This forum is for all years of the Ford Galaxie and all other Full-size Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars. This is a place to share information, skills, pictures, and stories for the purpose of building friendships and furthering the enjoyment and restoration of these cars |
Offline
Finally got around to finishing the install and putting the coil over in on the passengers side. I posted some ride height pix before and it turns out the ride height on the drivers side was as high as it was because the OEM coil spring was still installed on the passengers side and was sharing some of the load through the sway bar. The suspension sagged significantly when I installed the coil over on the other side.
I expected this to happen some but not to the extent it did. Sitting with the car on the ground and the full weight going through the suspension, the top of the bump stop on the LCA was only about .5" from where it contacts the frame. Good thing the coil overs are adjustable However adjusting them was a pain!!! I followed the instructions and raised the front of the car off the ground so the suspension was hanging, and used lots of anti seize but tightening the coils up still took a lot of effort. I raised the coil seats up 2" which improved the distance between the top of the bump stop and the frame to 3" This should be about perfect as max distance allowed between the top of the bump stop and the frame is 5". When I was setting up the IRS for my Mustang I did a lot of research and the common consensus for correctly set up springs is at normal resting ride height you want to have 40% of total travel used and 60% travel remaining, and that is exactly what I have.
I am also really glad I went with the 350 springs. They have a nice resistance and allow me to make good use of the adjustable shocks. With the 350 springs and the shocks set at the lowest setting I can pull down on the front of the car and get good suspension travel. If I set the shock at the 12th / stiffest setting and pull down on the suspension it does not move at all. I finally set them at 3 and will adjust it from there to get the ride I want. I am a firm believer is softer springs with good shocks and a heavy sway bar. That way the suspension can move and do what it needs to do to deal with cornering and road imperfections but also is stiff enough that the car is not flopping all over the place.
Offline
Daze, For furure reference, what I did when I adjusted mine was to remove the upper shock nuts and slide a deep socket over the stud. Then lower the control arm until the socket just barely sits within the opening. Not a big deal if it drops through. Just pry it back to center when you raise the arm back in place. Takes a lot of the preload off of the spring.