction I go for with wheels/tires (14's 15's or 17's). I've been more of the moderate wheel rate w/pretty stiff roll rate kind of guy, don't necessarily want to have it ride like a lumberwagon....
Yep, your car your deal. I ran 1" bars on my Duster for awhile, it was still pretty soft and I was just running basic old Monroe's for shocks. The 1.12's I run now would definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, but that's fine. The .92's with an aftermarket sway bar will definitely be an improvement over stock.
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