Shelby drop and Springs?!

NoVaEaTeR · Jan 28, 2007

ok i know theres about thirty threads on the shelby drop but heres another. OK i have done the 1" shelby drop and i am going to put 1" lowering springs in too(might even cut them a little too to get the right stance). What i want to know is this going to reach the ball joint limit? i know that the shelby drop by it's self doesnt, but does it with the springs with 1"-2" of drop? if i have to do an "opentracker" upper cont arm mod im fine with that. Also on top of that has anyone with a 67-68 done a shelby drop and lowering springs and were able to reach the recommended -.5* of camber?

Thanks
NE
mcchord afb, WA

mfp4073 · Jan 28, 2007

did both....realize that a 1 inch "shelby drop" is a change on the mount, but the net result to the stance is actually about 1/4 inch. So with both you will have a net of 1 1/4 inch drop. In my case the springs were already worn and had already dropped the car some so I did not even get a full 1 inch total drop out of it and was able to align the car to the shelby spec (I actually did a little extra dialing in on it for the handling I was looking for)

2bav8 · Jan 28, 2007

Your upper control arm will hit the bump stop (assuming you still have one in good shape after 40 years) before ball joint bind will occur with a 1" drop of the upper control arms. So, with a bump stop in good shape you will not have any issues using a lowering spring.

69 Rustang · Jan 28, 2007

I had this question too about doing both the springs and the Shelby 1" control arm relo, but am surprised to hear that the Shelby drop of 1" does not give 1" of measured ride height drop. Anyone else want to weigh in to confirm this?

2bav8 · Jan 28, 2007

You have heard correctly...
Lowering your upper control arms 1" on the shock towers will NOT result in a 1" lower ride height. I noticed at most a 1/4" drop in ride height.

rc4mike · Jan 28, 2007

i just did the shelby drop and noticed maybe 1/4" overall drop. I also installed 1" lowering 620 coils on the car BEFORE the shelby mod. Still need another 1/2" so i guess cutting the coil is the way to go from here.

mike

red302 · Jan 28, 2007

I just finished doing the shelby drop along with 560# 1" lowering springs on my
'68. Since evidently, my stock springs were sagging, it lowered the car about 3/4". I was surprised, as the new springs were over 3 inches shorter that the stock ones when I stood them side by side on the workbench. Didn't even need to use the spring compressor to put the new ones in, just a prybar wrapped with a rag, so it wouldn't scratch anything up. I haven't had the car aligned yet, but after eyeballing it close and seeing the adjustability that's left, I don't see a problem with getting it in spec.

Ogre · Jan 28, 2007

So, if the Shelby drop only nets a 1/4" drop, is it worth doing? I was thinking of just cutting a half coil of my old springs to drop it a little. Sounds like cutting the coils would be the easiest way to go..... 1/4" isn't worth anyone's time....

NoVaEaTeR · Jan 28, 2007

its worth the time and cost 100 fold! it lets set your camber to a little on the negative side which is what you want. oh and it drops your car an average of 1/4".

so i went ahead and lowered the UCA 1 inch and cut my spring one whole coil. my net drop was 1.25" and 2 fingers of clearance from the tire and fender. the passengers side is still stock. a big difference and it has about 3 fingers of clearance between the tire and fender. i like the drop on the drivers side but i might go a little lower, maybe .5"-1" but ill take it out and drive it awile and see if it rubs and its current height.

Ogre · Jan 29, 2007

So there are more benefits than just lowering 1/4". Guess I will do the drop when I do the Granada disk brake/spindle swap. Thanks for the reply NoVaEaTeR.

LMan · Jan 29, 2007

The purpose of the Shelby mod is not to lower the tire height....its to change the camber curve (for the better). The 1/4" drop in ride height is just a consequence of the mod.

If you only wanted to lower the front, you could just cut your coils and be done with it.

AdamInChains · Jan 29, 2007

Mine is a 65 but i put the 620 lowering springs in the front and i'm also planning on doing the shelby drop. Yesterday I just purchased a negative wedge kit for it so i think that should help.

Tubo(2-bo) · Jan 31, 2007

AdamInChains said:
Mine is a 65 but i put the 620 lowering springs in the front and i'm also planning on doing the shelby drop. Yesterday I just purchased a negative wedge kit for it so i think that should help.

The negative wedge kit is for a drop of 1 5/8 or so, not the 1" "Shelby" drop. You'll be creating a problem, not fixing one.

2bav8 · Feb 1, 2007

IMO, the negative wedge kit is a pure waste of money.
There are much better ways to improve the handling of your classic Mustang with that money...

LMan · Feb 1, 2007

AdamInChains said:
Mine is a 65 but i put the 620 lowering springs in the front and i'm also planning on doing the shelby drop. Yesterday I just purchased a negative wedge kit for it so i think that should help.

Sell the wedge kit, you dont need it for a 1" drop.

67 Evil Eleanor · Feb 1, 2007

bnickel · Feb 1, 2007

IMO, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the wedge kit but if you can weld there are cheaper ways to accomplish the same thing. to get the same geometry as the wedge kit you either have to but Global West UCA's, Opentracker UCA's or cut and weld your original UCA's yourself and unless you can weld really good the wedge kit is the cheapest option. so take it for what it is, when they came out there really weren't many options

Shelby drop and Springs?!

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