Folks of the HAMB; Have any of you put lowering springs on your 59 Olds/Buick/Caddy? Keep in mind, Chevy guys - your chassis and suspension are different, noth'n personal, just different. I have a place that will make me springs with the rate increase I want (20%) and with the drop I ask for - the question is Should I get 2", 3" or 4" drop in the springs? Anybody done this? I wonder how much drop spring before I get into trouble with stuff hitting or rubbing or?? 2" is safe, but I am wanting to do 3" and I am wondering if 4" is too much in the spring - I would doubt anybody makes spindles that are dropped for these cars. Any Ideas? I will post pics of the subject Olds tomorrow once I am on my other computer
Sounds like you want new coil springs. But if you cut the springs, by reducing the number of coils it will become stiffer at the same time it becomes shorter. If your stock spring has for example 10 coils, and you cut 1 full coil, the stiffness will increase approx 10%. Look at your stock suspension with normal weight on the front. Figureo utthe spacing between coils, and the distances from the lower arm pivot to the center of spring and then pivot to ball joint. That ratio will let you figure out how much to cut the coils. For example, if the spring is 50% of the distance, and the coil spacing is 1.5 inches, cutting one coil will drop the front about 3 inches total. I believe i saw that someone, like Fat Man or maybe it was McGaughy's that is making dropped spindles for the 59-60 non-Chevy cars? Anyone confirm this?
FAtman has spindles for Buick up to 56'....not sure if that helps much. http://www.fatmanfab.com/ifstrick.php they could probably make whatever you want.
Yeah....just cut the stockers until it sits where you want. If it rides bad, order new springs with less drop. If it rides decent, roll it!
Thanks, Ya'All... Looks like it will be an excursion into cutting my springs first - I hope to post about this as I begin to do it. I have done this before on the 61 chevy wagon, thie Big Olds, Buick Caddys are a bit different than the chevys. Thanks again.
If the A-arm on the front is a 2 piece unit like on my 59 buick . Cut the rivets and you can take a piece of 1" square tube and put between the a-arm and the spring pocket plate. I can't tell you why but a 1" spacer will drop the car 2". I think it has to do with the geometry and travel of the angle. So basically you are dropping the shock pocket. On the back of my buick I removed the stock spring and took one to the wrecking yard with me. They had a rack of springs. I picked a set 6" shorter with the pigtail in the correct postion. It worked great. I have $20.00 invested. Car looks alot better also. TP
1st off nice olds. Best year made. When I had mine I was looking at the 59 pontiac aftermarket stuff drop spindels and disk brakes but never Knew if the would work. Good luck and if you find a 59 for sale pm me LOL Thanks
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