69 Mach 1 pictures before and after 1" lowering

[Gazoo 10]

In case anyone's interested in some before / after comparison photos with lowering springs, and plus size tires.

 

Before pics are with stock springs - (at least they are the springs that have been in the car since I bought it in 1984.)

 

After pics are with 1" drop coils and 3/4" upper control arm drop, and 1" drop mid-eye leaf springs (Scott Drake).

 

Foose 17x7 wheels, with Kumho SPT 235-45ZR 17 and 255 45ZR 17 tires.

[SELLERSRODSHOP 13]

could i talk you out of a couple measurements? i'm looking for a center of wheel hub straight up to fender lip measurement on the front & rear. i'm trying to get an idea how saggy my original springs are compared to what i'll be putting on. curious if the dropped stuff will drop my car or actually raise it any due to the worn springs.

[UnrulySchoolboy 10]

Yeah I'm having the same problem, I'm not sure if the mid-eye springs will actually raise my car because the leafs on it are so sagged.

[SM69Mach 68]

Yeah I'm having the same problem, I'm not sure if the mid-eye springs will actually raise my car because the leafs on it are so sagged.

 

That was what happened with mine. With mid eye rears, it actaully raised the rear by about a 1/2 inch. It wasnt much, but the old ones were sagging pretty bad.

[Burn 14]

It looks really good! How does it handle? Is the change big or small?

 

Burn

[Pakrat 1,043]

So the after pictures are before right and then the before pictures after? :tongue_smilie:

[Gazoo 10]

So the after pictures are before right and then the before pictures after? :tongue_smilie:

 

Ha ha, Yes, Pak is correct, the after pictures are the first two. I fought for 20 minutes trying to upload the photos and I was just grateful to get them in here, never mind what order they were in!!

 

I will provide the height measurements shortly.

[Gazoo 10]

OK, the measurements - distance from hub centre to wheel arch on fronts is 14 and 14 1/8.

 

Rear is tougher as the two are different - both quarter panels were replaced with repos years back, and it is obvious that the fender lip is slightly different left to right. Never really noticed before. Measurements here are 14 1/4 and 14 3/4. The car sits level, as it should, so I take the measurements to mean that the quarter panels are not mirror images, especially after installation.

 

Yes, the steering and handling is so much better, but that also must recognize that I rebuilt the whole suspension at the same time and also converted to Randall's rack too. The ride is not noticeably rougher, in my opinion.

 

After all the work I had a laser alignment done by a competent body and frame shop - the report is quite amazing because it can tell you the position of the wheels in relation to each other - my car has a slightly shorter wheelbase on the right side, caused more by the rear axle position than the front wheel position; the rear axle is laterally offset (dogtracks) by about 0.12°; and neither rear wheel exactly follows the front wheel (by 0.02° and 0.23° respectively.) It all sounds quite alarming, except the alignment tech said No, this is quite good for an old car and most of the new ones are no better than that. Whew!

[SELLERSRODSHOP 13]

thanks! those mesurements were a big help! i measured mine & with the old original stuff + the new koni's i'm at 14 1/2" consistent all the way around. maybe with an extra inch off the new coils (620# 1" drop) & reverse eye rears plus a small block i'll be about where i want to be with mine.