Lowering the rear of my 48 biz coupe and have questions

[juspasinthru]

I took off my worn out 6.70 15s today in favor of some Coker Nostaligia radials 205 75 15's

My plan is to go with the moog springs up front and 3" blocks in rear as well as remove 1 leaf.

My car is higher in the rear at the moment and the whole car sits up like truck .I have NEVER seen a car sit this high.my front end is freshly rebuilt and I have new shocks on all 4 corners.

[Plymouthy Adams]

on building the taildragger and such you going to have a number of trade offs in stance, ride, and handling.  In using the larger profile tires and raising the axle you sinking your tires higher into the wheels wells and you have to watch that you do not have tire/fender contact on suspension squish.  And if using the lower profile tire along with the raising of the axle to lower the chassis to help check body roll and increased squish line.. you also lower your frame scrub line.   Removing a spring will lower your ride but at the sacrifice of softer suspension and well you really have not much room for travel and stiffer is probably going to be your better friend here albeit a rougher ride.  You also I think mentioned using skirts..that will hide the shorter profile tire and allow you more squish margin in the rear..but again the trade off is in revolutions per mile.  The rear shackles also provide for a bit of body movement and a Panhard rod will be a good item here.  BUT if you are dead set on wider whitewalls  as available with the higher profile tire...you got a lot of undesirables to live with to achieve your look...finding a balance can be difficult and quite time consuming trying various techniques.  Last thing you need is fender/tire scrub or lateral body movement causing cutting of the side wall in or out..  Also keep in mind as you raise the axle your changing your pinion angle to where you may need to shim it for correct values..you want to keep your car's drivetrain in phase...

[Desotodav]

Thanks, I was wondering what effects the shorter shackle would have, that makes complete sense.  I was thinking maybe an inch.  If I need more than that, then I'll pulll a leaf or two.  Or just 4 link it.....

 

I had wondered the same thing about installing smaller spring shackles on my truck/s, but was also concerned with factors mentioned by Tim in post #16. I spoke with a leaf spring maker recently about the idea and he suggested it could work (to an extent) as I would most likely not be carrying any load, but the gain from the decrease in shackle length would be minimal as it would be factored over the length of the leaf spring.

[fstfish66]

i have posies  rear lowering leafs super slide springs an  just  installed fat man  dropped uprights on the front of my 40 dodge,,car has i guess what the ycall the california rake,,,had to go to a shorter tire on the front, sits nice love the look and  rides really nice, compared to the way  it rode when  i  bought it,,,

 

it had lowering blocks in the rear and cut coils up front with hardly any  suspension travel,,,  ill get some pics first chance i get

[BigDaddyO]

Here's a photo of the 'New England Rake' look, coming soon too.

[fstfish66]

Here's a photo of the 'New England Rake' look, coming soon too.

sad but true  lol

[Bmartin]

Ha!  Its finally cooling down enough to drive without AC here.  Cruising season is just beginning.  Now If only I could get back on the road....

[juspasinthru]

Ok so here is an update on my 48 biz coupe "Ruby"

I wanted to go with a mild taildragger look so..

I purchased a split exhaust header from Langdons stovebolt

added a full true dual exhaust system with 12' glasspacks and chrome fishtail tips

went with 3" rear lowering blocks from Jamco suspension

removed 2 rer leaf springs

put her on some Coker nostalgia radials with some repop starburst hubcaps

added dummy spotlights and moved the  exterior sun visor down a bit lower.

added some chrome headlight visors with red jewel

put a 48 georgia license plate on the rear with an aftermarket Safety star tag topper

insideI installed new saddle color carpet from stock interiors and added a dash mount traffic light viewer.

more things in the works  including yellow flood lights in the front splas pan etc. but the stance is great  and she rides excellent without issues.

 

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER:

 

 

[ledfootslim]

Very nice!

[kented]

Wow! Looks amazing. I always think the more accessories, lights, visors ect look really good on these cars

[deathbound]

Nice, the only thing missing is the chop (and a few other mods) & it reminds me alot of an old friend Eric Maaske's (RIP) '46 Plymouth......

 

Edited October 7, 2014 by deathbound

[CoronetGuy]

Looks great!!

[SQ4MN]

LOW CARS AND HI BARS. When I was growing up in SoCal in the fifties and sixties that was the look. We just heated the front springs and called it DUMMPED, DAGOED, or RAKED. Some did only the front as it only required a torch. Some made lowering blocks or got them from some catalog to get the whole car down. Naturally it got more and more extreme. The cars rode terrible but we thought it was cool bouncing our way from one hangout to the next. I still like the look of lowered cars, mild or extreme, they all look cool to me. Today with all the aftermarket stuff available including airbags you can get the cars extremely low and still have a good ride. Since crime wasn't all that bad back then, drugs were still a minor problem in the fifties, cops would spend a good portion of their day writing tickets for your car being to low or your pipes to loud or your bars to high etc. I bet they wish they still only had such minor problems today.

[deathbound]

LOW CARS AND HI BARS. When I was growing up in SoCal in the fifties and sixties that was the look. We just heated the front springs and called it DUMMPED, DAGOED, or RAKED. Some did only the front as it only required a torch. Some made lowering blocks or got them from some catalog to get the whole car down. Naturally it got more and more extreme. The cars rode terrible but we thought it was cool bouncing our way from one hangout to the next. I still like the look of lowered cars, mild or extreme, they all look cool to me. Today with all the aftermarket stuff available including airbags you can get the cars extremely low and still have a good ride. Since crime wasn't all that bad back then, drugs were still a minor problem in the fifties, cops would spend a good portion of their day writing tickets for your car being to low or your pipes to loud or your bars to high etc. I bet they wish they still only had such minor problems today.

