I bought a 28 Ford Sedan a few months back, and the coil overs arent doin the job...the springs are too weak, and relax to far with weight on them, thus no shock travel,thus crappy ride...so...I went hunting for a set of springs at the popular sites, but I cant seem to find a set rated at 225-250 lbs with the same diameters so that the buckets/mounts will work....these are 2 7/8" OD and 2 1/4" ID...cant seem to find a set that size...everything is bigger OD....can anybody lead me to the right source for these?..or...a new complete set with the same type of mounts so that I can use existing.,..thanks for the help guys... body mounts...heres some pics of what I have now...most all the kits dont have this type of top mount where the shocks are just threaded
Almost looks to me like they're regular shock/helper/overload type springs and someone made their own mounting system?? If that's the case I can see why they're not holding up the load. Maybe some pics of the chassis and rear axle mounts might give someone a better idea what you're working with? Sorry, not much help but at least it's a bump for you.
Have you checked out the Speedway Motors site. HRP http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Shop/Pro-Shocks/11.html?gclid=CLKMkdOjn9ECFdgIgQod6oYBeA
If I could just find this spring in a 225-250 lb rating..thats really all I need..these springs are just too relaxed..must be 150's
yes..I checked speedway..even bought a set of 250 lb coils, but the OD is too large for my old buckets
What is the spring rating of the coils you already have? And what angle do the coilovers sit at? And what is the weight of the vehicle? [corner weights would be better] And what is the unsprung weight of the corners [with the car on stands and the springs removed] Get [borrow, hire, buy, or steal] some scales Answer these and I can help you [without the need for randomly buying a shitload of springs] 250 lb springs mounted vertically directly to an axle would be quite stiff [too stiff] most road cars have a "wheel rate" under 200lb/in in the front. To support 800lbs "sprung weight" on the front corner with a 175lb/in wheel rate needs 4-1/2" of spring load which is why manufacturers use heavy wire larger diameter coils [to prevent coil bind] This explains the need for a spring compressor to preload them. [800lbs is the approx. sprung weight each side on the front of a 70's Aussie V8 Falcon] the problem you have is the soft coils are too short for the load on them [assuming the coil rate is OK] Being tightly wound, they will bind easily. Race coil springs are stiffer and shorter, but they fall out of their spring lands under full droop
I'm talking Rear coils here, not front coils..guess I shoulda made that more clear...its a 28 ford sedan..most guys are runnin 225-250 lb coils
Those are not real coil overs, they look like regular tube shocks with helper springs that supplement and already existing suspension set up. The stud on the shocks is nowhere near strong enough to be load bearing and can shear off. Nothing about what you have is designed to hold all of the weight of ANY part of the car. throw those into the shit can and buy purpose built coil overs, make new mounts for the new coil overs and you're good to go. Or go back to a spring over axle set up which is even better.
Toss them out and buy a proper coil over setup even if you have to modify the mounts, those are going to fail.
If you want your car to be loose through corners do exactly what "Most Guys Do". "Loose" can be under braking or acceleration [Go and practice opposite lock driving techniques ,and see if you can master this in traffic] Now I'll give you an example. A 1968-69 Camaro mono-leaf rear spring is only rated at 125lb/in So if it weighed 3500lbs with a Fr /Rr weight bias of 55% Fr and 45% Rear, the rear would weigh 1575lbs. Now subtract approx. 250lbs for the rear end assembly it would net 1325lbs sprung weight [662.5lbs per spring] If you plonked 662.5lbs onto a 125 lb/in spring it would settle 5.3" [5" is the average spring load for a comfortable street car] Most cars need to be jacked up 4-5" before a wheel leaves the ground. You'll need approx. 115 lb/in wheel rate on a 2800lb model A with 50/50 weight bias. If the springs are laid over 20 degrees it would have a motion ration of approx 0.88 so you would need coils with 148.5 lb/in stiffness and 4.4" of spring load to get 5" of load at the wheel If the springs are laid over 30 degrees it would have a motion ration of approx 0.75 so you would need coils with 202 lb/in stiffness and 3.75" of spring load to get 5" of load at the wheel So when you are shopping for springs you need to consider the length [for coils] or arch [for leafs]
They look very similar to my old Chassis Engineering "economy coil over kit" not a helper spring over a shock. Mine were for a G body and worked pretty good on my Henry J.
Yep! You can't get more traditional than having "hack jobbed" and mismatched parts on a project. My previous post above [that actually used thought and mathematics] is non-traditional
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