how to raise the rear

[ONEBADPNY]

i am looking to raise the rear of the car up on my 66 coupe. it is a little to low for my taste. what is the best way to do this? don't want air shocks so please don't say that. the rear leafs in there now are stock replacement but is there a different one to get to raise it back up? looking for an 1" or 2" at the most.

 

[j69302]

I rasied mine an inch by getting 3/8 inch steel and made my own shackles with a drillpress. Ran some grade-8 bolts and lock nuts to hold it all together.

 

[ONEBADPNY]

How does that look? can you see it from behind. My dad had some on there before and you could see them god awful thing from behind.

 

[j69302]

no, they are covered by the rear valance still. I have a 69. 66 valance may or may not cover as much.

 

[xoxbxfx]

dunno if its going to be to high for you or not, but you could put the rear end UNDER the springs and put the u bolts in from the bottom .

 

[1320stang]

If the springs are original, how about getting new ones? If they've been replaced or are good, you can get them re-arched as well, or change the eye position.

 

[68RCodeConv]

Shackles are bad. They overstress the springs.

Air shocks are bad. They unload the springs (leading to wheel hop) and put stress on the upper shock mounts (often leading to cracking).

You need to put in a different set of leaf springs.

Or, get a couple of new, longer studs (the ones that hold the leaf spring together). Unbolt the rear end and lift it off the springs. C-clamp the springs together and remove the center bolt. Take off the bottom two spring leaves (the shortest two. Flip over the second leaf from the bottom so it arches in the wrong direction. Put the bottom leaf in place and put the long stud through the leaves and tighten them up. The reversed leaf will lift the other ones. Cut off any excess stud sticking out the bottom.

This might work and won't cost you much.

 

[bnickel]

dunno if its going to be to high for you or not, but you could put the rear end UNDER the springs and put the u bolts in from the bottom .

hmmm a spring over on a mustang, that would be interesting. talk about looking like a stink bug!!!!! this was actually popular during the 70's and is still popular with jeep guys as the spring over conversion will get you about a 4-6" lift, too much for a mustang.

 

[MustangMatt1966]

how old are the current leaf springs...i just replaced my original leaf springs with stock new ones and it raised the rear a substantial amount....much better now:SNSign:

 

[Az Pete]

I found a set of rear springs from JC Whitney that gave a 4-5 inch lift. Came out just how I wanted it after I built the proper length shackles since I only had real long ones from the po.

 

[ONEBADPNY]

the leaf are new stock replacements just put in.

 

[Pbum5]

Have you thought about lowering the front to balance out the rear?

 

[ONEBADPNY]

yes the front has lowering spring already. i was thinking about a shelby drop in the front too. but don't know how to do the drop for sure.

 

[Pbum5]

yes the front has lowering spring already. i was thinking about a shelby drop in the front too. but don't know how to do the drop for sure.

Maybe a picture of the side of your car would help.
That would give a better idea how your car sits.

 

[CarlF250]

I know this is an older thread, but I am kind of in the same boat as ONEBADPNY was. The rear seems slightly lower than the front. I have new coil springs. I don't remember if they were the GT springs or the 600# springs. I cut about 1/4 of a coil off of each one. The rear springs are the original leafs.

So should I go with stock rear springs or are there higher rear springs that I can buy? I don't mind if it sits a little higher in the back. By the way, the front tires in the pics are too wide. They rub slightly on full turn. All of the tires are 225/60R15. So I am going to get 205/60R15s for the front.

 

[dodgestang]

That is stock stance for a mustang. The rear was designed to be a little lower than the front. Lower the front if you don't like it, raising the rear is not the correct choice IMHO

 

[68EFIvert]

+1, cut a little more off the front coils. Go another 1/4 and then drive it around a little. If you want more then take another 1/4 coil. I wouldn't go past 1 full coil cut though.

 

[CarlF250]

Thanks guys. I should probably replace the 40 year old leafs anyway right?