safe to go lower?

19mustang65 · Apr 8, 2005

i started a thread like this before the crash and lost everything that was in it so im starting it again....

i have a shelby drop and 1 " drop 620 coils on the front of my 65 coupe. i have quite a bit of wheel well space that i dont like seeing. would it be ok to cut half a coil off and not loose to much handeling or any at all? or would that be to low for the suspension to work properly?

bnickel · Apr 9, 2005

19mustang65 said:
i started a thread like this before the crash and lost everything that was in it so im starting it again....

i have a shelby drop and 1 " drop 620 coils on the front of my 65 coupe. i have quite a bit of wheel well space that i dont like seeing. would it be ok to cut half a coil off and not loose to much handeling or any at all? or would that be to low for the suspension to work properly?

i would start with a 1/4 coil and see if that gets it where you want it. get under the front of the car and see how close the lower control arms are to being parallel with the ground, you want them pretty much parallel to the ground for best handling or slightly higher at the inner mount, if the are lower at the inner mount you went too far and it will effect the handling and braking of the car adversely.

blue66tang · Apr 9, 2005

I cut one full coil off of mine. I didnt do the shelby drop though.

19mustang65 · Apr 9, 2005

bnickel said:
i would start with a 1/4 coil and see if that gets it where you want it. get under the front of the car and see how close the lower control arms are to being parallel with the ground, you want them pretty much parallel to the ground for best handling or slightly higher at the inner mount, if the are lower at the inner mount you went too far and it will effect the handling and braking of the car adversely.

ill have the check out what the angle is right now and go from there i guess. 1/4 coil would lower about 1/2-3/4 i take it?

geostang351 · Apr 9, 2005

The shelby drop of 1" does NOT drop the car one inch. So at this point you are only 1" down with the coils. Go 1/4" cut at a time

19mustang65 · Apr 10, 2005

does anybody have any pics of their stangs or any stangs that have the shelby relocation, 1" drop springs AND coils cut?

dodgestang · Apr 10, 2005

Couple questions:
1. What size tires are you running on the car.
2. What kind off exhaust do you have on the car.
3. What kind of oil pan?

I have 620 drops with the shelby mod front and 5 leaf mid eyes rear and it is pretty low to the tires in the front and I managed to get a little slight rake to it in the rear (I do have a little more weight on mine in the front than you). I have long tube headers and they have touch ground on a few occasions. I also have a 9 quart oil pan and if I went any lower I would be really worried about it.

65fastback2+2 · Apr 10, 2005

geostang351 said:
The shelby drop of 1" does NOT drop the car one inch. So at this point you are only 1" down with the coils. Go 1/4" cut at a time

people always say that, but ive got a shelby drop and 1" drop coils, and the frame drags on small speed bumps, so i would think my car is dropped more than 2" from this combination

19mustang65 · Apr 10, 2005

dodgestang said:
Couple questions:
1. What size tires are you running on the car.
2. What kind off exhaust do you have on the car.
3. What kind of oil pan?

my tires and wheels are smaller than yours..front is 185/70 14 and rear 205/70 14
i have lock tube headers which do scrape on speed bumps when there are more than 2 peps in car.
the oil pan is stock size, whatever size that is.
i have the same setup as you on front and rear suspension. i know its alot in the tires but chances are im gonna have these tires and wheels for a while cuz of the cost of new ones.

65fastback2+2 · Apr 10, 2005

19mustang65 said:
my tires and wheels are smaller than yours..front is 185/70 14 and rear 205/70 14
i have lock tube headers which do scrape on speed bumps when there are more than 2 peps in car.
the oil pan is stock size, whatever size that is.
i have the same setup as you on front and rear suspension. i know its alot in the tires but chances are im gonna have these tires and wheels for a while cuz of the cost of new ones.

i wouldnt go lower then, you will hate it scraping on everthing

Pbum5 · Apr 10, 2005

dodgestang said:
Couple questions:
1. What size tires are you running on the car.
2. What kind off exhaust do you have on the car.
3. What kind of oil pan?

I have 620 drops with the shelby mod front and 5 leaf mid eyes rear and it is pretty low to the tires in the front and I managed to get a little slight rake to it in the rear (I do have a little more weight on mine in the front than you). I have long tube headers and they have touch ground on a few occasions. I also have a 9 quart oil pan and if I went any lower I would be really worried about it.

