I just put my new motor in and it sits really high, like 4-6" gap above the tires. The back tire to fender gap is off, about 1" on one side a 2" on the other (give or take 1/2" depending on the load in the car, and with 4 180lb guys the back tire rubs the fender on any bumps). The car is a factory air car and I was told those cars sit higher in the front from the factory.
the problem is the huge tire/fender gap with the aluminum heads. I suspect that the rear axle is either from another car or that the rear suspension was somehow altered. the car may have been raced before I got it, the rear brake lines were cut. does anyone have any experience with the aftermarket springs and how much they will lower, or at what height the front fender lip will be with which springs?
sorry for the rambling but I had knee surgery yesterday, I'm trying to make good use of my time laid up by ordering parts!

Go visit a circle track shop, or spring shop and get a four corner weight data and see what weught is at each wheel, each axle and total weight.

Then go from there with spring rate. Maybe others here will offer advice.

does anyone have any experience with an out of the box spring? I'm not sure I could even find a circle track shop or if I did that I would know what the number mean!

Springs are wound with a specified diameter of wire and the overall unsprung height for a given diameter wire gives you the ride height when you calculate how many inches it will compress. Springs are rated in pound inches (X number of pounds will compress the spring X number of inches).

Once you know how much weight is on each spring (from the four corner scale measurements) then you can say to your self I want a ride height of what ever length the shock is when the fender fits were you want it over the wheel (as measured after ten guys pile on the car more or less). You can then remove the spring and cut off the offending part; or order springs custom wound to your weight and desired ride height by calling Moog, or Eaton spring directly and wait for them to wind one for you.

The advantage of a custom spring is you can specify both the ride height (length) , and the spring rate (wire diameter) for a given weight of vehicle.


Larger Dave