1952-59 Ford Aerostar Coil Springs and bumpstops?

You fellas that are running the Aerostar Coil Springs.... did you have to cut your rubber bumpers on either the upper or lower control arm? I have new ones to install up top (the old ones were missing) and the bump stops on the lower control arms are in good shape. Any opinions?
1955 Ford Club Sedan, 292 Y block

 

There was no reason to cut them on my car. I replaced both since they were in my rebuild kit. I replaced all the bushings along with the springs.

 

someone posted he cut lowers down to half because he didn't have enough travel
install w/out cutting and check clearance from there, that's what I'm doing

 

I cut my lower ones in half to have more travel.

 

Upon initial install you will be okay without cutting the lowers but as the springs settle you will need to cut them for more travel. Save yourself the trouble and cut them now.

 

cut them, i used the springs in my 55 and it was right against them. so i cut them in half. i installed new upper control arm bushings in mine because they were worn out. could still use more travel room.the spring rate is a little soft for the weight of the car.

 

Originally I had lowering spacer bars below the A arms but with the Aerostars there was no travel. It was on the bumpers. I took the spacers out and only have about an inch of travel.

 

Maybe I should trim my lower bumpers to get some more suspension travel. It rides a little rough.

 

Wow, a picture is worth a thousand words. That is the first negative post I have seen about the aerostar coils from the 49-59 group. What year do you have and what engine are you running? The coils were new when installed right?
EDIT: I finally noticed your thread about painting your car. You have a 56 Victoria running a small block chevy. I am surprised by how little clearance you have though. How much lower did your car sit after switching to Aerostar coils?

 

For everyone else looking at this thread... is anyone using a bonafide air shock that you could actually raise/lower the height a little? Wonder how that would work and brand/part number advice?

 

Sorry Daniel, cant help. I've got the kyb shocks and the aerostar coils on my buying wish list but i've been budget short with other repairs. But does this mean that cutting the bump rubber is mandatory for anyone instaling the aerostar coils? I also had never read any negative stuff on this matter.

 

Now I have to go out and look at the coils under my '59... I used the same springs.

 

Most guys that have done this swap have reported much better ride characteristics, but a large majority of them are telling me to cut the lower bumpstop, which I did.

 

Everything up front will be otherwise new and the engine is stock, etc SO I SHOULD get a good idea of how this swap all plays out when it gets on the road and all. I will save all part numbers and what have you.

 

Mine rides really well overall and I have plenty of suspension travel with the bumpers cut in half. I can only think of maybe one time that I have bottomed the car out noticeably and that was with 5 people (1 adult and 4 kids) and lots of luggage in it on a fairly good bump. I am not exactly sure how much mine went down, but suspect it was probably 2" to 2-1/2" with the Aerostar springs.

 

The coils are quite a bit shorter. I was surprised.
Initially I had spacer bars, but they left no travel.

The car dropped an inch or so. It has aluminum heads and intake on the engine, so it is probably lighter than a Y block car. I like the look, but it isn't severe looking. At the track there was no lift and weight transfer, so they aren't a drag racing feature. In hind sight, dropped spindles may have been a better option. I'm not sure if they are available for these Ford years.
Pete

 

That is the exact same set of coils I just put into the front suspension.
Obviously the photo above is with the spacer installed. When you removed it, how much room did you gain between the lower bumper and the frame?

 

The first photo up above is without the spacer. So it went from no space and compressed in the lower photo to less than an inch with the spacer removed as you can see from the photos. Its ok cruising on smooth roads, but you feal any potholes. I don't think I've had more than two people in the car and only my ownership/insurance in the glove box.

 

I don't think my '59 is quite that low, I'll have to go out later and snap a picture of it.

 

I still don't see any reason to cut the bump stops, I guess time will tell.

 

I cut mine in half

Ian

 

Out of curiosity how many of you with Aerostar coils just used your 60+ year old rubber spring isolators? You can use these:http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/Energy-Suspension-Coil-Spring-Isolators.asp

 

I used mine at least for now until I get around to going through and rebuilding the front end.

 

Another thing I have noticed when a car is lowered the sway bar end links get tilted because they are no longer the correct length,EZ and cheap fix: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/Energy-Suspension-Universal-Sway-Bar-End-Links.asp might has well improve the handling further with these too:http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/Universal-Sway-Bar-Bushings.asp I like that these are also greaseable,the car will corner better with these instead of rubber.

 

I got new isolators and fancy sway bar links when I put it back together, those were made out of polyurethane. Anyway, the bushings are blue and look ***y as hell.

 

My car had cut coils when I acquired it, I added Granada disc brakes which dropped it another couple inches.
just installed Aerostar coils and new shocks and WOW!! what a difference in ride quality! The car came up a bit in front, but sits pretty level ( STILL A BIT LOWER IN THE FRONT)with 3" blocks in the rear (original leaf springs) now running 215/70/15 coker WW tires all around on later model 6" ford rims. No rub or banging on the bumps

 

Cutting coils out of already shot springs never works out too well. My car sits fairly level with no engine, but I've seen other '59 pix with the Aerostar springs and the rake was in the ball park.

 

Raybestos? I've got a set of them with pretty blue bushings. Still havent installed.
Quite a tutorial here.

 

I got them from NAPA, forget who made them, but not Raybestos.

 

Well I stand corrected, I set my car on the ground and the bottom bump stop is too close. I'll be cutting mine off. I didn't realize the car would settle more than it had already while on the jacks.