Looks Good!
Where are the Eyes on your 5 leafs? Mid or Reverse? Where did you buy your 5leafs?

geostang351 · Apr 10, 2005

65fast: think about it. When you did the shelby drop, how far did the spindle drop? None. It remains. It just changes the geometry

blue66tang · Apr 10, 2005

It still lowers the car a little bit. The spindal is a hinge point, and the shock tower is another hindge point. In the middle of the A arm the spring has its own hinge point. If you lower the shock tower hinge point, it will lower the spring hinge piont, but not as much. I would guess you get about 1/2 drop from the shelby location.

65fastback2+2 · Apr 10, 2005

geostang351 said:
65fast: think about it. When you did the shelby drop, how far did the spindle drop? None. It remains. It just changes the geometry

it changed......stock has the stock coil pushing on the coil spring saddle which is connected to the upper control arm. you have a long spring and the upper control arm is close to the top of the car, this gives the upper control arm alot less room to move up before it puts normal pressure on the coil and shock. when the upper control arm goes up, the spindle moves up and the car sits lower. if you move the upper control arm down 1" and put a shorter 620 pound coil on it, the upper control arm has ALOT of room to move before putting normal pressure on the coil and shock. Infact, most people with the 620 pound coils and shelby drop can just jack their car all the way up and remove/install the springs without using a spring compressor. It changes it ALOT in effect when you have the two combined.

as i said, the front sway bar almost ALWAYS drags on any bump or slight pot hole, and the frame dargs on even small speed bumps......Picture of lowered

19mustang65 · Apr 10, 2005

i was looking at my lower control arm to see how level it was to the ground. i also looked at a gt350 last night to see how the arm sat..it was flat. here is a pic of mine

dodgestang · Apr 10, 2005

Pbum5 said:
Looks Good!
Where are the Eyes on your 5 leafs? Mid or Reverse? Where did you buy your 5leafs?

Mids & Mustang Plus.

I would not recomend going any lower if you drag on occasion already, if you are concerned about tire/fender gap, put the right outer diameter set on the car first, then you think about lowering it a little more get the gaps just where you want them.

Shelby drop while lowering the upper control arm 1 inch for geometry reasons nets as a side effect about 1/2 inch drop because the physical distance between the spring seats has increased also.

ForceFed70 · Apr 11, 2005

65fastback2+2 said:
people always say that, but ive got a shelby drop and 1" drop coils, and the frame drags on small speed bumps, so i would think my car is dropped more than 2" from this combination

From looking at the pictures.. I'd say that your car is dropped at least 2", if not slightly more.

However, the shelby drop does indeed only drop the car about 1/2". I don't know why your car is so low, but I would guess your springs are the culprit... Could they have given you springs for a 6cyln or something?

65fastback2+2 · Apr 11, 2005

70_Nitrous_Eater said:
From looking at the pictures.. I'd say that your car is dropped at least 2", if not slightly more.

However, the shelby drop does indeed only drop the car about 1/2". I don't know why your car is so low, but I would guess your springs are the culprit... Could they have given you springs for a 6cyln or something?

i dunno, but i love how it sits so im not complaining....all the guys love how it sits, one buddy rode with me last night, he has 12" of overall lift on his FX4 and he goes "wow, im not used to riding on the ground"

19mustang65 · Apr 11, 2005

i measured my height today...the front(subframe under front of door) and it was 6 1/2 inches. the back(subframe in front of leaf eye) and it was 8" or so.

ron67fb · Apr 12, 2005

19mustang65 said:
i was looking at my lower control arm to see how level it was to the ground. i also looked at a gt350 last night to see how the arm sat..it was flat. here is a pic of mine

Cripes man, with headers hanging that low I wouldn't lower it that much more. When I had full length headers and stock height it dragged on just about everything. Now I have shorties and nothing drags unless I enter a steep driveway at an angle.

Plus you were asking, so here it is. 620lb spings + shelby drop + 1 full coil cut, although it obviously isn't a 65. You also have to account how your tires may or may not clear when lowered that much.

safe to go lower?

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