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What to use for spacers - lowering front springs.

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Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

gmichael52 said:
.....Should drop the nose nicely. I'd actually like to have a little bit of a nose low rake.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know it looks cool.....
But keep in mind that this will alter the caster and make the car more "darty" at speed. That's actually why I mentioned dropping the rear ride height...to keep the caster angle reasonable (there is really no "adjustment" for caster on a Spridget, although you can modify some parts to gain a few degrees).
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Used a set of springs on my first BE from the junk yard and torched them 1 1/4 turns to get the front down and make the stearing neutral for the track. Don't ask, it worked. I could stear with the throttle.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

If you are into buying parts, they list a lowering kit for the rear, but I do not know if it will work with rubber bumper springs. I think the rubber bumper springs have an extra leaf. You may be able to get the rear low enough by removing the forward rear spring spacer and removing a leaf (since you lost weight off the rear anyway).
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Good points all.

Hey, I remember when gas cost less than 20 cents a gallon.
Yes, they would come out and check the tire pressure, the oil and wash your windows while pumping your gas for you.

Thanks Trevor, I'll look at that too.

Last time I messed with leaf springs it was on my old 1960 Desoto. Wish I still had that car.
Unfortunately I had a blond girlfriend who wanted to learn to drive. The car was so big she thought she had to drive over in the ditch to avoid an oncoming car. She ran that perfect body (the car) by a large fencepost with me watching that perfect sheetmetal cave in from tip to tail. That's what - about 18 feet on a 60 Desoto?
Some girlfriends just are not worth the trouble they cause.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

After years of gaining illegal experience with driving VW Beetles and a Maverick, I took my drivers ed test in a '76 Olds 98- and failed. I couldn't quite get the feel with a car that felt like it was the size of the entire road, so I can relate to your girlfriend and the DeSoto story Rick. I still dislike driving large vehicles.

As for the fabricating thing, it just seemed at every crossroad I came to with this car, I was having to fabricate something. I like making stuff, but it got a little ridiculous over time- of course that was my own choosing to go the route I did. The fabricating stuff just gets incredibly time consuming as lots of patience is required to do something right. The way I feel about it is that I know that if I'm not happy with it, I'll rework it. I'm more critical with the things I make over the things I buy too.

I think the burnout is that I am pushing to get this car done. I was at a pretty relaxed pace with this car when I started on it in December and the goal was to start shaking it down by the end of March. I'm just trying to keep my patience in getting things done right.

Here's a comparison pic between the original 1500 rubber bumper spring and the 1 1/4" dropped chrome bumper spring I got from Moss. Keep in mind that spring rate is probably different which will have an effect on the ride height.
CIMG2965.jpg


Sorry for the big honkin pic. I'll fix it later.

I imagine with the rake that the car may become more darty at speeds and also add to oversteer. I'll see how it works out. I primarily choose to use the car as a cruiser and really don't plan on pushing its limits in corners.

I'll post up on it and shoot a pic when I get the front end back together and get it off the blocks.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

gmichael, please give me details of those springs.
What did they cost plus shipping?
Part number?
Thanks!
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Rick,

The springs are from Moss, p/n 264-605 (340lbs spring rate, lowered). I ordered them on line and they were $62.95 each (cheaper than in the catalog). For the pair, it was $125.90.

There's also a competition set of springs with a higher spring rate (400lbs)that also provide a drop on a chrome bumper for more money, but this car is just a cruiser and I imagine the higher spring rate of the competition springs will cause the car to ride harder in the front end.

I ordered a couple of other things so my shipping was $29. Figure around 20 at the most for you, considering you also live closer to Moss than I do. The springs really don't seem too heavy, especially when you compare them to the original 1500 spring.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Those would be about $59 from a Moss Distributor. I have a set in my car and I feel like they are more than 340 lb. It does drop the car quite a bit. If you use them, then you would not need spacers. I'd go with the softer stock 1275 springs and spacers.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Actually, the Moss distributor here quoted me the same price last month. Moss dropped their price on a number of things this month over a sale.

I didn't think about this. Does a 1500cc motor weigh more than a 1275?
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

I've got the Nissan A15 in here, and yes I've heard it is lighter than the 1500 lump but don't know how it compares to the 1275.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

One thing to remember, although it sounds counterintuitive, is that by cutting coils off a spring to shorten it, you also increase the rate. A coil spring is just a torsion bar: given a constant wire diameter the longer the torsion bar the softer the spring. Consider 2 torsion bars both made from the same 1/4" diameter wire: a 1 foot long bar will be much harder to twist than a 10 foot bar. This is great for lowering your car, you get a lower car and stiffer springs to help avoid bottoming out. It's not so helpful when dealing with throttle springs and the like. Shortened springs can also affect the preload, the minimum force required for the initial movement, often the preload is lessened while the actual rate is increased. This is why it is easy to think that you have softened the spring by cutting it.

Amazing how a bent piece of wire can get so complicated....
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

That's a great explanation. Never knew how to explain it other than that ride gets stiffer when cutting coils and it had nothing to do with the fact that the control arms were closer to the bump stops. I did that to a Rustang I had a few years back.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Here's what it looks like with the Moss drop springs in the front.

CIMG2982.jpg


That's with no front bumper and with the rubber bumper on the back!

I also bought a set of spacers too. I took them out, because the front end was really slammed in the weeds. Kinda cool for shows, I suppose.

I'm gonna call Spridgetech Monday about the 'glass rear valance.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Go to the McMaster Carr's web site, in the search box, type in "stand offs" your search result will end up netting you any type of stand off spacer you can imagine in any matrial or plating finish you can imagine, lots of OD and ID and length selections as well, if you can't find it there (which you will, because I already bought them there) it ain't made.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Go to the McMaster Carr's web site, in the search box, type in "stand offs" your search result will end up netting you any type of stand off spacer you can imagine in any matrial or plating finish you can imagine, lots of OD and ID and length selections as well, if you can't find it there (which you will, because I already bought them there) it ain't made.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Oh what you will be looking for is "female unthreaded round" stand offs.
 
Re: What to use for spacers - lowering front sprin

Thanks Hap!

Gmichael, I must know more about this valance - please fill me in.
 
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