Recently purchased a 65 Comet Cyclone that was partially restored. It is setting one inch low on the drivers side rear. I have replaced rear shocks, rear leaf springs, front coil springs, spring seats, and front shocks. It now sits two inches taller and rides great but it still sags one inch on the drivers side rear. The car has no frame and the body shows no signs of twisting or bending. All the body parts and seams appear straight. Am I missing something? Is a trip to the frame (body) alignment shop the next step? Your suggestions are appreciated.
I would look at my spring pkckets and perches. it is a unibody and something is either rusting away or tweaked. Pay special atention to the drivers gloos where the stock frame bracing is (behind the rocker panels). Drive it over here if you need a second set of eyes. We can discuss remedies for whatever is ailing it and I cost less than the frame shop.
I'd start looking for anything that might have been changed and not match side to side. That could be a bolt on spring pocket/mount with a different height location for the bolt that holds the spring, one corner may have been bent up or down in a previous accident, Mismatched shackles or mismatched pieces on the front. A lot of the suspension pieces on The Falcon, Mustang and early Fairlanes and Comets interchanged and bolted right on but there may be slight differences in some of them when placed side by side.
Remember to check the diagonal corner. A high RF or Low LF will effect the rear. Since fronts are stiffer the effect could be larger in rear.
Like hoop98 says if the left rear is low the right front should be high, If it is level across the front and the left rear is lower than the right rear then something is bent, If the right front is high then you can lower the right front to fix it.
open the doors and look at the cowl supports for abnormal denting or being smashed in. look at the inner fender aprons with the hood open, make sure the entire engine bay is square. sometimes the engine bends in the top of the shock towers (one side more than the other, the weaker one) if it doesnt have a shock tower brace i would start there...
thank you all for the suggestions. I'll get out the tape measure and start measuring in the areas suggested. They all make sense.
Make sure the front springs are completely seated, top and bottom. Look at the upper control arm bushings too. When those go bad, you get a rust trail running down from them. I've seen those make a car sit cockeyed before. Are all the tires the same size, possible to mix 13" and 14" wheels on those cars plus tire size variations. Take the car from where you measured it, turn it around and back it into the same spot as close as possible, see if that changes the height. Bob
I'd jack up and level the front end, then view the rear. Process of elimination. You never mentioned spring shackle bushings, but I'll assume you changed them with the new leaf springs.
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