Rear Leaf Springs on a 70 Mustang?

wickedmach1

New Member
Apr 8, 2003
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Austin, TX
I installed Mustang's Plus 4 1/2 standard eye rear leaf springs on my 70 Mach with Koni shocks. The car sits way too high in the rear and is as stiff as a board. The shocks are almost fully extended and your push on the rear end and there is no bounce. I mean the car does not budge. I understand you need firm springs for performance, but I am afraid I wll bounce all over the road. I have the Koni's set to medium. I am thinking about going to a mid or reverse eye 4 leaf. All parts are installed on the car except for the rear glass and I don't think that will make a difference. The leafs I have now are rated at 175 lbs. The stock rating was 138 lbs. The 4 leaf springs are rated at 175 lbs. I am not sure if they will help. Anyone using what I have described? How does it run on the road? Any recommendations?
 
Well, the height you have now is probably stock height: the old springs were probably sagging badly. The stiffness will lighten up a bit with some driving, it takes some getting used to. Those koni's are pretty stiff and that doesn't help much either I'm sure.

You're not going to bounce all over the road, trust me. the stiffness will be a bit awkward but it'll be fine. Play with the Koni's adjustments and get it to a setting where you feel the most control and comfort balance.

As far as ride height, look at a mid-eye for a 1 to 1 1/2 inch drop. Reverse eye will give you a 1.5 to 2 inch drop. Balance this out with your front end's height, but remember, the springs will settle a little bit.
 
On mine I went with the 5 leaf mideyes, dropped the rear about an inch or so. That and some KYBs were plenty for me. It's stiff enough that I can sometimes feel the car try to swing it's tail out over the differential on tight turns at speed (though a panhard rod would fix that). Mine doesn't have hardly any give either, I went with the KYBS cause of their price and good performance per $.

The Swede
 
Swede958 said:
On mine I went with the 5 leaf mideyes, dropped the rear about an inch or so. That and some KYBs were plenty for me. It's stiff enough that I can sometimes feel the car try to swing it's tail out over the differential on tight turns at speed (though a panhard rod would fix that). Mine doesn't have hardly any give either, I went with the KYBS cause of their price and good performance per $.

The Swede

same setup here.