Hello all, New guy to the group here. I have a 54 Country Sedan wagon with a 390/c6. I have Lincoln Versaille front spindles with 1coil cut on stock springs. I am looking at changing to the aerostar coils, but am wondering if anyone that has done this swap did any before and after measurements. I like where the car sits now. I don't want to change if it would significantly change the ride height. thanks Lee
welcome to the group, great buch of guys here with lots of info and knowledge. i got torino spindles on mine with the aerostar springs. and several here have done the swap. but going from cut factory coils to aerostars? humm. might be a little lower that where your at now not sure. might be the same. i got about 2 1/2 inchs when i dun mine. and love the way it rides and drives. right now mine is sitting just resting against the snubbers. im going to trim them about an inch . i got some drop about an inch maybe 1 1/2 with just the spindles. the ride is worth the swap.
Lee welcome to the group ! It's nice to see someone with an Fe ad C6 set up . The 390 was a under rated engine for some reason because there is so much you can do with them plus that aren't the heavy boat anchors with the 385's are . I like the torque that the BB brings and the BB sound you can only get from one . Can you tell me some more about what you are doing to the 390 ? I have a 302 I want to build for my 50 Ford and I am curious on how well you can get parts for them now since everyone want a 429/460 id they go to a BB. Thing is the 385's are so much heavier then the Fe . What pistons , cam specs , intake and valve sizes do you have in your 390 ? I have been seeing some very nice 2x4 intakes popping up on C/L here lately and I wondering if people have given up on the Fe engine for some reason or what . I am looking at a decent 351c and I always liked them for their good torque but haven't heard back from the from yet . Also how well did your Fe fit into your car ? The Fe should have dropped in fairly well since I have seen so many on the 1953 to the 1960,s cars . Last , got any pictures of your car yet ? Once again welcome to the group ! It's really a great bunch of people here that are one big family of knowledge as well ! Plus we do all have a good time about stupid things as well . Make sure you do a search for the Group Map search so we can find out where you live ! You just might have a group member down the road from you ! Jim
Thanks for the welcome guys In answer to your question Jim, My 390 is a stock one out of a 1970 wagon. It had been rebuit at a Ford dealer, by the previous owner to the buddy I got it from. It was an old mans car and he died shortly after, so the motor only had about 20k miles on it. so for $200 I bought the whole car and used the motor and ****** to replace the 351W/tired fmx ****** that was in the 54. I left the 2:79 rear gears and it works just great for around town and gives me the extra grunt I wanted for towing the trailer on vacations. It was fairly simple to put in. I used the stock Y-block mounts with a 1/4 inch shim to raise it up a little for better exhaust clearance. I also used the left manifold from a 1963 t-bird for steering box clearance. I also had to modify the ****** mount to accomodate the longer ******, but that was no big deal. The 390 was originally a 2bbl, so I chnged to a Edelbrock manifold and 4bbl carb. It runs great, and the mileage is about the same as it was with the 351w, but with LOTS more grunt. Ya gotta love a big block. I will post a picture as soon as I figure out how to do that. Actually I posted a couple of pics when I first joined the forum way back in Mar 2007. Haven't figured out if I can move them over to here. Lee
I switched to Areostar coils on my 53 4door back in March It had cut coils on it and I think the front might have come up an inch. I do know that it has 6 inches of clearance at the rocker panels front and rear. The car rides and handles so much better that I will NEVER! switch back to cut coils!
Le , sounds like you got a hell of a great deal . The 390's did have some good low end torque as I remember . the heads was the big difference . Open them up and breathe better and run a small 4 bbl on that engine the the low end torque was great . Now people ask why a small carb on a BB , that's because you get enough fuel to make her run very strong but no top end . So for pulling it was great . I would mind having one because you can usually by the cheap because everyone wants the 427 , Well that's also an easy cure but them the cost starts going up . If I could find one at a good price I would just do a normal rebuild and sick in a good RV / torque cam . That would give me more pulling power and better gas mileage if you don't beat it to death . I have read a few things on cams here lately due to the price of fuel going thru the roof . I am looking at a Comp 260 cam with gives a smooth idle with a 110 separation and lift is like .450 so it will give you more torque and actually better gas mileage due to the torque . I will build mine with what I have and so if it gets too bad then I can do a cam swap which is not a big problem at all . Fords are easy to be honest . Anyway glad to hear about your builds and if you are looking for something , please let us know . I will ship to Canada . Have done that many time before and I also know about the "declared price" BS as well ! So if you find something down here you need let me know and I will ship it for you . I am sure glad to hear you put a Ford in a Ford ! Jim
Welcome aboard! Very cool looking longroof! I did the Aerostar swap in May and could not be happier. I was running the stock springs and ended up getting about a 3 inch drop. I can tell you the there was an amazing difference in how the car handles. You can get these brand new from any parts store for around 70 bux. I will continue to recommend this treatment to everyone who is thinking about it.
Lee, welcome. Your grill looks like 54 Chevy teeth. Did you use the stock bar to put those on? If not what did you use. That grill looks sharp and just the look I want for my 54 Vicky.
the center bar of the grill is 54 chev welded to the ford bar under the outside teeth. The interesting thing is that the bars have exactly the same contour, so no bending was required. I only had to bend the underside of the ford bar to transition from the park lamp housing to the chev bar. I did not like the look of the chev park lamps, and this way you don't have to mess with the fender to get the wrap around piece to fit.
Thats a really nice looking longroof. the grill treatment and the wheels n tyres (yup - I spelt it wrong! - Kiwi) give it a period look . I like it ... a lot .
So I finished putting the aerostar coils in yesterday, and I took it for a short spin today, since the sun is finally making an appearance. The Aerostar coils raised the front end about 3/4" over where it was with the cut stock coils. By the time it settles a bit, it should be about where it was. ride is certainly better, and I did not hit the snubbers on the old familiar neighbourhood bump. ALL IS GOOD.
Can't beat the price for the Aerostar coils at 1/3 the price of Jamco's to get the same results,you can find some fun goodies with that $120 you saved.
Just finished installing mine as well. Love them! This car rides better than my 2004 dodge. It just might become my new daily driver.
2cdans- I'll bet your car will setlle about an inch when all is said and done. Isn't it amazing how such a simple swap changes the handling so drastically? Its unreal!
Can't go wrong with the Aerostar swap, did it, love it. Not trying to highjack the thread, but, I was wondering if anyone here has cut an aerostar coil to get a wee bit lower? I was thinking maybe half a coil or maybe one coil at the most. I'm just curious, gonna install my new KYB gas shocks and figured i could kill two birds with one huge rock.
Jasone I suspect that if you cut even half a coil on an aerostar spring it would be too much. I have just over an inch of travel before my sectioned snubbers are hitting the frame. so with a coil or even a half a coil, I would think you would be bottoming too easily, but then again I could be wrong.
i think the same. then you would be make mods to the frame like dollcustom done for suspension travel.
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