Can anyone simplify the 69 drop?

69shocktower

Active Member

Nov 5, 2003

173

21

39

Dakotas

Nov 11, 2008

#1

• Nov 11, 2008

• #1

Ive got a 69 coupe with the highrise front end effect. Tired of looking of pics of perfect looking 69s. All ive done to the suspention of my car is new leafs and poly bushing front end kit from PST performance suspention tech.

So how do I get that perfect looking ride height? Not sure If I want to drop the rear as well. But the front for sure. Do I just need shorter springs by an inch or so? But Im sure I dont want a jacked up rear look. I admit that custom suspention is about the last thing on my car that I know nothing about.

Thanks

 

zookeeper

Founding Member

Aug 25, 2001

3,415

63

109

Rogue River, Oregon

Nov 11, 2008

#2

• Nov 11, 2008

• #2

If it were me, I'd cut the front springs. Use an abrasive saw preferably, buy, borrow or rent a spring compressor (I bought one for $40 from NPD) and simplyjack up the car, remove the front wheel, remove the shocks, compress and remove the spring, cut the spring and re-install. It takes about 1/2 hr per side if you have all the tools handy. I cut mine 1/4 coil at a time to make very sure I didn't go too far, and ended up cutting one full coil. That equated to about a 2" drop, which is what I wanted.

 

69shocktower

Active Member

Nov 5, 2003

173

21

39

Dakotas

Dec 27, 2008

#3

• Dec 27, 2008

• #3

69 lowering springs ?

Im really not interested in cutting my old springs. So I checked The Paddock, Summit and Jegs. They dont seem to carry much of anything for pre 79. But Jegs has two options for front springs, one is STsuspention which is the cheaper, and Global west which specifies a 1" drop. I think 1" would be enough to counter the up pointing front end effect.

any opinions?

 

69shocktower

Active Member

Nov 5, 2003

173

21

39

Dakotas

Dec 27, 2008

#4

• Dec 27, 2008

• #4

69 front drop

I changed my avatar to a side shot of my car to help. Obviously I dont want the rear to look like its jacked up but wanna get rid of the factory effect of the front end pointing up. Need some advice. Thanks

 

B

bnickel

Founding Member

Aug 21, 2002

5,640

3

77

lubbock, texas

Dec 27, 2008

#5

• Dec 27, 2008

• #5

a 1" drop spring will most likely NOT drop your front end at all if the car still has the original springs, the reason being that over time the springs will sag possibly lowering the front end even more than 1".

if you have changed the front springs out with new stock replacements then the 1" drop springs will probably lower the car some maybe even a full inch but i still would not count on it.

your best option is still to pull the springs and cut about 1/4 to 1/2 coil at a time until you find the stance you are looking for.

 

G

gsxrken

Member

Sep 12, 2005

206

1

18

Weschester County, NY

Dec 27, 2008

#6

• Dec 27, 2008

• #6

Stance also has a lot to do with your tire diameter. If the car has tall tires, you may not need to lower it much to just cover the tops of them and have a nice look. But if you have a 69 with newer 17s with the 25.5" tires, you have to drop a 69 pretty deep to look good. You'll need to cut anything you buy to get it right. You probably don't want start with a 620lb coil and make it's rate even stiffer by whacking a coil off- start with a 550 or so or call Maier Racing). Get a performance alignment afterwards, specs on Opentracker.com somewhere.