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My boy in the back seat with our GPS tells me how fast I'm going and when I'm speeding almost every mile we drive down the road.

You do not want to use the factory settings. They don't have enough caster and allow for positive camber. I have these settings on my street car. 0 - camber 2.5deg positive caster 1/8" toe in We have some performance specs on our web site.

2 The other option was to move the spring perch out on upper control arm approx. 1 inch and use stock small block spring and trim as needed to obtain ride height. This is a track/road race modification that he said would help with handling. I corrected the post a little. We often move the spring perch out on the upper arm closer to the ball joint to get a better motion ratio. it doesn't upset the angle of the coil and it does enhance the handling of the cars. The " one inch perch move " as we call it adds about 125lbs to the spring rate and raises the car 1/2". I suggested using the small block spring with the perch move because it would raise the spring rate to something close to the stock big block spring. My thinking is that a 450lb-ish spring would work good for this application. BandBSTANGS wants to do some drag racing with the car so I recommended not using the 600# spring so the car would leave the line a little better. He wants good handling on the street too so the #1 or #2 option would do that for him without being too stiff.

It looks like the perch is pointed at the shock tower cover, not the center of the upper spring seat ( hole the shock goes through). To bow a spring, the top or the bottom has to be at an odd angle. With the car sitting like it is in the bottom photo, try and rotate the perch to see if you can get the bow out of the spring.

Is the bow inward or outward?

It will be interesting to see how the mid eyes fit. With 5.5" of backspacing, your about as far inwards as you can go with that. Getting the cars to sit right can take a lot of effort. I hope this works out for you.

I put 275's on the back of our 68 Ranchero without any mods, not even rolling the fender lip. The wheel I used on the Ranchero had 5 1/4" of backspacing on a 8" wheel. Your tire should fit in the wheel well with the right backspacing. How much room do you have between the inside of the tire and the leaf spring?

I think the mid eye spring will hold the fender lip above the tire but driving the car over just a medium sized bump, the tire would hit the fender lip. With a full tank of gas and someone in the back seat, it would be worse. Sorry to say but the ride height you have now isn't safe from tire rub. With some weight in the car, the car could easily have tire rub. If the fender lip hasn't been rolled, it would cut the tire, not just rub it. It looks kinda cool the way it sits. I like it but it's your car and your the one that has to be happy walking up to it.

You can but having the rear end housing spaced an inch away from the leaf springs gives the torque leverage to stretch, bend or break the U-bolts. The lowering blocks can crack as well. If you try the lowering blocks, keep an eye on them and don't do any hard burnouts. The lowering blocks would be a good way to test if the mid eye leafs will work for you.

I would go with the mid eye leafs. I haven't had a set of leafs settle a huge amount. I don't think your going to get a full inch drop from where you are now just by driving the car for a while.

We sell the Scott Drake springs. The rate on the 4.5 is 175lbs. Did you torque the front bolt with the car up in the air? The mid eye normally holds the car with the fender lip about an inch above the tire.

I cut the threaded rod on mine about 3". I put it in the spring where I wanted it and cut the rest off. I've used it like that for years and it works good. They come with a long rod so they can be used on tall springs. Ours are short so the rod needs to be shorter and yes, it is a real pain in the perch.

I have the 4 finger compressor. I cut the threaded rod a little shorter so it's easier to use. The issue with getting the spring out and in is to have the suspension relaxed enough so the upper arm is resting on the frame. If the upper arm isn't dropped all the way, the spring is harder to remove / install. Nice looking suspension !

John - I'll be around tonight if you want to call.

The leaf springs on our site are from Scott Drake but we can get the leafs from Mustangs Plus as well. The 5 leaf has a spring rate of 195lbs. You won't get a lot of travel with them unless you have people in the back seat. I would call them stiff from a ride quality standpoint. I agree with 1969_Mach1. It is very difficult to guess final ride height because the cars are all a little different. The 295/50 is 26.7" tall, just tad taller than a 245/60. My best guess is that with the 5 leaf standard height spring, your finder lip will be more than 1" above the tire. Most of the time, the mid eye leafs hold the car about an inch above the tire. You can shoot me an email or I can give you a call if you like. I can work with you on a return if your not happy with the ride height but our vendors won't take the springs back if they have been scratched up. They need to look new so they can resell them.