 

Had many for all 3.......I never learn.

[kented]

Bars too high? What does that mean haha

[deathbound]

Bars too high? What does that mean haha

 

In "their" eyes.

[Plymouthy Adams]

see he read it one way I read it another.....today it would all make sense with the legalization of pot and all, HI BARS will soon be common places...

 

 

I think that the high bars on bikes (ape hangers) has got to be the most ridicules looking setup ever...but..they did go a long way air out wet stinky armpits..so maybe they do serve a useful purpose today other than lining the coffers of the local ticket writers..

[fstfish66]

car looks great,cant  imagine seeing the  traffic lite under that visor

[SQ4MN]

see he read it one way I read it another.....today it would all make sense with the legalization of pot and all, HI BARS will soon be common places...

 

 

I think that the high bars on bikes (ape hangers) has got to be the most ridicules looking setup ever...but..they did go a long way air out wet stinky armpits..so maybe they do serve a useful purpose today other than lining the coffers of the local ticket writers..

Everything doesn't have to SERVE a purpose, but most things HAVE a purpose. The purpose of high bars and low cars is actually very simple. The purpose is to PLEASE their owners. What purpose do two carbs or two pipes have on a flathead six? Surely it cant just be because of the meager power increase. My answer to that would be because it pleases the owner, it sounds great to him. Its the same answer I have for many things in my life. By the way I have had many bikes with low bars, most were also very fast, some were touted as the best handling. I raced bikes back in the fifties and sixties in the desert. I also raced many bikes to the beach over Malibu Canyon back then. I had hi bars on a Knucklehead Chopper and beat many low bar Triumphs etc. thru the turns. Point is the bars don't make bikes handle bad, riders do. Also I don't see the connection between the legalization of pot and hi bars. 

[Don Coatney]

The purpose of high bars and low cars is actually very simple. The purpose is to PLEASE their owners.

I fully agree with that. Not everyone has the same needs and desires when it comes to vehicle height.

 

[SQ4MN]

Had many for all 3.......I never learn.

 

I was one who never learned either, but I did learn this little trick which gave me some sort of twisted satisfaction. These types of tickets were called fix it tickets, we viewed them as harrasment tickets. It was bad enough that you would have to go to court and pay fines for this, but even worse was the requirement to fix the loud pipes or whatever the violation was and then find a cop who would sign it off. There was a special line already printed on the ticket for just that purpose. Any way we were teen agers with little to no money and viewed this as a terrible miss justice just to ruin our lives. I was 18 years old , just old enough to go to jail if I didn't take care of this. I always knew someone else that also had one of these tickets so what I did rather than fix the violation which in my eyes would ruin my bike or car was this. I would take my friends ticket and place it on a window that the sun was shining thru. I would do this so that the little special line that was used for an officer to sign off a violation was directly above the officers name who wrote him his violation and trace the name and badge number onto mine, "Viola" my violation was now fixed. I would go into court and proudly show the judge that I had corrected the violation and would pay the fine and leave. In those days the police had tube radios and they couldn't just punch in your name and know your life history in a few seconds like today. We would take advantage of this. When I got stopped I would tell the cop "please don't write me a ticket, I have a suspended license and I'm going to get it back in only three days" The cop would sometimes say 'listen I'm going to give you a break and not write you for "Speeding" and instead just write you for driving on a suspended license. I would pretend that he would be much nicer if he would just forget about the suspended license and only write me for speeding. He would always tell me that I should be THANKFUL because he is giving me a break and always write me for the suspended license. I would go to court and show the judge my license which never was suspended and the judge would dismiss the ticket. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

SQ4MN, on 10 Oct 2014 - 04:04 AM, said:SQ4MN, on 10 Oct 2014 - 04:04 AM, said:

Everything doesn't have to SERVE a purpose, but most things HAVE a purpose. The purpose of high bars and low cars is actually very simple. The purpose is to PLEASE their owners. What purpose do two carbs or two pipes have on a flathead six? Surely it cant just be because of the meager power increase. My answer to that would be because it pleases the owner, it sounds great to him. Its the same answer I have for many things in my life. By the way I have had many bikes with low bars, most were also very fast, some were touted as the best handling. I raced bikes back in the fifties and sixties in the desert. I also raced many bikes to the beach over Malibu Canyon back then. I had hi bars on a Knucklehead Chopper and beat many low bar Triumphs etc. thru the turns. Point is the bars don't make bikes handle bad, riders do. Also I don't see the connection between the legalization of pot and hi bars. 

 

 

and I can also see you cannot tell a jab or a joke or catch a play on words...sorry that went over your head...again..clearly points out the very fact...one reads it one way..someone else another..

Edited October 10, 2014 by Plymouthy Adams

[BigDaddyO]

High bars.

[juspasinthru]

I look at a classic vehicle as an extension of ones personailty and when driven are the best forms of artistic expression.

in short run what you brung and do what you like as long as you are footin the bill.

to me these 4o's coupes lowered a bit co pliment the factory lines.

[fordkustom]

My wife and I are short me 5'7 her barley 5' so I need to lower our car so we dont need step ladders to get in