Thinking about flipping my uprights to gain a couple inches lower anyone has any insight i read alot of people do it! Its a 1940 pontiac Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Yes it's been done since Christ was a Kid. There is a reason all brands of old cars had the King Pins slanted the same direction. Now your going to tilt them the other direction. And that's just the beginning. Good luck with that. That's been kicked around a fair amount on here. The Wizzard
I didnt search for any threads. I was just kicking atound the idea Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Started to go that way on our 49 Ford. Got a little nervous about what we might end up with. Decided to use spacers to lower the spring pocket. Worked for us............ Whatever you do post up some pics of your process...........
They used to do this before lowered uprights were available. The uprights hold the king pins at a certain angle, usually around 7 degrees. If you just turn them over the wheels will be cockeyed. What you have to do is take the uprights, bend them so the kingpin angle goes the opposite way, but is exactly the same angle as before, and lines up in the same spot to the top and bottom pins then swap the uprights from side to side and put them in upside down. This will get you a certain amount of drop depending if the supports were offset. But you will only get whatever drop was built in when they were made. It is way better, easier, and safer just to buy new uprights. That way you get the drop you want.
And then,,,,, The tie rod is now still connected to the spindle at the backing plate bolts and now no longer is in proper relationship to the lower A frame. Just another minor issue. The Wizzard
Other than tie rod attachment could you flip the uprights and then flip the spindle. You will have to flip the spindle bushings so the king pin installs from the bottom but it will give you the same angle you started with. I just figured that out by accident with some help on this board.
The side to side deal is what everyone misses on these threads. Something to consider is how much drop you are going to get. I considered it on the last stude I was working on and ran the tape it worked out to about 4". That is actually a loot of static drop for most cars so before I invested the time I would run the tape. That said it is doable and definitely a traditional way to drop one, follow Rusty's instructions here and you can pull it off.
King pin inclination must be considered. A line drawn through the king pin must fall within the contact patch of the tire at the road, or you will have a very evil handling car.
If you have a Chevrolet with IFS from the early forties up to 1954 the spindle supports interchange. But after 1948 the factory lowered the car by moving the kingpin up. In other words, custom dropped uprights from the factory. There were 3 or 4 versions each being lower than the last. I think 1949 up were the lowered ones but my memory is hazy. Get brakes and all, the later brakes are bigger and better. If you really care, Google is your friend. I do not recommend bending spindles or uprights. Better to buy new ones. But it has been done. Incidentally Chev pickups in the 70s and 80s had spindles that interchanged with big Buick, Olds and Cadillac as well as Chev Caprice wagons but the car ones were considerably lower. There may be other makes that did the same trick that I don't know about.
Fellas, the thread is a eighteen months old. He probably got the Mustang II suspension and is not talking about it.
Fatman Fabrication does lowered uprights for your car. http://www.fatmanfab.com/product/dropped-uprights-and-dropped-spindles
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