LOWERING A P15

[Seaside Pete]

Hi

 

I am wanting to lower my car by 2". I seem to remember on a previous thread that if you remove 1 complete coil on the front springs it should be about right for 2" lowering. However a friend of mine has just done the same thing on a ford ranchero  pick up (1 complete coil) and now if he jacks the car up on anything other than the bottom of the wishbone (a arms) the springs fall out. Has anybody had the same problem on a P15? Also can anybody suggest the best place to find 2" lowering blocks and U bolts for the rear end?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Pete

[Don Coatney]

On that ranchero if you hit a big bump while driving do the springs fall out?

 

Just another reason to not lower a car in my opinion.

[Young Ed]

On that ranchero if you hit a big bump while driving do the springs fall out?

 

Just another reason to not lower a car in my opinion.

 

Or a good point to lower it a more proper way with purpose made springs that will change the ride height.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I would think you would want to improve the handling and relocate the shock before messing with any other parameters on the suspension..

[Mark Haymond]

I lowered my P15 three inches. I wish I had stopped at two inches because certain street gutters and parking lot speed bumps can scrape my underside. Relocating the front shock mounts will make a big improvement in handling.

[Bmartin]

You might want to go through this thread.  Lots of discussion on lowering. 

 

http://p15-d24.com/topic/33585-new-ways-to-lower-the-rear-end/?hl=%2Bnew+%2Bways+%2Blower

 

I think as a start I would pickup a pair of the moog coil springs and see what you think.  They are $55 shipped to  your door from Jegs.  That way, you have your stock springs to go back to if need be.  I'm on my second set since I was bouncing back and forth between uncut coils with lowering uprights and then stock uprigths with cut coils.  Even with a coil cut off the moogs, they still need to be compressed to get the lower control arm back on, so no worries of it falling out. 

 

One thing I learned through all this is that the disc brake kit pushes the wheel out 1/8" to 1/4" and the dropped uprights push the wheel out almost 1/2".  So if you are going lower and getting the tire close to the fender, it can cause issues.  Stock brakes with stock uprights will have the narrowest track.  My tire is a 16X6.5 and is up inside the wheel well in front.  So this was a big issue.  Also check tire clearance to the front side (front of car) of the fender.  That is where I am rubbing right now, I clear the top but not the front on compression. 

Edited April 23, 2015 by Bmartin

[Cpt.Fred]

Pete, it all depends on the springs you're going to use.

 

a pretty good overview of the dos and don'ts of lowering can be found in some the threads i've done on here...

if you're using your old front coils, be careful.

if you're not afraid of trial-and-error, start with 1/4 of a coil, put them back in, and ride around the block.

you'll see.

i cut old front springs one full coil and it was brutal. no good.

now i got new Moogs in there and they were too high up, so i started with cutting 1/2...

 

pm me for a longer conversation..

Edited April 23, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[61farnham]

Hi Pete, 

 

Good advice above about using the moog aerostar springs and keeping your original springs,

lowering blocks can found here http://www.butchscoolstuff.com/front-rear-lowering-kits-2/ 

just check the width of your rear springs before ordering.

 

regards........ Simon.

[Andydodge]

I cut one coil from the original springs to get the 41 Plymouth this low and 2" blocks on the rear..........the springs may have been in better condition to start with than those that others have done this to as I didn't have any issues with them falling out etc, however the ride was fairly stiff so the long term aim would have been to get new springs made...........as for the rear the 2" blocks were made from 2" square tube, the longer U bolts came from a local shop.............car sold now so can't say how its holding up but it worked o/k for me for about 5yrs............andyd 

[mrwrstory]

No guts not glory!!!!!!!!!!!  There is a cost for looking cool but in this case it's extremely minimal.

In my opinion, 1 coil cut and 2" blocks will make the car look like it should,..... for a stocker.   Most folks won't even notice the diff.  I did this years ago and ultimately went lower.  No issues with the springs falling out.  You may bottom out on an extreme transition but anticipation usually prevents that.

That being said, the car will ride a little stiffer.  However, if you also do shocks as suggested, the ride and handling will be a little more crisp, a little more like a modern car.  And, noting that you are in the UK, your norm for comparison is for a "crisper" ride than what we in the U.S. consider normal.  It still won't be a BMW

[deathbound]

Aside from what's been mentioned above, I've read some drill out the rivets from the lower spring pocket & re-install it (grade 8 bolts) under the A-arm. Not sure how much it nets. In my opinion, lower is better as far as looks & certain aspects of handling go, most will disagree.

I have a tube axle front end, so I had new parallel leaf springs made & still ended up pulling a couple leafs., In the rear, I used Posie's 3" lowering leaf springs, removed 2 leafs & added 1" blocks.

[Seaside Pete]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I was going to re-locate the shocks anyway, but I think I will hang fire for a while and consider what way to go with the lowering, there is plenty more to get on with first.

 

Pete

[CoronetGuy]

I cut 1 full coil from my stock front springs & put in 3" rear blocks from Butch's cool stuff (was mentioned above, measure your spring width) I think the car looks so much better than it did before. No issues with the spring falling out, it's been on a 2 post lift a few times since the lowering and the spring stayed put.

[Daddy]

I'm running 3 inch blocks out back from butch.  Moog swap out front with 2 full coils cut out.  I was hoping it would settle more.  Big improvement in ride quality / handling.  I'm going to take another coil out next week.

[Chachos 49]

On 4/23/2015 at 10:41 AM, Mark Haymond said:

I lowered my P15 three inches. I wish I had stopped at two inches because certain street gutters and parking lot speed bumps can scrape my underside. Relocating the front shock mounts will make a big improvement in handling.

How did you lower it exactly?

[greg g]

Lowering block's between axle and springs in the rear, and at the front the spring pockets on the lower A arms can be removed and repositioned to the bottom of the arm. Or you can buy shorter springs from aftermarket suppliers.

[Vin's 49 Plymouth]

Fatman drop spindles come with a shock relocation bracket and drop it two inches.

 

I went wild and cut 3 coils and did the drop spindles.

 

Check out my profile, there is a few photos in the top album.

 

There is also a company that makes rear posies for the leaf springs to drop them with the shackles.

I had mine re-arched.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Vin's 49 Plymouth