Just wondering on how you guys set ride hight at the start of a build.Your after a look and setting up you car at ride hight with just a frame,front end and rear end seems like it is hard to do.The car must settle after all the remaining parts are added and also after the car is driven it will agian settle.I think a car can drop 2 to 3 inch from the mock up.So any tips on setting up ride hight at the start of a build? fitzee
Yeah, lay it on the ground and back it off a 1/4" ..... Just kidding, I usually mock up as close to finished product as possible. Using this method has worked pretty well for me, settling hasn't been too much of an issue on most of my projects my $.02
Talkin about an A or Deuce? If you're running a solid axle front end, remove all the leafs from the main leaf of the front spring. Make a block equal to the height of the removed leafs. (Best to measure this area prior to disassembly.) Bolt the front end in with the main leaf and temporary height block. This will set the engine/transmission-less car very close to ride height. The same may work for the rear if you're using a transverse spring there. If you're using coilovers, measure the eye to eye distance of the coilover, subract 2 - 2 1/2" and make a solid coilover substitute. This can be as simple as holes drilled the proper distance apart in a 1 x 1" square tube and the square tube bolted in place of the coilover. Another way to do it is to give yourself 2-3" vertical clearance between rear axle and Un-C'd frame. If the frame is already C'd, you can do a close estimate by eye and tape measure and measuring between rear axle and where the frame used to was prior to the C. The 2-3" mentioned is approx the distance most Un-C'd rear suspensions travel before bottoming out. Along with that, set the car up on the wheels you'll use as well as some used - or new - tires of the brand and size you'll use. Setting the car up on the tires you'll be running will go a long ways toward showing any potential conflicts with various components. Suspension and otherwise.
[ QUOTE ] Talkin about an A or Deuce? If you're running a solid axle front end, remove all the leafs from the main leaf of the front spring. Make a block equal to the height of the removed leafs. (Best to measure this area prior to disassembly.) Bolt the front end in with the main leaf and temporary height block. This will set the engine/transmission-less car very close to ride height. The same may work for the rear if you're using a transverse spring there. If you're using coilovers, measure the eye to eye distance of the coilover, subract 2 - 2 1/2" and make a solid coilover substitute. This can be as simple as holes drilled the proper distance apart in a 1 x 1" square tube and the square tube bolted in place of the coilover. Another way to do it is to give yourself 2-3" vertical clearance between rear axle and Un-C'd frame. If the frame is already C'd, you can do a close estimate by eye and tape measure and measuring between rear axle and where the frame used to was prior to the C. The 2-3" mentioned is approx the distance most Un-C'd rear suspensions travel before bottoming out. Along with that, set the car up on the wheels you'll use as well as some used - or new - tires of the brand and size you'll use. Setting the car up on the tires you'll be running will go a long ways toward showing any potential conflicts with various components. Suspension and otherwise. [/ QUOTE ] Some interesting points there.The block idea is great.As for coilover I have problems with them before.Most is because of engine location.(late model car).The street rods with the engine move back there tend to be less weight on the front end.Thanks for the tip. fitzee
Not sure I explained it clearly, but the coilover bit was for the rear suspension. I'm running a transverse leaf spring on the back of the 31 and liking it a lot better. Coilovers - to me - are too limiting in several areas as well as they don't have a whole lot of suspension travel. With the 31 rear axle set up as it is, height adjustment is easy and it will ride better due to more travel available as well as spring leafs are easier to tune than are coilovers which are limited to the springs available and don't always come in exactly what you need.
I've never seen a car "drop" 2 - 3 inches after everything is "put in" I guess maybe an inch would be more what I was thinkin.. then again I've never checked cuz I want my stuff as close to the pavement as poss... On my truck.. I did just what someone above stated.. laid all the sheet metal on the floor and subtracted a 1/4 inch.. built the cab mounts from there.. yeah its too low... but I love it.. good luck sawzall
When working with a tubular axle I like to put a cheap muffler clamp on the axle directly under the frame rail and with the saddle up. Then I tack weld a scab between the saddle and the underside of the frame at the height I want it to end up at. I don't need to weld anything to the axle that way. I can usually guess very close on the compressed height of the spring which tells me how high its mount needs to be once I've settled on the ride height. I also will make a substitute fixture for a coil-over in which case I don't need the scab/clamp deal. It's important, of course, to measure, measure, and measure some more to make sure that your axles are centered in the frame, square with the frame centerline, and parallel with each other.
One other thing you may want to do is set the car up about 1" higher than you want. Seems there's a 'settling-in' period as the springs, shocks etc. break-in and the car ends up lower than you started out with. True for the Durant Mono-Leaf as well. Few months down the road and it was lower than it was right after the install.
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