this guy is gonna get home from work and kill himself with all these replys.. he should just sell the car!
well, first of all, with that engine, the rear springs should not be stock. and they aren't. with that said, my other '51 had 4 inch blocks and it never bottomed out and just barely tucked the rim itself under the body. i didn't care for the look of 4 inch blocks, i was hoping for more. i know that a 454 is not traditional, but my thinking was that hopped up engines or swapped out engines could be seen on many cars cruising the drive-in or what not on a saturday night, but you never saw and heard a car hissing when you drop it to the ground. anyway, you've got me thinking about the simple bag-over-axle setup. anybody got any pictures of their setup like that? anything you would do different if you could do it over? ...and as far as selling the car, if i ever do, it'll be to mcphail. he's next in line for it. thanks guys for all the ideas.
Funny how much shit get's stirred up with some speculation, huh? Knowing that you've got aftermarket springs, I'd suggest pulling a leaf or two with some 3" blocks. I did that and I'm less than an inch from my bumpstops...and they're cut in half. From there, you can do a small notch in the frame, not a tower that would require you to cut up the trunk or anything (but that would give you more travel), but around an inch cut out and then some reinforcement for the frame. Like someone else mentioned, you could also run a 14" rim, if you aren't already. That'd be pretty low and enough to appease the traditionalists. IMO, the air-over-leaf isn't worth the work. If you're willing to notch, weld up bag mounts, etc, go the extra mile and 4-link it...then you can sit her on the ground or ride around in comfort. The AOL really would only give you more lift for a smoother ride, but you wouldn't get any lower. And, IMO, nothing wrong with a big-block in a custom...people have done way worse. Bryan
is this the one you were selling? this thread illustrates the fact that you gotta give some information when posting questions! you can't fault us for not assuming the car has aftermarket springs and traction bars, how the hell were we to know the setup?
With my '52 Chevy, I had the spring shop make me two new main leaves with new bushings. They were almost dead flat and 3/4 inch shorter than stock. Cost me $75, including roll teflon. I took the remaining original leaves, cleaned them up and deburred the edges. I have a 12 ton homemade press. I started with one of the longer ones and started pressing the arc out of it. I kept comparing to my new one to make sure I was symmetrical. Once I was happy with the first, I drew its profile on the floor with soapstone and made all the rest the same. I made new 2 inch lowering blocks out of some scrap 3/16 plate (I cannot spend $$ on something that simple to make). Put it all together with new U bolts and voila, nice stance. Like others here have said, once you go beyond a 3" block, you'll have a car with unpredictable (unsafe) characteristics.
i just said this in another post earlier today. in most states anything over 4" is ILLEGAL and UNSAFE. and if you stack them i'll drive my ass out to that "BAR IN DOWNTOWN HELL" and slap the shit out of you ... well, not realy but i think you get the point.
Sounds like you've already made up your mind not to go with 5" blocks, but let me give you a graphic example of why NOT TO anyway... A few years ago I put 4" blocks in my daily driver '59 Ford wagon. It had air shocks in it when I got it. It had zip suspension travel so it rode like shit. I was too lazy to pull the 4" blocks out and swap to 3", so I just aired up the shocks to compensate. I drove it like that for quite awhile. My drive home has a steep incline, which then flattens out for railroad tracks and a crossing, then continues uphill. The grade/flat/grade is goofy enough that there are signs prohibiting tractor/trailer combos over certain lengths, and with good reason, I've witnessed a dozen or so trucks get stuck, and two collisions. Finally, the tracks run through those wierd plastic guards or shocks or whatever the hell they are. Anyways, One day on the way home my left rear tire blew out just as I was cresting that rise. The u-bolt came down suddenly enough, and just at the right moment, to actually puncture that plastic shit!! (yes, I had trimmed the excess off the u-bolt) I was STUCK!!! Fortunately a cop passed by very shortly, and radioed to stop any oncoming trains. The nearest was 30 min. away, so I ran down to the yard two doors down that had a wrecker. He hooked me up and had to pull me up out of the plastic. For a few minutes there, my heart was in my throat!!! I changed out to the 3" blocks the next day, and checked my scrubline before leaving. Never again!
I've got 4" blocks in my '53 Ford with a 348 and I can feel the rearend twisting when I hammer on it. I don't like it at all and I'm planning on changing it out. Looks OK but gives me a bad feeling. I can't imagine using a block bigger than 4". Plus, it's damn near impossible to change a wheel in the back without unbolting the rearend.
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