Hey everyone, I'm working on lowering my 54 2dr hardtop alot more and i'm starting in the front. For starters I removed the front coils completely to see how low it is & to decide on what needs to be removed or m***aged so i can get this thing to actually lay on the ground. (BTW this car will have airbags) Well to my surprise the upper balljoints seem to be the problem & have run out of travel & seems to be the only thing that is letting it go down more. I have approx 1" between the bottom of the frame & the top of the lower a-arm. The strange thing is i put a 205/75/15 bias ply tire on the front and it looks like its at stock height even with the coils out...... so i guess my question is "How are you getting you're Fords low enough?"
Do you mean radial tire? Bias ply isn't read like that. A big *** c-notch in the rear, and a MII suspension with bags in the front should be the way to fly.
Cut the lower spring buckest off the A arm and bolt in one or 1 1/4 inch square tube and bolt it all back together. The slightly modified 54 thru 56 front end is far superior to the best MII set up.
Ole don is right on that,there are pictures in the archives here of this mod being done,maybe someone will find the link for you.
Its absolutely superior in terms of longevity, yes, but in terms of low, hardly. You'd need to relocate the front shocks in order to bag the front. Which isn't the end of the world, but looks pretty ugly if you ask me. The ball joints, if I remember correctly, get into a sweet little bind when you lower them severely too. A arm spacers need to be solid stock, aluminum is fine for that. He wants the car to lay frame. Spacing the spring pocket isn't a big deal, just knock the rivits out of the lower spring cup, then put your piece of one, to one and one half inch, solid stock in there, use grade 8 hardware with lock nuts to put it all back together. Lock***e probably isn't a bad idea, and when I go through my suspension, I'll probably use some, but lock nuts have seemed to work fine for the past five years. But for a bag set up, you don't really need to do this
doll kustom has the lowest i can remember. she had an article on hers awhile back.heres her pics folder. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=15469
my bad on the tire size, i think that would convert over to a 670-15 in a bias but i'm not convinced its the right tire though, it might be too tall for look i'm going for. I should of mentioned before but my front has 1-1/4 aluminum blocks between the a-arm and coil plate already & 2" lowering blocks in back. Even with no coils it looks to be stockish height in front. Thanks for the link of "Doll Kustom" - I'd say my front is close to the way her car is & i'm was plannin on going alot lower but we'll see. And airbagit.com is a great site for sure! Thanks for the help guys, I'll post some pics of this thing when i get it figured out.
How is the ride? sitting in the back seat with two kids back there? Before cutting the front springs I wold try 3" or 2" blocks, I think the front looks good but it all depends on the ride. Gerry
I just got back from looking at it (Crazy's 54). I think we can cut 1" off of the outside of the frame by the spring pocket, basically notch for the lower a arm, plate the bottom back in, put in a 2600 series bag & do a pie cut on the upper a arm to change the angle of the top ball joint and then trim the inter wheel panels to clear and we will have it...now does any one know if Ganada spindles are dropped more than the 54 Ford's are? Also I've heard about some Cavalier rack & pinion (rear steer) will work in these cars, Can anyone confirm that for sure and give me a year or part number?
The back looks like we'll able to do a leaf link bag setup (never done one before, they may not be for s...), & maybe not have to notch the frame to start with, see how it rides & go from there. Probably going to have to raise the back of the driveshalf tunnel.... We are going to Salina to arm ourselves with a lot of measurments & info!!Can't wait!!!!
You'll totally have to raise the driveshaft tunnel, that wasn't ford's best idea. The granada spindles are a 1" drop I think? And they net you disc brakes. Will you just be relocating the shock to the outside of the control arms? That has always been my question with the front suspension when running backs, where do you put the shocks that looks good and safe?
The r&p conversion looks good! I want to know what rack they use, Cavalier?...What years are Granadas you get the spindles from? Can we just cut the Granada ball joint mounts off of the Granada a arms & tig weld them to the 54 arms? or do you use the whole Granada arm in place of the upper 54?...We'll put a shock right behind the control arms, mounted off the bottom one & to the top of the frame, with the same arc as the lower a arm....Crazy L is working on the front floor rust issue as I type this.... We are hoping to get this car crazy low!!!!(not s****e frame low, but close!)
Yes, use a Cavelier R&P. You can make brackets yourself to mount it. Easy mod. The only thing is that you will need a double U joint for the steering linkage. Of course you need a different column now too. I used a Chev van, cuz it's short and had tilt. The Granada/Monarch spindles were the same for all years. You use the spindle only, and you will need to modify the bottom hole with a 7 degree reamer to match the lower balljoint. Everything else falls in place.
After laying under the car last night noticing the super shallow driveshaft tunnel & realizing that the entire tunnel would have to be raised I thought about pushing the car off the jack stands while i was under it but i figured i'll keep after it and see how this project turns out lol Anyone know what year the Cavalier rack they are using? I'm ***uming these were all power'd has anyone not used ran them powered? (aka turn it into a manual rack) BTW, i have a few "beginning" pics of my car in my album if interested
I am sure this has been answered before in this group, but how much will the front drop vs. the thickness of the spacers you put in. I only need about an inch in the front of my 56 and was trying to decide how thick the spacers needed to be. Just trying to finish it all before Salina in less than a week...
guthriesmith - I ***ume you are talking about the front A-arm "springpans"? The system uses leverage - from the inside pivot, the distance out to the wheel patch on the pavement is basically twice the distance to the center of the spring. So moving the spring an inch "down" with the pan spacer (or reducing its loaded height by cutting coils) - will move the wheel patch "up" (relative to the fenderwell lip) about two inches. It makes the bump stops get closer together and you lose wheel travel upward - unless you do some surgery on the bumpstops. Using the later spindles (Granada etc.) will lower the vehicle (raise the wheel up) without changing the distance to the bumpstops. The spindle is mounted "higher" on the knuckle upright than the drum brake was - by about an inch.
Hi, I have a set of 1970 mustang spindles, clean and painted and machined for either 1 1/2" or 2 1/2" drop if interested. Spindles are the same as granada design. daverace@sbcglobal.net
Raising the driveshaft tunnel is a pain in the ***!!! I had to raise mine 8" in the rear and 6 in the front after lowering severely and recommend avoiding this if you can. Late model cars have a two piece driveshaft that can be used with a centre bearing that would help although I hear it can wear quickly with the increased movement of airbags. For every 1" lower, there's an extra 10 hours work modifying and clearancing i've found from experience, but well worth it Good luck with the build.
The Jalopy Journal
